Moçambique Update

I just wanted to give a quick update while I have the chance and let you know what Mozambique (or Moçambique if you´re using a Spanish keyboard) is like so far. 


Our 13 hour bus ride to Durban wasn´t too bad (I can´t find the correct apostrophe on this Spanish keyboard, bear with me once more). We arrived at the bus depot in Grahamstown, saw bus after bus arrive that was not ours until finally a Greyhound and one other, slightly crappier bus showed up. We were so excited about taking the nice, new Greyhound but it was not to be. Apparently due to overflow we had to get on the budget Plan B bus. This wouldn´t have been such a big deal had Carolyn not raved about how excellent Greyhound buses in South Africa are (they show really good movies the whole time, they serve you tea and cookies, there´s a bathroom...). Our bus ended up showing us a bad Robin Williams movie that skipped until about halfway in, two really bad kids movies that we both chose to sleep through, didn´t have a bathroom and served us tea in cups with lids that didn´t fit, resulting in a tea-covered floor and wet flip flops. One upside was that we both were able to have an entire row to ourselves to "stretch" out in, rather than awkwardly touching elbows with a stranger for 13 hours. 


Once in Durban, a very nice Indian lady gave me her blue wool sweater (Carolyn says it´s a sign that winter misses me) and we were picked up at the station by the owner of the bed and breakfast place where we spent the night. After a nice meal of risotto, red wine and strawberries we hit the hay and set the alarm for 6:00am.


After some complications that are too boring to get into, we ended up getting picked up at the Durban airport by Arne, the owner of DevOcean in Ponta D´Óuro. He got us safely to the border where we got our visas and flirted with the Mozambican border guard. Basically it went like this:


"Name?"


"Jillian Leonard"


"Single or Married?"


"Single "


"Single? Not married? You should find a Mozambican husband."


"Why do you think I´m going to Mozambique?"


Probably not the smartest thing to tell the border patrol but apparently they take bribes on a regular basis so I´m not too worried about my little confession.


We travelled in Arne´s 4X4 on the sand dunes (only got stuck once) and arrived at DevOcean Diving around 3:00pm. The sun was hot and we stopped for a beer (or two) before being shown our tent, which is one of those safari type tents you may have seen if you´ve ever watched Born Free. There are two little beds, a wicker shelf, a fan and a night table. I´ll post a picture soon. All of the tents around the camp are named after reefs in Ponta and ours was Creche. After two mornings of waking up to the sound of trucks  and tractors starting right next to our heads we switched to the Aquarium tent, which is a little further from the driveway. 


Our first two full days were spent recovering a little from our journey and exploring the town. There is only really one main road with a few other things branching off of it, and we´re a five minute walk from the main market. We are also a five minute walk from the lovely pristine beach! Needless to say we´ve been using our sunscreen and had to buy a beach umbrella. We´ve also been trying out some local restaurants and figured out in less than 1 hour how to get Mozambican SIM cards and internet. 


Even though the place is small there are a lot of South African tourists with ATV´s and jet skis. It took us a while but we finally decided what this place reminds us of: Afrikaans Jersey Shore. Lots of money but not a lot of taste. There is an abundance of tribal arm tattoos and trucker hats, and the mullet seems to be back in full force.


The locals are great though, and seem to be either ex-pats who have started businesses in eco-tourism, or the darkest, most beautiful people you´ve ever seen (I´m starting to wonder if my comment to the border patrol wasn´t as much of a joke as I intended it to be). They´ve been very forgiving of our complete lack of Portuguese and seem to be happy enough that they break into dance on the beach for no apparent reason. Even the stray dogs at the beach are friendly and don´t mind if you don´t give them any of your jelly baby candy, they just want the company. 


I went diving this morning at a reef called Steps and although the visibility wasn´t the greatest on account of the weather we did spend some time with a pretty large hawksbill turtle. We also saw a small spotted eel that has yet to be named, but looked like a snake at first glance. I´m planning on doing more dives (hence sleeping at a dive camp) and will write more when I have more reefs under my belt. We´ve also booked a trip to snorkel with wild bottlenose dolphins on Boxing Day and are booking surfing lessons tomorrow. We´ll see how that goes....hopefully we´re not in too much pain the next day. 


I´m sure there are some things I´m leaving out but the light is getting low and it´s time to wind down for the night. Hope everyone at home is well and that you´re getting Tipsy! 


xoxo
Jill

Slow Days and Mo-Mo-Mozambique

Get it? Ho-Ho-Ho-Mo-Mo-Mo? Not the best caption I guess, but it's 2:00am here and about 30 degrees Celsius so bear with me.


Nothing too exciting has happened since my last post, just work life in Grahamstown. We're winding down from COP17 and planning our work for January, which will be a lot more science based. All of the Rhodes students are gone and like any university town the place feels empty. A few of our favourite places have closed for three weeks and sometimes when I walk down the road I can faintly hear that cowboy whistle music that is often followed by a tumbleweed blowing across the sand. 

It doesn't really feel like Christmas, even though there are decorations everywhere, and when you shop for new sunscreen you hear White Christmas playing on the radio. Rather than feeling like 2011 is ending I feel like the year is just on pause while I finish this excursion down south. Sometimes I have to remind myself of what everyone at home is in the middle of, and it makes me a little jealous. There are times when I wish it would snow or that I could be magically transported home to eat turkey dinner and listen to Kenny and Dolly. 

Tomorrow the jealousy disappears though, because Carolyn and I will be getting on a bus headed for Ponta D'Ouro in Mozambique. We'll be there for 12 days and will be spending our time diving on the world-renowned reef, learning to surf, hiking, eating and just generally beaching. After that we head to Maputo for 4 days and then on to visit family friends in Johannesburg. There will be a lot of time spent on the Greyhound but I've armed myself with some good books and snacks. I'm expecting to either meet a lot of fellow travels on a budget or develop a hatred for all public transport systems. 

As for everyone at home, I know you're all shovelling snow (or cursing global warming), wrapping presents and wearing your homemade wool hats. As excited as I am for this Mozambican adventure, I wish I could spend Christmas a little closer to you all. I won't have internet in Ponta D'Ouro, except occasionally at the internet cafe, but I'll be regularly checking my email so if you're feeling sentimental I'd love to hear from you. Maybe you can take a break from drinking hot chocolate around a fireplace and remember your friend who is battling the sun with SPF50. 

I hope everyone has a relaxing holiday full of family and food. I'll be missing you all and thinking of you more than I'd like to admit.

Love,

Jill