Back from Mozambique

Hi Everyone!

I just got back from my holiday vacation and I’m staying for a day in Lusaka. Alicia, Phil, Julia, and I went to Vilankulos, Mozambique and spent the week on the beach. It was great to see the ocean again. We were a bit limited in what we could do since it rained seven of the nine days. We did go on a dhow trip to the islands which are a national park and very beautiful. The crew then cooked us a seafood lunch of crab, fish, rice, curry, mangoes and bread. We then went snorkeling in the reef and were surprised that it had a lot of awesome tropical fish and plants. It was better than I expected. On the way back to shore we just used wind power from the sail.
We also bought seafood on the beach and cooked it a couple of nights. We met a lot of other PCVs from South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, and Botswana. Communicating was difficult since the official language it Portuguese and we also had a hard time with prices since the use metacais there not kwacha. It feels nice being back where we understand things a little better and can communicate with people. Also transport was long since the roads in Mozambique were much worse. More than two hours stuffed in a semi-truck going less than 30 km/h over roads that look like Swiss cheese would make anyone happy to be back home and off of transport.
It was really nice to see how things are in another African country and hear stories from other PCVs.

Before leaving for vacation I was at site for a few weeks just working in the garden and hanging out with the family. I visited a few farmers but everyone was hurry to finish planting maize before Christmas. The rains are definitely in full swing and have definitely changed the routines of village life. In the morning I love to spend time in the garden before the sun gets too hot. I will be so happy when I get back because I should have peppers, roma tomatoes, cucumbers, and plenty of carrots which I had already been eating. I definitely eat well in the village and I really enjoy cooking on my fuel efficient stove, but nearly every time PCVs get together we hae long conversations about food fantasies. For instance in transport from Katete to Lusaka yesterday we spent at least 20 minutes discussing the sandwich we would eat if we were in America. The dressing the veggies, the toppings, the meat, the bread. And then after everyone has described their sandwich you realize how ridiculous the conversation is. Today we’ve been indulging though: Chinese food, pastry, bagels, and real coffee.

I am going to write another report for Jim soon and that will talk more about village life and how it's going integrating into the community. I also want to post some pictures tonight at the Peace Corps office where the internet is "faster."

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! All the best in the New Year!!