On Buses and Whale Sharks

Happy New Year to everyone! We are back from our holiday in Mozambique and determined to make the most of 2007. Hard to believe that we have already been in Swaziland for 7 months now!

Our holiday season went very well even though I did find myself missing family and friends rather acutely. But we were pleasantly distracted by our travels in the beautiful country of Mozambique. It is interesting how a short couple hour drive from Swaziland places you in a country that is palpably separate from its neighbor! Even other than the obvious difference in language (my rudimentary Spanish did nothing to aid in communicating with Portuguese speaking peoples) the culture is also very different. Perhaps it also had to do with the time of year, but Mozambicans seem to be a bit more free-spirited than Swazis. Especially in the city (Maputo) there is a very Latin feel while still putting its own African twist on things. I think we will definitely visit again!

The highlight of our vacation however, was Tofo Beach. About a 7 hour drive north of Maputo (or a hellish 12 hours if you are unlucky enough to get on the bus with radiator problems). Although we miserably arrived after a horrible bus ride on plastic covered seats in a packed bus making many stops (both because it was New Year’s Eve and because the radiator required several fill-ups ending in a 2 hour stop at a garage in some random town) in a torrential downpour, to find out that the backpackers we were booked at has "charming" traditionally built grass/straw structures which don’t hold up very well to torrential rain. Think very wet and sandy sleeping quarters… But the sun came out for good on the 2nd and revealed how perfect it can be to lay in a hammock on the beach listening to the waves. It was beautiful once we had fully dried out.

We even had the chance to go swimming with a whale shark. It was really quite and adventure as the ocean was very choppy that day and the tour guide did little other than hand out flippers and snorkels and then take us out into the middle of the Indian Ocean (okay..we could still see land but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have swam to it) and tell us when to jump in! It was pretty terrifying but also exhilarating. As I was trying to remember all that I knew about snorkeling from the one time I had gone before (8 years ago!) and trying not to think about how deep the water was or what else could be lurking below, swimming along side a 12 foot whale shark was really amazing! I think I appreciate the experience more now that I’m back on dry land.

Needless to say, I wasn’t quite ready to come back from the beach, however, now that we are back we are looking forward to really digging in and seeing what we can accomplish in our community. We are excited for the new school year to start in a couple of weeks as we will be starting to work with the high school students. Also, everyone just seems to kind of take a break while school is out so there isn’t a whole lot of anything going on here right now. So for now, we are doing well and will hopefully have more news for you all soon!