Time off to travel is always welcome. There are a lot of cool spots to visit in Mozambique. I got my grades turned in on July 19th and was on the road by the morning of the 20th.
Cow and the neighborhood dogs followed me on the 5 km walk to town to send me off south-bound. I waited a few hours for a ride but eventually got a free lift in the empty back of a pick up truck. Good news: free and lots of room to lay down and half-nap the ride away. Bad news: chewing sand on the under-construction highway for the entire four hours to Nampula. Crossed the city, waited for a couple travel friends in-bound from Montepuez, and we caught a chapa for the 1.5 hour ride to Murrupula to crash at our friend's house (who had left us the key). Up early the next day for a freezing cold (yes, cold!) open-back ride another two hours down the highway to Alto Molocue, the turn-off for the backroad to Gurue (our first real destination). We crammed into another open-back (this one very full) and settled in for the three-four hour scenic ride on the backroads to Gurue via Nauela.
Spent three days in Gurue. The place is mystical and sort of incomparable. You are in rural Mozambique. You also feel like you might be in a village in the Swiss Alps. It's a lot colder than the rest of Mozambique. Instead of being surrounded by disorderly broken bush and bean plant fields (like most of the rest of the country), the town sits in a valley sunken in lush green orderly tea plantations that reach up to the feet of stunning mountains. It almost feels like a ski town in summer. Except it is still definitely Africa. And because of its rural location, there really are very few foreigners. Made for some epic hikes and barefoot runs through the tea fields up to tranquil waterfalls and stunning views. We enjoyed the company of a Peace Corps friend living there (as a health volunteer) and several other PCV's passing through.
Our departure sent us north-bound on another scenic backroad, once again jammed into an open-back truck. Passing into the rocky hills of Niassa Province, we arrived at another friend's house in Cuamba. We spent a much needed rest day at our friends house eating cheese, napping, and watching media on a laptop. He lives at a Teacher Training Institute built by the Japanese. The place is pretty simple, but the Japanese aesthetic is definitely present. Clean, pleasant spaces to relax. We hung out with several other PCV's passing through, along with a French student doing thesis work in the area. Caught a train out early the second morning with another PCV and two American med students traveling in the area. Train is a fun, relaxing, safe way to travel (see travels post from January). You can nap, buy produce out of the windows, and not worry about being run off the road by a truck.
There are lots of nice people in this world. Several months back, a well educated Mozambican woman (did a master's degree in Australia; speaks great English) picked me up on the side of the road and gave me a ride home on her way to Pemba. At the time, she mentioned that I could crash at her place in Nampula City anytime. I hadn't been in touch with her in months, but decided to give her a call. She not only put me up, but she put up my three friends as well. Family style feast and hot showers. Enough said.
I hitched my way home to Chiure the next morning (one hour chapa to the north-bound turn-off, three-hour hitched ride with Brazilian missionaries to a town south of mine, one hour in a semi-truck hto my house) to get the house cleaned up for Eric and his family. They arrived a few hours after me. It was fun showing some non-Peace Corps Americans a slice of our life here. We walked around town, cooked feasts, did the Chiure thing. They were great guests, arriving with a couple bottles of whiskey, up for the adventure and happy to chip in for a case of beer.
I originally planned to take advantage of a comfortable ride with Eric's family's car transfer out to the coast and then try to hitch my way to Ibo Island on fishing boats. Upon arriving at their lodge (a beautiful eco-lodge spot on a totally isolated stretch of Cabo Delgado coastline), the staff agreed to let me sleep in staff housing and only pay the food rate. $45/day for a PCV on a $230/month salary is a bit steep. Eric's family very generously offered to put me up and even took me along on a snorkeling trip out to the absolutely stunning Rolas Island. We enjoyed a couple beautiful days at the lodge in Guludo on some of the best beaches I have ever seen. I was even able to get a free lift on the boat transfer to Ibo Island.
Enjoyed a few days on Ibo Island, once a major Portuguese trading post and now a beautifully deserted island of old colonial ruins. Saw a few students there. Hung out with PCV's and some of their families. Ate good food at a couple fancy little lodges. High-life.
Transferred back to the mainland on a local's little boat. Waited on a beach for four hours. Then caught a lift back to Pemba. Three days in Pemba to do nothing on the beach, see friends, and do some science fair work (five hours in a Kafka-esque bank line).
Now I'm home and going in to school. But no teachers and almost no students are there. Typical first week back. Grad apps and post-vacation re-integration. Gotta rally the motivation for the final three months!
Murrupula-Alto Molocue cold morning ride.
Open-backing from Molocue to Gurue via Nauela.
Out to the mountains in Gurue.
From the top of the waterfall; view back onto Gurue.
Hiking in the hills, Gurue, Zambezia.
Tea-field kids.
Team Montepuez walking the primped roads of Gurue.
Gurue, Zambezia
Chilling in the cha.
Rolas Island, Quirimbas Archipelago
Fishing fleet, Quirimbas Archipelago
Some mediocre beaches...
Low-tide on Ilha do Ibo, Quirimbas Archipelago
Old Portuguese Fort, Ibo Island
Sunday afternoon on Wimbe Beach, Pemba
Living the hard life, Pemba, Cabo Delgado
