A Weekend in Zobwe

This weekend, Szasha and I took a little trip over to the cute town of Zobwe, which lies two hours east of Tete City. There, we visited our closest volunteer neighbors, Dan and Lisa, who have been in Mozambique for a year already. Other than us and the older married couple that live way up in the north of Tete, Dan and Lisa are the only other volunteers in our province -- so we were really happy when we met them and discovered how fun they are! Lisa has a really interesting blog, which I highly recommend you read! She writes very well and also posts beautiful photographs.

Dan and Lisa were really excited to show us around Zobwe, their gorgeous village in the mountains bordering Malawi. Zobwe is not a big town, but it is right on the border, so a lot of traffic goes through it. 

Zobwe

As we walked through the village, everyone knew who Dan and Lisa were. A chorus of "Teacher Lisa!", "Teacher Danny!" and "Good morning!" followed us wherever we went. It's nice to be able to see what life could be like in my town a few months down the road -- slightly less staring, slightly more "Good afternoon, Teacher Helena!"
The town is overlooked by and named after Mount Zobwe, a mountain which we set out to climb bright and early on Saturday morning.

Mount Zobwe

Unfortunately, since Dan and Lisa had last been up the mountain, it had rained a lot, and so the easy-to-follow trails and manageable grass had turned into an African jungle of tall grasses, stinging nettles, and thick bushes. Prime habitat for snakes!

Szasha, Dan and Lisa stomp through the Jungle.

Luckily, we didn't encounter any snakes, though I did develop a somewhat concerning rash on my arms from an allergic reaction to the plants we were wading through. (No worries, it went away.) The going was slow and arduous, and a couple of times we thought we'd have to turn back -- especially since none of us were really wearing jungle-appropriate footwear. (In fact, Lisa climbed the whole mountain in flip-flops!)

But we made it! Whew. The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking.

As I mentioned, the mountaintop marks part of the border between Mozambique and Malawi. There's a border post on the top, which we couldn't resist goofing off on.

I've been to Malawi!

By the time we got down the mountain again, it was lunchtime and we were tired and starving. Never has a bucket bath felt so refreshing and grilled chicken tasted so good. We spent the rest of the day lazing about, eating, playing bananagrams, shopping, and watching a movie. It was a great weekend.

I'm back home again now, and it's good to be back. It's hot, but what else is new? The weekend passed so quickly, and it's hard to believe tomorrow is Monday again. However, I am looking forward to classes starting for real tomorrow (hopefully). We'll see how many of my 10th graders show up -- but I have a feeling that maybe by tomorrow I will actually be able to write about my first few lessons! Stay tuned.