Christmas Vacation Part 3: Safari!

Imagine an exhibit on African animals in your local zoo. Elephants, zebras, lions, etc, all milling about their enclosures. People oggling the animals, the carnivores staring hungrily at the herbivores, everyone separated from each other by a wire fence as as three basketball players standing on top of each other. At least you see animals, right? But it's not really nature, is it? I mean, how authentic is your experience if you're staring at a miserable polar bear through a sheet of glass in the middle of a hot summer, while standing next to a frazzled mom saying "Timmy, gross! Take that used gum out of your mouth this instant!"

Now take out the fences separating the animals from the people and from each other. Take out the animals that don't belong in that part of the world. Take out Timmy and his ABC gum. And then put it all in a gorgeous corner of Africa  and you can start to imagine Kruger National Park.

Granted, the people are inside their cars, but the animals -- they're out, wandering around the bush, going about their lives in their natural habitat, completely oblivious to the people ten feet away from them, who are staring from their car windows with the tell-tale click-click-click of their cameras. And there's so many of them! Everywhere you turn, there's an elephant crossing the road, or a pack of impala hanging about, on the lookout for predators. It gets to the point where you start to say things like "Oh, look. Another baboon....no biggie."

We spent two days in Kruger and one day in the Maputo Special Reserve, and we saw so many animals. What follows is but a sliver of the wildlife we encountered.

Zebra, leopard tortoise, waterbuck, impala, elephant, rhino, wildebeast, hyena, baboon, lions, vultures, water buffalo, giraffes, ground hornbill, tortoise.

Next up: Maputo, the Big City!

Christmas Vacation Part 2: "Home" for the Holidays

While most of my volunteer friends went home home for the holidays, my parents and I hopped on a plane from Victoria Falls to my Mozambican "home" in Tete. Even coming from the natural beauty of Victoria Falls, Tete still looked gorgeous from the airplane.

This is where I live. Amazing, huh?

 

Our quaint little airport.

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, but this one was kind of... strange. There we were, my parents and I, sitting in my little concrete house, in a hundred degree weather, taking turns using my latrine. However, while my dad was fiddling around with the electric sockets in my house and sharpening my knives, my mom and I put together a little Christmas shrine to get in the mood, all the while listening to Christmas music.

O Christmas Shrine

There were a few volunteers nearby that didn't go home for the holidays, so we invited them over and had a lovely, laid-back Christmas. We cooked a bunch of wonderful things (Taylor made absolutely delicious cinnamon rolls one day) and just kind of.... hung out. It was very relaxado.

I was way overdue for a haircut.

Taylor and Laura get ready to make some s'mores.

Leeloo makes herself comfortable on Mama's lap.

We did Christmas the European way, celebrating on the 24th, and then first thing on Christmas day, we drove to Tete City to fly to Maputo. Of course, the Mozambican airline, LAM, being as awful as it is, canceled our flight on Christmas day because all the airport workers didn't feel like working, so we ended up staying at my friend's house for the night. (Seriously, only LAM would cancel a flight due to worker laziness.) Still, we got rebooked for the next flight and on the 26th, were off to the next leg of our journey.

Next up: Safari!

Christmas Vacation Part 1: Victoria Falls

After eagerly counting down the days in anticipation, on the 16th of December I finally stepped into a plane in Tete, arriving an hour later in Johannesburg. Good lord, was that overwhelming -- in the Joburg arrivals area, there was a huge Christmas tree, throngs and throngs of muzungus, and so many shiny, sparkly things. Too much to handle! So, in order to cope, I bought myself a mocha at the coffee shop (Aah, much better!) and sat down to await the arrival of my parents. After meeting up with them, we hopped on a plane to Victoria Falls to start our three-week journey.

Arriving at Victoria Falls' tiny airport.

Victoria Falls, originally known as Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the largest waterfall in the world -- though Niagra falls is longer, and Iguaçu falls higher, Victoria falls has the largest single sheet of falling water and is an impressive sight to behold.

Naturally, the day we arrived it was raining. (Little did we realize at the time, this was to become a common theme of our trip.) Though we wanted to see the falls right away, the $10 per person per day entry fee made us rethink our decision. We pushed the sightseeing to the next day, instead booking a sunset cruise for the evening and floating past crocodiles, birds, and hungry hungry hippos on the Zambezi river. Mama and Papa were both still struggling from jet lag, and the gentle rocking of the boat eventually got the better of both of them ("I'm not sleeping!" followed shortly thereafter by snoring...), but it was still a nice evening.

Quaint little cruiseboat.

"Enjoying" the cruise.

Wildlife on the Zambezi.

The next morning, bright and early, we made the 5 minute walk to from out hotel to the falls. We could see the mist from the falls and hear the roaring of the water long before we got there. It was a drizzly day, but I'm not sure how much of the water that drenched me was rain and how much was just water vapor from the incredible amount of water gushing over the falls. It certainly was a sight to behold.

Mist blocked the visibility but added to the wow factor of the view.

Victoria Falls sits on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. We toured the Zimbabwe side only, which has the more commanding view of the falls. On the Zimbabwean side, there is a park with a path that runs along the other side of the gorge, with a dozen or so viewing points along it. 

Look at all that water. Just look at it.

After our leisurely morning stroll along the falls, we headed to the bridge over the Zambezi river for an important appointment -- I had to jump off a bridge!

Getting harnessed up.

Bungee jumping is something I've wanted to try for years, and what better place to jump off a bridge than Victoria Falls? I got all harnessed up and the technicians told me what to expect ("We're going to count down from 5, and if you don't jump we're going to push you.") Surprisingly, I was not that nervous -- sure, it was a long way down, but I knew I was attached to a bungee rope and the technicians were very professional. They hooked me onto the bungee cord, counted "5...4...3...2..." and on "1" with no push from them, I leapt off the platform and into the Zambezi River Gorge.

Bungee jumping!

What a rush.

After the adrenaline-bomb that was bungee jumping, we went to go do something a lot more calm. My mother, whose heart skipped several beats watching me freefall off a bridge, had her own activity that she wanted to do. For as long as I can remember, her favorite animal has been elephants -- so, when presented with the opportunity, we jumped at the chance to do an elephant-back safari.

One of the elephants that we rode.

We hopped up onto our respective elephants and ambled through the nearby wildlife reserve, spotting a few impala and waterbuck in the bush. Riding an elephant was kind of like riding a horse, though the gait was understandably slower. (Bump...bee dee bump... bee dee bump... as opposed to BUMPIDDY BUMPIDDY BUMP) Due to years of horseriding, I couldn't help myself but ride with good posture ("Heels down! Chin up! Sit up straight!")

After the ride, we got to sit down an interact with our elephants, which was really neat. The trainers talked to us about how they train the elephants, gave us elephant facts, and let us pet, hug, feed, and sit with our elephants. Pretty neat.

I think Mama enjoyed the elephants. Just a bit.

That night, we all slept soundly. It had been a very full day and a half at Victoria Falls, and we had a flight the next morning to Johannesburg.

Next time: Christmas in my village with the parents and several friends!

And Then There Were Two

It's been a while since I updated, and that's because I've been so busy with my new roommate! That's right, I've got a new person to share Mavudzi-Ponte with. Her name's Laura, she's been living with me for about a week -- first in the living room, since Redi hadn't moved out yet, but now she's got an Actual Bedroom.

Laura

It's been really nice to have Laura. She's only been here a short while, but I feel myself in a better mood in general already. Mavudzi-Ponte is a great place to be, but I did get very lonely last year, and I'll be so happy to have Laura around this next year to joke with, talk to, complain to, and laugh with.

We've spent the last week trying to get our house moved in and clean, and ready to receive the influx of visitors that are coming next week. That's right, in T minus four days, I meet my parents in Johannesburg, and shortly thereafter we'll all descend upon Mavudzi-Ponte for a wonderful Christmas.

More to come! Life is great!

'Tis the Season to be Thankful

Just one day after returning from my week down south, I did an about face and left town again, this time heading to Vanduzi, a town just outside of Chimoio where my friend Haleigh lives. Haleigh and I spent all day cooking and baking to prepare for Thanksgiving -- we made stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted squash, and apple crisp. YUM. I snacked a lot all day long, and was really not hungry for dinner -- but then when Haleigh made some bomb noodles with pesto sauce, I ate more anyway.

Haleigh is a cooking fiend.

 I really enjoyed spending a quiet day with Haleigh. Since everyone left, she's my closest PCV neighbor (only 6 hours away...!) and it was nice to hang out with her and chat. A lot of our volunteer events are these huge gatherings of people, which is fun but very tiring. Chilling out in lovely Vanduzi with a good friend and a cold Manica was just the thing to re-energize me.

 The next morning, Haleigh and I packed up our food and hitchhiked to Messica, another town in the "suburbs" or Chimoio just 20 km away. There, we met up with the Central crowd (those of us that are left, anyway!) and we celebrated Thanksgiving together. We had tons of food, including my personal favorite, mashed potatoes.

A thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey!

A perfect Thanksgiving meal.

Since the Moz 17 cohort left a few weeks ago, the people at our Thanksgiving were almost all from Moz 19, my training cohort. We had a chance to reconnect, see each other before most leave for Christmas back home in America, and have a "just us" hangout before Moz 21 gets here.

Moz 19 hangout time.

Very soon -- almost too soon, in fact -- the new Moz 21 Central crew will arrive in Chimoio. We have seven new volunteers coming to Tete and six new volunteers going to Manica. Things are sure going to get shaken up around here! On Saturday, I will get my new roommate, Laura!

I'm very, very excited for Laura to move in. I can't wait to share Mavudzi-Ponte with someone. I'm also excited about having so many other new faces and friends in Tete. This day came so fast though -- there are so many things I wanted to do before Laura moves in -- like hang curtains, paint the walls, reorganize the living room -- but with her move-in day coming up so fast, I've had to revise my to do list. Priority #1 now is: Get current roommate to move out, clean enough so Laura doesn't judge me a slob when she sees the place, and, if I have time, hang some Christmas decorations.

Sunday was the first Advent, and thus it is now Time To Play Christmas Music and also Time to Decorate the House. I've always tried to wait until the first Advent to start getting into the Christmas mood, but this year I jumped the gun a little. Last week, I spent a night in Tete City with my Canadian missionary friends Karmen,  Eric, and Odin. Karmen, Odin and I spent the afternoon baking and decorating Christmas cookies.

Apparently Canadian cookies are not noticeably different from American ones.

Odin masterfully places cookies on the sheet.

The finished product.

Now, its time for me to start thinking about my own christmas cookies! My parents are coming to visit, and I'm meeting them in Johannesburg in just over two weeks. It's an African Christmas for us this year!

I am wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving and happy holidays from sunny, hot Tete!