Blogathon Day 5: A Fortaleza (The Fort)

Ilha de Moçambique, an island off the northern coast of Mozambique, was the capital of Portuguese East Africa for hundreds of years. On it lies the fortaleza (fort) which houses Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere.

Creepy abandoned hallways

Beautiful tropical waters

Canon inscription

The chapel

Graffiti

The Indian Ocean

Blogathon Day 4: I Conseguired!

Since I got here, there's something I've always wanted to be able to do, and that's carry things on my head. Mozmabican women carry EVERYTHING on their head. All the time.

 Finally, after much trial and tribulation, I DID IT.

Here's the photographic evidence. I walked around with this water bottle on my head for a good 20 minutes.

Boo yah!



SO MOZAMBICAN



Blogathon Day 3: Headphones

I don't know if its a cultural thing or what, but students here can do the same thing over and over again without getting tired of it. For example, the primary school kids come out every morning like clockwork, stand in the field in front our our house, and sing some chants with their teachers. One of the chants goes like this:

Teacher: "Crianca?" ("Child?")
Kids: "Sou eu!" ("That's me!")
Teacher: "Crianca?" ("Child?")
Kids: "Sou eu!" ("That's me!")
All: "As flores que nunca murcham!" ("The flowers that never wilt!")

Cute chant, right? Except that I have heard this chant repeated at least a dozen times every school day since I moved here. I am certainly tired of this chant. And yet, somehow, the kiddos are not. They laugh and scream and jump up and down every time they get to sing this little song.

This mentality sticks with the students as they get older. Our trusted water boy, Izaquel, is a great little dude. He's hardworking, he's honest, he does more than we ask him to. The only problem we've had with him is with a little song called Danza Kuduro.

Danza Kuduro is a hit song, half-Spanish, half-Portuguese, that took Mozambique by storm. Even though its a couple of years old, this song is still played like its the hottest track on the charts.

Izaquel recently got Danza Kuduro on his little phone. He was very excited about it, and played the song as loud as it would go on his tinny little phone speaker. He danced exuberantly and we all laughed. Then he played it again and we laughed some more.

After the 5th time, we were not laughing. "OK, stop playing that song now, Iz,"  we had to tell him, and he looked crestfallen.

The next day, at 6 a.m. I was woken by "DANZA KUDUROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  blasting outside of my window. That day, Izaquel played the song about 20 more times. The next few days, I must have heard that song over a hundred times.

Finally, I broke.. "Izaquel, don't you have any headphones for that thing?"  I snapped.

He looked at me, sadly. "No, teacher. Sorry. I can stop listening to it."

I threw him a pair of headphones. "You can have these ones, under ONE condition."

His eyes lit up. Having headphones would boost his cool factor at school by several points. "What's the condition?"

"I never, never, NEVER want to hear that song out loud again. Deal?"

He laughed, as he gleefully grabbed the earbuds. "I can do that, teacher!"

The funny thing is, the next day as I was on a chapa, I put my own headphones in, and I had the sudden, overwhelming desire to listen to...

...absolutely anything but Danza Kuduro!