Our Last Week of Vacation

This is the last week of summer break before teachers have to report on the 12th (classes start the 18th) so we have been trying to finish up some projects around the house. These include white washing several rooms with lime to cover the cement patches. We also had to rewire the electricity after one of our sockets started to smoke (this is normal here, don’t worry). We also decorated our new fresh walls with African batiks, pictures from home, and lots of maps (visitors are particularly impressed with the quantity of maps). Our landlords removed their satellite dish from our house (which used to be their house) and moved it so they could watch the upcoming Africa Cup soccer games in Angola. Unfortunately the dish removal left a large chunk of cement missing from the side of our house, which the landlord has promised to fix this week! We also got to give our first lesson to local youth activists at the church with a group of Chilean volunteers. We taught them about HIV transmission and prevention. Another exciting event in our week was our second trip to the neighboring border town in Malawi, where we found our nearest Peace Corps volunteer, who is also a new science teacher at the secondary school. We recognized him immediately because he was white, wearing Chaco sandals and carrying a Peace Corps bag! Once we get bikes, he’ll be about 20 minutes away, so we are pretty excited. Also, he spent last summer working in Yosemite Valley chasing bears, so we have lots in common. In the kitchen, we have been moving beyond our comfort zone of chile beans and spaghetti and experimenting with new local ingredients such as pumpkin, manioc, white sweet potato, various leafy greens and okra. We were also pleased to have some favorite familiar veggies appear suddenly at our market including eggplant (Luc’s favorite), green beans, lettuce and avocados (Janet’s favorite). We have not yet ventured into the dried fish section of the market although our neighbors assure us that when rehydrated and fried it tastes like fresh fish. As we continue to adjust to our new lifestyle, we have been feeling a bit homesick this weekend. Janet in particularly has been having strong food cravings, and even stated she would exchange her dear husband for an American cupcake. So she did the next best thing, which was to bake Mozambican cupcakes, an acceptable substitute!

Backyard Bushwhacking

This Saturday we decided to attempt to summit one of the beautiful granite mountains that stand behind our town. We set out on the path our friend told us about and started to climb. As our elevation rose, we saw the ecosystem change to more lush, overgrown cloud forest. The trees were enormous and the sounds of birds and monkeys permeated the shady magical environment. We were surely the only people on the mountain, although we saw some stick shacks and flags (we later learned that they Nyau brotherhood come stay on the mountain). We scrambled to the top of one of the granite domes and took in the 360 degree views of Mozambique and Malawi. The exhilarating openness of the top was soon forgotten as we descended into the dense forest again. We lost our original trail on the way down, and while we were still on a trail, it had not been maintained for years. The tropical leaves, vines and branches grabbed at our ankles and scratched our arms as we whacked through the overgrowth. We were not lost, as we had a clear view of the valley below but it took us 2 hours to emerge from the bushes, moving very slowly and wishing we had brought a machete! We made it home eventually though and we are already planning our next trip up the mountain, next time with a guide!

Running/Walking in Mozambique

Every evening as the weather cools down and the tropical sun’s intensity diminishes, we like to go in the countryside and get some physical exercise. Sometimes we go on our own, and sometimes we have an entourage of neighborhood kids to escort us. Sometimes we pick up curious people along the way who join us for a while and then disappear. Lucas prefers running and Janet favors quick walking, so we usually split up for about 30 minutes while we carry out our respective workouts. We live just a few homes from the edge of town, so within minutes we are in a landscape of gentle hills covered by cornfields interspersed with large mango trees with continuous views of the surrounding mountains and granite monuments. The soft evening light makes the area's inherent beauty even more spectacular and at first we felt continuous urges to take pictures at every vantage point (although we were told during training not to do this so as not to be perceived as tourists). Since the network of paths cross the Mozambique/Malawi boundary without warning, our evening outings are often international events. Sometimes it is difficult to know which language to greet passer-bys in, English or Portuguese (Good Afternoon or Boa Tarde?) which I why we need to learn Chichewa, which is spoken by both populations. In the rural areas people are often quite surprised to see white people and we receive vary reactions, from running and hiding in the brush to attempts to communicate with us in Chichewa (which we cannot understand, but this doesn’t discourage some people from continuing to try) to the simpler (and universally understood) thumbs up sign. Hopefully we can continue this enjoyable evening routine after the school year starts.