Saturday, September 4, 2010

Finals days the grand tour

[Internet's been shaky so here's the final post about our trip from
last month] Due to a small clause in our rental car agreement
prohibitting travel in Mozambique, we decided to visit the small
country/kingdom of Swaziland instead. On our way there from Kruger we
saw new road signs that said 'Samora Machel', the first president of
Mozambique. We'd learned during training that a renovated museum and
monument had just opened at the site of his suspicious fatal plane
crash so we decided to follow the signs. Good thing we had the rental
car and time to spare because it took over an hour to get there. The
museum itself surrounds the remains of the Soviet-made plane, and the
sculptures and informative displays had more Mozambican history than
any we've seen in country. And because the museum sits on the exact
place of the plane crash in SA, just miles from the triple border with
Moz and Swaz, this lovely monument is ironically inaccessible to most
Mozambicans. We continued on to Swaziland, a country so small we
toured it in a day. We enjoyed the rolling green landscape, friendly
smiles and small-town capital, bought some amazing crafts, spotted
royal residences and an ostrich and slept in the 'heavenly valley'.
We ended our grand tour of Southern Africa with a visit to Namaacha,
our training site, which is luckily right on the border with Swaz.
Leaving the rental car at the border, we walked 15 minutes so Janet's
mom and Tim could meet and have lunch with our host mom, Cristalina.
It felt like coming home to us to see our wonderful Mozambican mom and
we all enjoyed a delicious meal. Then we sadly walked mom and Tim back
to the border and said good-bye after five unforgettable weeks
together. Thank you both for all the memories and adventures!

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