So last week I went on a site visit to Zambezia. It is a province in the northern part of the country and it was a well needed break from training. First and foremost I only had a school backpack to pack in and I am a huge over packer…but I did it and still had too much stuff for the 5 day trip! Because Zambezia is in the north of the country we got to fly from Maputo to Quilimane, the capital of the province. One rule of the Peace Corps is that you cannot travel at night, so because my site was 4 hours and 2 chappa rides away I stayed the night in Quilimane. I had a great time just hanging out and eating pizza…I’ve missed it so much!!!
The next day I was up at 5:30 to catch my first chappa from Quilimane to Namacurra. There are no scheduled times for any type of chappa…they go once they’re full. I got to the chappa stop and had to wait around for and hour and a half in order for my chappa to fill up. (a chappa is a small van/bus thing that is meant to hold 3 people across it’s 4 rows but in Mozambique you have to have at least 4). I was lucky enough to get the front seat next to the driver. The ride to Namacurra was beautiful. It is just starting pineapple season here and the fields were what I remembered from being little and in Hawaii. Once in Namacurra I took a big truck (flat bed) to Macuse. We ended up driving around surrouding villages and it took 3 hours but it was awesome to see all the traditional mud and stick huts. This region also was the biggest exporter of coconuts while the Portuguese were in control so there are tons of trees.
I stayed in Macuse for 2 nights and had a great time just relaxing and eating Indian food (the volunteer’s neighbor is from India and constantly brings food over!) It is a very small town but is situated on the inlet and it used to be an old port. There is a beach but it is an hour away by bike. Macuse had a ‘hospital’ but it only had 2 nurses. Mozambique is in a huge need for doctors and nurses considering they only have 900 doctors for 20+ million people.
To ensure I’d be back to catch my flight I had to leave Macuse early morning of the 4th day of the trip. After doing my 2 chappa rides back to Quilimane I met up with two other trainees and we went to Zalala beach which is about an hour from Quilimane. It was so nice to be at the beach and I swam in the Indian Ocean for the first time! The water was so warm and the waves were big enough to body surf. We shared our chappa ride back with all the seafood that was just caught, including a small hammerhead shark. We had hamburgers and ice cream which was so good! My first of both since getting to Mozambique!!
Once home we had our normal classes resume but I am so re-energized and excited to finish training and get to site that I don’t mind it! It was just the same thing for so long but now I can see the finish line and it is pretty sweet! We are also allowed to go to Maputo by ourselves and have a later curfew which is so nice! I went to Maputo yesterday and had a great time buying capulnas (like a sarong that you can make things out of) and jewelry. The Mozambique soccer team, the mambabas, won a world cup qualifying game yesterday against Tunisia and it was so cool to be in the capital for the win!!! Wish I had gone to the game but hopefully I’ll bee able to see them in the world cup!
I find out my site on Thanksgiving and am so excited!!! I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on where I end up! Hope everyone is well and is gearing up for the holiday season! I did get Elf on my computer and am so excited to watch it (not to mention it will be the closest I can get to snow!).
Love,
Ana
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