Lisa and I have just returned from our first trip outside of our home in Zobue since we arrived. We left our humble abode at about 7 in the morning on December 22nd, heading to Catandica, which is where two other volunteers (Mary Zylich and Joanna Farley) live. The trip was fun, but definitely different from the sort of travel that we had become accustomed to in the states. For starters, we don't have a vehicle of our own, so we need to hitch a ride on either a private vehicle or a chapa, which is the cramped-smelly-uncomfortable approximation of public transportation. We decided that we could try to save some money and perhaps ride in a vehicle with seat belts, so we headed to the border with Malawi in order to see if we could catch some early-morning traveling tourists with tons of room in their car. After about an hour of waiting, we had nothing to show for it but a pleasant conversation with a South African woman, who explained that they didn't have enough seats for her family, much less two sweaty Americans with hiking backpacks that easily outweighed several neighborhood children. We admitted defeat and tried to get on the closest chapa and head into Tete City, about two hours away. Unfortunately, our driver thought that the best way to pack the chapa full of people was to circle Zobue, honking and attempting to run down women and children. He seemed surprised when, after half an hour of harassing pedestrians, we decided to get off and look for another ride. In fact, he was so determined to not let us off (we were, after all, two of the precious few people on his chapa), that he refused to stop and let us off until a local man informed him that holding two Americans hostage in a vehicle is not a good way to welcome them to Mozambique. So we were back on the road, two hours after we first got to it, still looking for a ride to a city that is only two hours away. We were still looking at a 5-6 hour ride to Catandica after we got to Tete. Needless to say, we were a little annoyed. So when a local drunk man walked up to us on the street and started making it clear that he was out of his mind, Lisa assertively told him that he needed to get lost. The conversation went a little like this:
Mayor of Crazyville (in English): Zimbabwe, FRELIMO, dollars, Swahili, RENAMO, Obama?
Me and Lisa (also in English): Um... what?
MC: Two smokes? No smoking. Obama, Tanzania.
Us: You aren't making any sense. (Then, in Portuguese) How are you?
MC (still in English): No, no. FRELIMO. (Bends down and pats my calfs). No smoking.
Us (reverting back to English in confusion): Sorry, dude. You are not making any sense.
MC (stepping to within six inches of me and shaping his fingers to look like a gun): Yeah, yeah... Obama. (placing his finger-gun on my chest and pushing me)
Lisa (in Portuguese, because whatever this man speaks, it clearly isn't English): You need to leave.
After that, this dude just sort of wanders off, still looking at us and making weird sounds. For some semblance of clarity, FRELIMO and RENAMO are the two leading political parties here in Mozambique. It all makes sense now, right?
Anyway, less than five minutes later, we managed to flag down a chapa going to Tete, which stopped every 5 minutes to pick up someone new. We finally arrived in Tete around 11:30, and met up with another volunteer named Amanda Moore. She has been in Mozambique for a year already, so she knew better than we did what we should do in order to get down to our final destination. She was heading down towards Chimoio, which is only 2 hours or so south of Catandica. We started walking towards the road that heads out of Tete, trying to hitch a ride the whole way. Finally, at about 1pm, a trucker named Allen tells us that he is heading to Chimoio, and he would be happy to drop us off there for 200 Meticais (about 7 or 8 US Dollars) per person. Since a chapa would be about 350Mt, and would undoubtedly be less comfortable than this trucker's bed (the only location open for sitting), we happily agreed, excited to arrive at our final destination. Allen told us that it should only take about 3.5 hours to Catandica, but he needed to get a paper stamped to show to the traffic police to let them know that he was delivering legal goods in his truck. How long could it take, right? Finally, at 2:50 pm (that's almost another 2 hours of waiting, for those keeping score at home), Allen was able to get his paper stamped. Apparently, the stamper went to lunch, which is a serious affair in Mozambique. The ride was nice, as we only had to share the twin-sized trucker bed with four Mozambicans and Amanda. We arrived in Catandica at about 6:30, and we were in Joanna and Mary's house at 7, thus bringing a twelve hour day of travel to a close. Mind you, we only we only actually traveled for about 6 hours, with the rest being spent trying to get a ride or waiting for a Mozambican to finish his lunch. Can't complain, though. Lisa and I did travel about 265 miles (425 kilometers) for about $10 each. Definitely cheaper than Greyhound, but definitely took a whole lot longer.
We spent the next 6 nights and 5 days with our fellow volunteers playing games, making food, going for walks, and just generally hanging out. It was good for us to relax with peers and speak English for a while, especially after the accident. We were planning on returning to our house on December 27th, but we learned that the Peace Corps was going to hold a memorial service for the girls who passed away. Therefore, we left Catandica for Chimoio on the 27th, rather than our house. We spent the next two days remembering Lena and Alden for the great people they were.
This morning, December 30th, we got up at 3:45 am to catch the 5 am bus from Chimoio to Tete City. We made it all the way to Tete by about 10 am, which is pretty darn fast travel for Mozambique. We stopped for some falafel for lunch, then we hopped a chapa back to Zobue. We were back in our house by 2:30 pm. It feels so good to be home.
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