Holiday Travels Pt. I: Christmas in the Mato

January 10, 2014

Jan. 11, 2013

Sitting in my veranda, listening to music and feeling really grateful to be back at site. The empregados are probably wondering 'whatthefuck is this branca listening to and why does she keep playing the same four songs over and over?!' My travels from the past few weeks have given me some perspective and made me realize how chique my site is in comparison to many places in and out of Moz. At one point during my travels I thought, "I just want to be back at site, where I know HOW much things cost." As exhilirating as traveling can be, it can also be quite exhausting. More on that later, but let's rewind:

Before heading off for my grand northern adventure, I passear'ed to a few other sites here in central. My first stop was Mavudzi-Ponte, a small mato (bush/rural) site in the eastern province of Tete. My friend Helen is posted there. Her parents were coming to visit her for the holidays and she graciously invited me and a few other PCVs to crash their celebrations. Mavudzi is a quiet little town that sits on the Zambezi River. It sits about an hour outside of Tete City and it's HOT. BALLS HOT. Tete is notorious for being one of the hottest, if not the hottest, province in country and well, let's just say this reputation is well deserved. My site, on the contrary, is one of the cooler places in Mozambique because it sits on high altitude amongts the mountains, sooo I was DYING. I literally did not know what to do with myself. I think I spent a lot of time just sitting in front of the fans and waiting for the sun to set, aha. Overall though, the visit was really nice and relaxing. We passear'ed around town (which took us a total of 10-15 minutes) hiked to the nearby hills, played some card games, sat in front of the fans, and ate some of Mrs. Shaw's delicious cooking!

Overlooking Mavudzi-Ponte

Strolling around town

Highlight of the trip: Taylor made Cinamon rolls! Christmas Eve (day) was spent eating lots of these tasty treats as you can see from this picture below:

How I spent Christmas Eve :D ahah

Christmas Eve with a few fellow PCVs and the Shaw family

After dinner, the volunteers and I walked down to this little barraca (bar), got some road beers and headed down towards the river. We sat down on the side of the road close to the river, not daring to make it down by the river bank in the absolute darkness. We chilled out there, talking about who-knows-what... but in those moments of silence, I looked up at the sky- it was FULL of stars. Stars like you've never seen. It was beautiful. I thought to myself, "christmas in the mato!" Here I was, sitting with a handful of colleagues out in the BUSH. I thought about where I was last year- partying in Inhambane City and Tofo- a completely different environment and part of the country. & now I was here, out in the bush under a sky full of stars. I thought, "a whole calendar year lived in Africa,.... BOOM!" I felt proud. 2013 was a challenging year, but it was also a year of distinct experiences and I know that these experiences will stay with me as I continue to learn, grow, and travel to new corners of the world.

Sunset

Helen, if you're reading this. Thanks again for letting us spend Christmas with you and your family. Cumprimentos para teus pais!

Christmas Day:

Moving on to Christmas Day. Helen's parents drove us into the city where I parted ways and made my way up to Zobue, a charming border town that sits in between picturesque mountains on the way to Malawi. Once there, I hung out with the Tete 21ers, the newcomers to central, who I must say- are a pretty legit group. We hung out on Emma and Sienna's porch, ate a delicious Christmas feast, had a 'white elephant' gift exchange, and sang a hilarious PC MOZ rendition of '12 days of Christmas.' The following day, a group of us hiked Mt Zobue, which was quite the journey but definitely worth the effort. The hike was characterised by rocky cliffs, dense forest and stunning views. The pictures we took do NOT do this landscape justice. It was so incredibly gorgeous. I will definitely be going back to this site and escaping back into the mountain jungle!