The Adventures of Mozam Kam....

Family life!

There have been so many things going on in my house here in Mozambique…..I know its bad to gossip but this my friends and family is what you call true family life!

Im just going to give you a list of things that have happened and launch into each below:

1. Neighbours in the garage.

2.‘Nao e bom!’

3. Flora’s in the ring *ding ding*…..Round 1!

4.Did you say RATO or RATOS…

Neighbours in the garage

1. So yes people my room in Casa Branca (White House) is right next to the garage and I have a beautiful view of its interiors as my windows look into it. The other day I was speaking on the phone and I could hear some coughing in the garage. I wanted to investigate as I was convinced my host Mum was allowing our gardener to stay on the property at night as he seems to be here at the crack of dawn and last thing at night. There was a lot of moving around over the last week week but I was to scared to look just in case he thought I was being nosey (which of course I was). Anyway, the next night I decided I would just shine my touch inside the garage to see what was going on (very discreet I know!) as I heard more coughing, shuffling and moving around! Inside the garage was a GOAT attached to a string and I was actually shocked. It was peeing and the other thing all over the floor and now Ive realised that’s whats been making my room smell a little farm like like NOW, its really horrible. Im also convinced that it was the goats (I say goats because I later discovered that there were two) that have given me this HORRIBLE cough. I don’t know if it really is possible to contract Goat Flu but the garage isn’t that well ventilated and so all the air just circulates from my room to the garage and vice versa so im sure I caught it from them!!! Its that cough were you are ‘ok’ in the day then at night….wow…you could almost cough your lungs out your mouth. Although to be honest, the weather has changed here and its Winter! I have a duvet at night to keep me warm as temperatures drop to around 10oC and in the day we have highs of about 27-28oC but it always feels FREEZING to me. Everyone is wearing hoodies, coats scrafs and all the babies seem to have these knitted ear muffed bobble hats. Its very cute….

2. “Nao e Bom”

Was the genral feeling toward my behaviour last weekend and this is just me getting it off my chest once and for all. Me and my host Mum & the empregarder (house helper) have a silent understanding that I will always text when I am not coming home on the weekend or if I am coming home late. This particular weekend I was a little bit zoned or in the moment of being free and it being the weekend that I completely forgot to let my host Mum know that I wouldn’t been back until Sunday afternoon having left for work on Friday morning. On Sunday morning I had suddenly realised I had made no contact with either of the ladies and I receive a message saying ‘good morning’….that was it. TROUBLE. I quickly composed a message which apologised for not being in contact and that I would be home later in the afternoon for my host brother 25^th Birthday Party! Needless to say there was no response! When I arrived home my host Mum, in front of about 15 members of her family, proceed to embarrass me my saying that not texting her was ‘Nao e bom’ meaning….not good, that I had been gone for two days and that this was Maputo….ANYTHING could have happened to me. If you were that concerned about this being Maputo and that ANYTHING happning to me why didn’t you just check that nothing had happened considering I had never done this before! I just kept saying sorry while all eyes were on me, then her, then me, then her. The other problem I have is that whenever I call my host Mum (Im just going for it now) she never answers the phone or calls me back. This is just me, but if someone calls you twice or three times consecutively then I would maybe be concerned that there is a problem…..never has a phone call be returned to find out if Im ok when I have done this and this is in a city where ANYTHING could happen. Im just getting it all off my chest but its cool as I know It’s a big responsibility being responsible for someone you only met 4 months ago so I do understand her concerns. I know its good and it is for my own safety but its driving me a little crazy. I discussed that matter with some of the other volunteers and they are having similar problems to me. I think its more a cultural thing than an individual problem and considering that this was the first time I had not let her know where I was I was surprised at the reaction. Im cool with it and I will just play by the rules….its just family life I suppose.

Flor’s in the ring *ding ding*…..Round 1!

My host brother has a girlfriend by the name of Flor….she is a force to be reckoned with at the age of 21. She’s a little in your face a little brash and just a little too much at times.

For example, she asked if she could borrow my nail varnish (Revlon £6.99 a bottle…). “Yeah, no problem Flor” I said... .. She took the varnish about 1 month ago and I have yet seen it be returned to me. I have asked and asked and asked and nothing has happened. One response was did I want her to go out in the dark to get it from the salon, bearing in mind it was probably only about 8pm and the Salon is in the Garden, ….eerrr Flor, 1. Yes, is the answer to that question (but of course I said no) and 2. What the hell is my personal varnish (Revlon £6.99 a bottle) doing business in the Salon for

She also was quiet ballsey and cracked her head round the door of my room and had a good old gander at all my creams, hair products sprays etc….asking what I needed them all for….errrr hello Miss thing is it ANY of your business.

So yeah, Flor just found out that my host brother has been seeing two other women in and around the area….uh oh. It was like being a part of Eastenders or one of the many Brazilian Novelas that are on TV 4 times a day. The whole thing was crazy and I think it started on the Sunday of my host cousins birthday party. After the party ended at about 7pm my host brother disappeared and no one knew where he was. Flor had her suspicion and I think she managed to sniff him out to a womens house down the road! She was brewing but let it slide for a few days not really talking to him. You could feel the tension in the air. She left the brewing until mid week and then EXPLODED like a ticking time bomb.….POW WOW! My host Mum is not around at the moment as she is travelling to Tete which borders Zambia and Malawi. Needless to say Flor went mental…..punching, kicking, shouting, screaming, crying the WORKS with the empregarder cheering her on from the side lines. I was on the phone to my boyfriend (yes, I have a Mozambican boyfriend) who just told me to stay in my room. I mean I understand being angry really I do they have been together for about 5 years and she loves him (when shes not flirting with my friends right in front of her potential mother-in-law eyes). Again, this is family life at The White House….what can I say. Drama, drama, drama…..I love it! She moved out about 3 days after the Big Fight live and then the next day my host brother brought another women in ‘discreetly’. The day after that Flor turned up on the door step and it seems everything is back to normal.

Did you say Rato or Ratos….?

The Rats are back in town. I hadn’t really been stressing about them for the last couple of months as I haven’t seen or heard them. However, over the last few weeks Ive seen rat poison on the shelf in the front room and obviously my suspicions were aroused but I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. I just assumed they had been killed off without my knowing BUT, my people, on Friday I saw something shoot across the kitchen and under the cooker! The teacloth hanging over the oven door was left rippling as the back of the rat must have brushed it. I know youre all saying but was it a rat or just a mouse….Im not going to down play this at all. The word for mouse or rat in Portuguese is RATO so I take that as a direct translation minus the letter ‘o’ and you have RAT. So I was watching TV in the house on my own and there was a wwwwwwhhhhhhole heap of noise coming from the kitchen. I was actually s*%ting myself as it sounded like things being thrown about and the dustbin being pushed over…. Its amazing how much noise these creatures can make your mind here. My host cousin said that we need to do something as they keep running in his room when he is sleeping….eeerrr hello, into your room. Well that night I obviously couldn’t sleep! I actually heard ‘something’ outside and screamed in my room but no one came to my rescue (thank god). I wouldn’t have been able to explain my craziness in Portuguese and so I took direct action at 12am. I shoved all my dirty clothes at the bottom of the door along with my wellington boots (don’t ask why I have them or why I thought they would keep me safe) and a large bottle of water filled ¼ of the way. I tell you, Im wasted as a volunteer…..pest control solutions officer should be my new job title. Anyway, I slept well but I actually think that the ‘something’ outside was the goats clattering about in the garage.

Feeling a little down.....

Im feeling a little down people. Not in am major way like I want to come home but more along the lines of just being fed up! Mozarte, which I haven’t really talked much about for a while, is driving me crazy hence why I haven’t spoken about it for a long time. Im putting it out there because its stressing me out and it really shouldn’t be. Ive come to work there as a volunteer, doing what I can to help but the people of Mozarte are scared of change. Scared to put themselves on the line and put a little trust into people that can see the potential of the organisation that they work for and want to help propel it forward. SCARED….*sigh*

Mozarte is one of a kind in Mozambique. There is nothing like it ANYWHERE in the country. I don’t know if I have ever explained the set up but just in case I haven’t I will go through it for you so we are on the same page. I work at Mozarte 3 days a week. The centre is a really lovely place it has been built on a square and so there is a central raised island which normally has tables with chairs and umbrellas for the lunch crowd.

There are 5 workshops running around the square which have equipment for Weaving, Tailoring Ceramics, Batik, Wood Work, Metal Work and Leather production. The leather, Tailoring and Ceramics rooms are at present the only rooms that have people ‘producing’ (I use this word VERY loosely). The other 4 rooms are not producing anything and have no designers within them and so have been left to gather dust. The idea behind the centre is that each of the disciplines shown above have a skilled professional who is responsible for training a student in their area of skill. At anyone time there can be three students being trained at the same time over the course of 3 months. At the end of the 3 months the student should have basic knowledge of there chosen area to go on and start there on small business or continue to make products for Mozarte. All products made are sold in the shop attached to Mozarte which is in a fantastic position avaible to catch the eye of any passerby. At present the shop is difficult to see because the window is not well lit and there are many cars that have been parked in front and there is no clear signs indicating that the shop is actually there. The concept to me is brilliant and gives amazing opportunities to young people that have an interested in being creative.

The centre is not functioning AT ALL at the moment and so that is where my role was suppose to kick in…*sigh*. Mozarte was originally funded by UNESCO up until 5 years ago. It had 300 students going through the doors each year. It was then given over to the Ministry (which I think is the Mozambique version of the UK government). I think they thought that it would be better funded and looked after but sadly it has not worked out that way. Mozarte is funded under the umbrella of Youth and Sports instead of Culture and the focus over the last few years has been within sport as Mozambique is hosting the African version of European Games. This has left the youth section with NADA especial in regards to art (hence why we should really be under culture section but even then, Im sure there would be some reason not to give money to Mozarte).

Last week Marion (a VSO volunteer that I work with) and I decided we wanted to surge ahead as on the 3^rd of September the African Games will start. Mozarte has been given a shop within the stadium to sell products over the two weeks that the games are being held! We have to make A LOOOOOOOOT of things because we have nothing but "dusty god only knows what" in the shop. I honestly cannot even bare to go in the shop through shear embarresment but hey….what can I do! So we have been having MAJOR difficulties with getting some cash because of ‘procedures’. I am all for procedures if they make sense but what Marion and I were confronted with just sent us a little wild in the eyes. Apparently when starting any production of any item being made at Mozarte you are required to complete the following:

A plan of what you are intending to make ei. A sketch of some sort (no problem). The sketch must show all trims and fabrics required (no problem)
2. You must then go to the shop and get THREE quotes from three different shops for each of the trims or fabrics required. This is for things like a zips, a button, thread etc….(no comment)
3. You then come back and give the quotations that you have acquired to the office manager and she will check and verify each price (this can take weeks depending on how she is feeling on the day)
4. The office manager will then either work out the average price or just select the cheapest item on the list
5. You are then given the cash to make the purchases as required with receipts and you may even be required to show what you have bought along with receipts! (thats if what you want has sold out because you've had to wait soooooo long for an approval of the 'list')

Marion and I just saw LOOOOOOONG written all over this 5 step programme and asked if it was possible to just have 1000.00 metical’s which is the equivalent to £20 to buy what we needed over the course of the month and we would provide receipts for each purchase. We would then be happy to complete an invoice with all receipts attached and give it to the office manager for her records. COMPUTER SAID NO! I would have been happy to follow this ‘procedure’ (begrudgingly) if it wasn’t for the fact that we only have 2 months to fill a very large shop with top notch product.

My patients levels are currently non existent and thats something that is required in abundance in Mozambique. I had a bit of what can only be described as a ‘ding-dong’ with the office manager and she now has only daggers for me which I can live with as long as she just gives us the money. Whats strange is that Marion and I are not doing any of this work for our benefit and we are not being paid, yet the people that it will benefit and are still getting paid couldn’t give a flying fart! I need to have a different approach and a way of dealing with this problem because at present its just aggravating me and I really feel like Im wasting my time. Having been at Mozarte since mid February we have been asked to' plan' up to our eyeballs and even with plans we have not been given any money. We have requested that the missing technicians within ceramics, wood work, metalwork and Batiking be employed and NOTHING has happened.

I am going to leave it there for now......Im going to the beach! Next week is another week and Im going to see what powers I have to switch the whole thing up!!! OMG. Have fun in the Sun I heard its super HOT at the moment.

I have more blogs about my recent trip to South Africa....will be posted 'shortly' (as I always say)....

Tchau, ate logo

xxx

PS. My camera is still broken. Im still really upset....working on a solution with about 3 other people. The blogs just arnt the same without them!

Become a FOLLOWER.....oooowwwww!

HAPPY EASTER PEOPLE.....

I have added a new feature to my blog which allows you to follow me so that when I post a new blog you will be emailed.....isnt that nice of me!

It should be in the tool bar on the right hand side of the screen.

I will be posting a new blog shortly about going to a football match this weekend in Zimpeto. I was amidst a riot!!! I will tell you all about it so tune in to more adventures of Mozam Kam.....

Im actually going to a dance performance now at the local theater. I will not be late so Im going to go RIGHT NOW!!!

Ciao

xxx

Boys in Boots.....

Ingrid Chawner has been good over the last few weeks and yesterday we played BINGO! All the boys love it and we had prizes for them all at the end. In the afternoon we played word Bingo which was also good but a little harder for the ones that are not able to read and write but the idea is just to help them familiarise themselves with everyday things. I also took one of the houses to the swimming pool after lunch which was hilarious because the weather has been a little ‘cold’ of late, 19oC, as we are now in Winter. The difference is horrible being used to 40oC so Ive wearing cardigans and water proof attire as its also been raining a lot. I really can feel the difference. Anyway, the pool was freezing and so there were only two soldiers in the pool, Samuel and Edilson. They only lasted about 15mins before they had to abandon ship.

Francisco is a new recruit into Ingrid Chawner having been there only 3 weeks now. He is another of my favourites and he has the cutest face ever. He cannot read or write and so I have taken it upon myself to give him at least an hour of my time while Im there practising his ABC and his numbers. I was so proud of him on Thursday as it seems the work is paying off. On Tuesday it was almost impossible for him but it seems he very good at retaining information and so he was able to complete writing the alphabet in order and then when I called it out randomly. Joanna had also informed me that she had been practising with him so I think the combination of us together is really working. There is a need for some specialist people within the centre who are skilled in assessing the needs of children like this. Tomas for example is about 10 and I think he has ADHD or some mild hypo attention disorder because he cannot and will not sit still for more than 3mins. When he is sitting down he’s very manic about the way he does things and extremely fidgety. I think he wants to learn but doesn’t know how he can make himself sit. He cannot read or write and doesn’t know his numbers. It makes me a little sad to know that these children didn’t have people around them who could give them these basic tools for their lives. The literacy rate in Mozambique is very low in itself so most of these children’s parents probably have the same problem and so the cycle continues. I guess I can only do by bit and write about what Im seeing. I think the centre is doing an amazing job with these boys in trying to provide them with the tools to help them in the future however whats missing is what they need on an emotional level. I think it should be a standard that they have counselling and assessment of basic needs but maybe that’s my Western view and the way I think that things should or need to be done. Its also difficult to broach this subject when Portuguese is not your first language and also I don’t have the qualifications to really make these judgements and advise others. I do think that I understand a little about this having parents in the field and having fostered many children with my parents over the years.

On Saturday night we went to a bar near Baixa with live music and dancing. Before we went inside were were hanging out with some friends on the street and 5 street boys appeared ranging from the ages of 8 to 11. The strange thing about the encounter was that they all had womens boots on. The best pair were some pointed white knee highs sported by the 8 year old Gashpar who used to be at Ingrid Chawner up until a few months ago when he ran away. I was trying to ask him why he doesn’t come back to Ingrid Chawner but again Portuguese isn’t my first language and so it just didn’t work. His older brother is still with Ingrid Chawner and in fact last week his brother ran from Ingrid Chawner to be with him but came back. The few hours we spent with those boys before entering the bar showed me that these boys are happy in the now. They have fun collecting money from tourist and they earn a sweet little penny let me tell you! They are all like brothers and they all look out for one another. They have no adult telling them what they can and cannot do and are just free. I don’t know what dangers they face on the streets but I can only imagine. You could see that they hadn’t washed for weeks because their hands were covered in dirt and they smelt of wee. Gashpar remembered me from the centre and roped me into buying bread for all of them. It was so funny….me, Nastasia, 5 boys in women shoes and a security guard walking to the bread shop at 12am in the middle of Baixa. It was nice and they were appreciative of the gesture in a boyish way and what was also nice was that Gashpar didn’t ask for money from me just food because they were hungry. Mozambique has a huge problem regarding street boys and I don’t know how they will get on top of it. You’ll see some really small little kids begging and sleeping in the streets and I wonder how they got there in the first place at the ages of 5 or 6. I think another problems then arises when these children have been on the streets for a year or two I can imagine its difficult to be ‘contained’ within a place like Ingrid Chawner, however, what they don’t realise is that when they hit 20 and they can’t read and write what prospects do they have. I really don’t know but Im glad that I am seeing this and have an opportunity to share it with you and possible make a difference to a few of their lives.

Here are the boys in the ladies shoes......despite my camera being broken Jan managed to capture the moment! ENJOY!

The place Im calling paradise....

Im back, it feels like its been a while since my last chat! In fact its been nearly one month but Ive felt I have really had anything eventful to say. I think Im settling into life here and so I have a little bit more of a routine now. Ive found my feet and am just getting on with each of the projects at hand.

This blog is a little bit of a mish mash of things although I might create a few seprate blogs as there are a few topics I wanted to disscuss that have come up over the last week or so. I start with our little big adventure to Tofo (pronounced Tofu like that veggie dish) last weekend….

Last weekend was the magical trip to Tofo. I fell in love with the place and when I retire Im going to live there forever in a beautiful house made from wood. Im going to kick the man that currently resides in it out or we could share it….I dunno its something I’ll have to negotiate with him. We left on Thursday as it was a public holiday in Mozambique celebrating Women, ‘Dia de Mulher’, so I took Friday off from magical Mozarte (hmmm) and stayed at Nastasia’s house in Opica with her host Mum who is 75. Apparently she had made a cake for us but decided that because we had arrived home far too late, 9pm, she was not cutting it for us which was heart breaking because I could see it on the table and the cakes here are sooooo good however on the flip side you know how the saying goes ‘a minute on the lips a lifetime on those old hips’so I just let it go.We woke up on Thursday at 3.30am to start the 8hr bus journey to Tofo. We arrived at the chappa station at 4.45am in order to catch the chappa at 5. It was still dark and Jan and Salome arrived shortly after. We hopped on the bus with all ourtravellers rusacks….mine was sooooo heavy and it had nothing it. I think it was giving some breathing issues but noneless Ive not yet learnt to pack light and so I guess that’s the price I have to pay! Joing us on the bus journey was a man that looked about 65 years old if not older and he looked like he had been drinking non-stop from the night before. He was singing, whistling and talking so loudly with the Coprador and the people at the front (poor them) along with his wife who he called Mama who sat behind him. From 5am when we entered the bus till 12pm when he exited at his paragem this guy did not stop…. I thought he was very entertaining and him dancing to Rihanna ‘Whats my name’ using his mobile phone after removing his shirt at around 10am was probably one of the highlights. During the journey all passangers were asked to write their full name and end destination on a sheet of paper along with a contact name in case of an accident. I laughed so hard because if there was an accident I think that piece of paper would be lost amongst all the bags of rice, clothes, live chickens and people so I just found it very strange that driver would bother with something like this. I was willing to believe that if you entered a chappa you are putting your life into the hands of the driver so if something ‘happens’….well…..you shouldn’t have got on a clapped out, overloaded, 40 year old bus in the first place.

Anyway, we arrived in Tofo at about 2pm and checked into Fatima’s Nest which is a backpackers ‘resort’ on the beach. I really wasn’t looking forward to staying in a hostel BUT this was no ordinary hostel people! It was sooooo nice and Ive attached pictures of our lodgings below including views from inside my mosquito net….woooo. The room slept 8 people and we paid 500 metical’s per night which is about £10. The showers were magical as I haven’t had a shower since I arrived in Mozambique as Ive been doing the manual bucket shower for the last 3 months….the shower even pushed out hot water (actually lukewarm but It felt hot to me) It was heaven! The toilet flushed and there was toilet paper in each cubical no drip drying required at the place…eeeekkkkk! The bar area was really nice with deckchairs everywhere and the whole place was like sand village. The restaurant menu was written on a chalkboard and featured pancakes, yoghurt with fruits, curries, noodles and the list goes on it was marvellous! I couldn’t wait for breakfast in the morning! The view from the bar/restaurant was brilliant with white sand and blue sea everywhere. We chilled out at the beach for a few hours before it got dark and I really felt like I was on holiday. I felt asleep on a table in the bar at about 10.30pm so Nastasia sent me to bed.

The next day it was sunny but a touch windy. Jan wanted to go diving and or snorkelling but the sea was really rough and the instructor didn’t think it was safe to go out to sea. He was a little gutted but we took the best walk ever along the beach. I haven’t seen anywhere in the world as beautiful Tofo beach, the white sand dunes, blue sea and clear skies were fantastic. We walked for about and 1.5hr and just took it all in. At some points of the walk we were the only four people strolling the day away. The waves were ridiculously strong so it wasn’t the nicest for swimming but the surfers were out in full force. We met a lady who looked about 50 who had been surfing for 30 years. We first saw her after we climbed a mountain of rocks which gave us a brilliant view of the sea and the surfing. The lady who looked 50 was brilliant….Ive never seen surfing in ‘real life’ so this was so really amazing to watch. She came and spoke to us after her wave gliding tricks and flips and we gave her a massive cheer and a very corny thumbs up. She then explained she had been surfing all over the world and let me hold her board which she told me was very special because it was so light and then she started to get a little technical.… it was light and I just nodded to the rest of the conversation like I knew what she was going on about. Anyway, she was a teacher is South Africa and was in Tofo for a short break. We told her that were were all volunteers working with children and she was very impressed. People always seem to be impressed when we say we are volunteers which is strange but I guess it’s a big deal for people.

I think Im getting more and more lazy these days. I want to go into more detail about the trip but I cant be bothered to type….sorry! I will do my best though to keep the momentum going….right. Overall the trip was fab. We ate at a restaurant called Tofo Tofo and food was DELICIOUS. We partied at Dino’s on Friday night and Turtle Cove had drumming around a log fire and then we went to Inno’s on Saturday night. Turtle Cove is another backpackers resort and it was LUSH! For an extra £2 -3 you could stay in one of these really lush cabins. It’s a surfing and Yoga resort so you can borrow boards at a good price and or do Yoga for about £4 a day for 1.5hrs. I think when I go back to Tofo I will stay there as it was soooooo nice. The beach is about a 15min walk away which is not far but I suppose it is really nice being on the beach like at Fatimas Nest. There was no sleep from Saturday through to Sunday as the bus back to Maputo was leaving at 4am. We got a little chappa from Tofo beach back to Inanbarne and it was one of the most funniest journey Ive had. This might fall into my ‘Chappa of the Week’ section as I havnet actually completed any Chappa of the week stories. Ok, so we got on the chappa with all our bags and the journey is about 30mins so along the way we picked up more passengers. I think at one point we had approximately 25 people in a 15 seater mini van with 3 people holding on to the outside as we speed along this long snady road. We had a man that we picked up from Inno’s who had been drinking Larintina Preta (local Beer) all night because we stopped twice along the way so he could through up. On the third stop we just left him at the sideof the road it because I think he was so drunk he really wouldn’t have been able to find his way back onto the chappa. Anyway then the driver loaded on a giant sack of something and had to move Nastasia ginormous travellers rucksack in order to squeeze it in. We heard him shout ‘Whooopppa’ and hand then hand us a bunch of Nastasia tampoons which had fallen out of her bag into the road. She was so embarrsed and we both laughed so hard for about 10mins….

Partying atv Innos.....the ceailing was a little weird but cool all at the same time

I can see a rainbow....

Drumming round the camp fire......sooooooooooo nice!

So many things happened so I’ll just break it down really quickly:

The bus from Inhanbarne to Tofo was a mess and the cobrador wanted to charge us and extra 10 meticals for our bags….I lost it as I was tired of people always thinking that we were made of money. He wasn’t charging all the people with onion and potato sacks extra for their enormous bags which filled the isles and were only passable my walking over them….I told him that all for off us would get off the bus along with our bags and the 375 meticals that it was already costing us if he even dared to add a single penny to the price…..

Arriving in Maputo I had to get on a little chapa with all my stuff. I actually had to fight to get on which Ive never done but after waiting a bout 40 mins I had to do what I had to do. I banged my head on the door and lost my favout=rite earrings in the process. I almost cried but im an African worrior so I kept it together

· Arriving home I had the longest sleep of my life…..it was bliss!

Beautiful Sunset!

The crew!

INside the belly of Innos...

Just to add my camera is BROKEN......sand got into when I was in Tofo and so I might have to buy a new one. Im sooooooooo gutted!

Sabastio, Elias and the poor Grasshopper.....

Yes, here I thought I would just show you pictures of a giant grasshopper that fell into the hands of two of the boys at Ingrid Chawner a few weeks ago.

Im not sure what happened to it after these pictures but I did urge the boys to let it be free....

Underneath the sea, far away from land, that's where I will be, laying on the sand......

I have been sooooooo lazy this week and just haven’t mustered up what little energy is needed to upload a blog. This is why there are three blogs all in a row so I hope the flow makes sense and I know they have been a little random. This week most days have been between 35-40oC….and yes I am complaining about it! Im sweating like a trooper day and night and I have turned into a human water fountain. The sweat is just raining down all over me and at night its even worse.

So its 10.13pm here and I ate dinner at around 9ish but this time its my fault as I came in at around 8.45. I thought I would ‘quickly’ tell you about my trip to Inhaca Island which as MARVELLOUSLY BRILLIANT! I woke up on Saturday morning at 5am in order to dress, eat and wash so I could be out the house at 6am and on a chapa so I could reach the ferry to Inhaca at 7am. The boat took 2.5hrs and I cannot tell you the amount of people that were drinking beer at 7.30am. Hard back Mozambicans who clearly had not slept the night before and were just lacing themselves with more alcohol to stay awake. Im surprised, actually wait there, am I really surprised that they let people drink alcohol on this boat…..errrr no. Im in Mozambique! Im thinking about it and the sides of this boat were sufficiently low enough for a drunk person to just idly fall over board. It happened on the way back and everyone was shouting “Just leave him in the water….” This was only some 30mins into the journey. Anyway, we arrived with Inhaca just in our sight. The boat doesn’t take you all the way to shore so you have to get in a speed boat (for more money) which almost takes you to shore. You then have to walk through water infested with star fish, crabs, sea urchins and Nastasias favourites - crabs. Nastasia and I did the walk in together screaming like proper girly tourist all the way. People were staring at us and at one point we just stopped with water up to our knees and just laughed to the point of tears. Reallllll city girls. It took us ages to walk to shore….when we finally arrived we quickly by passed the ‘island security’ (don’t ask). You have to pay 100 metical’s to these men as an ‘entrance fee’ to the island HOWEVER if you are from the cruise ship you pay nothing….out of order. Nastasia and I didn’t see these men so we didn’t have to pay…..in your face! Next….more drama! Where to stay? We had planned to make a weekend of it. Apparently the four of us had said we were going to stay on the beach…..I don’t remember that conversation but none the less I thought maybe it would be cool to be in a hut on the beach. The area of the Island we wanted and had heard from other volunteers was a really beautiful was a place called Santa Maria. We managed after a length negotiation to borrow a tent as apparently there were no beach huts where we wanted to go and sort out a ride there. The tent cost us nothing but the ride there was £50 spilt between 4 people there and back. Apparently this was waaaaaaaaay to much and we really should have only paid about £20 between us but when you are a ‘tourist’ the price of everything triples and we have not yet mastered the art of bartering. We will get there don’t you worry about that.

THE TENT!

So to cut a verrrrrry long story short we ended up camping on the beach and it was really lovely. Frenke, who lent us the tent, came along for the drive and helped us set it up. We paid the driver half the cash and then RAN to the beach which was literally 2mins from our tent. I felt so relaxed and it was just so nice. We got to the beach at around 3 and went back to our tent just before sunset at 6….. I decided to be a brave solider and partaking in a little snorkelling. I was convinced I was going to see a shark and parts of my body were going to be found washed up on the shore but Jan said I should stop being so stupid! It wasn’t stupidity Jan I call it ‘keeping it real’. He said the opportunity could not be missed as he had seen Octopuses, puffer fish (poisonous….another death threat) and a plethora of other sea life. The Octopus really did put me off but when my fearful friend Nastastia plucked up the courage I followed shortly after. I was cacking my bikini the whole time but I did see some amazing fish….it was like being in the film finding Nemo. The coral was so beautiful and there were clams and rainbow coloured fish and it was really amazing. Im glad I did it. My heart was beating double time the whole time I was in the water and at some points I couldn’t wait to get out but despite all of that I really enjoyed.

We bought some tomatoes, samosas, bread, water, beer and biscuits before we arrived and that was our breakfast, lunch a dinner. Our camping neighbours we two couples from South Africa who looked like professional campers. They had soooooo much food and camping equipment we really did look like 1^st class amateurs despite Jan being a scout! We were hoping if we told them our plight about being poor volunteers they might give us dinner that night as a tomato and samosa sandwich wasn’t looking so appealing after all. Anyway, Nastasia and I were getting ourselves freshened up after the beach and we were fantasying about what sort of meal the South Africans were going to cook for us (despite not having been asked)….then we said we shouldn’t get our hopes and we started doing really poor South African accents and saying there was no food at the inn and laughing our arses off. Then there was a knock at our tent door and one of neighbours appeared with a bag full of apples, milk, cereal bars and cereal. Of course it wasn’t dinner (tear drop) but it was food so we were royally grateful for the donation. Nastasia was convinced he had heard us but I don’t think so and grabbed the bag smiling.

We had a really nice night but sleeping was my idea of hell. As you know Im no animal or insect lover and the noise from these insects was ridiculous and it was HOT. I thought that sleeping on the sand was going to be more comfortable then sleeping on that concrete floor at the apartment in town but no….sadly I was very mistaken. I think in my head I had a vision of the sand moulding around my body so I would be cocooned within it but it was as hard as sleeping on a rock especially when the heavens opened and it started raining. Overall it wasn’t a really bad night sleep but it was no Holiday lnn.

The next day at Santa Maria was very over cast but still VERY hot. We had more tomato and samosa sandwiches mixed with an apple and a cereal bar. Delicious! The tide was out and there was a ginormous (spell check is telling me that’s not a real word….is it enormous then? Or have I spelt it wrong?!?!) school of fish at the waters edge. It was amazing. The coral that we had been swimming in was no longer underwater and was an amazing sight to see. Ive taken lots of pictures for you to have a gander over.