mzolis: part 3

Returned to Mzolis for the third and—sadly—last time. Saw some unfortunate changes (i.e. VIP section, a bigger stage, and fancy looking tents) in preparation for the World Cup. Regardless, Sundays there are the best. In addition to the hours waiting for food sipping on beer, followed by tons of well-seasoned meat that you eat with your hands (my favorite part), there’s also a concert/darty. Mzoli’s never disappoints.

 

mozambique

Learned many things on this trip. Among them:

1. Doesn’t hurt to travel (especially in Africa) with a little more planning than knowing there are some  beautiful beaches somewhere in a country.
2. There really is no limit to the number of people you can fit in a clown-car—I mean, mini-bus.
3. Maputo has it’s own beaches…you don’t have to travel for an additional 4 hours in own of these vehicles to get to a lake.
4. A bum without a pimple is a bum not not.

Saw a lot of real, un-touristy Mozambique. The most polarized trip I’ve ever been on. Got there by traveling for a total of 18 hours (taxi, shuttle, plane, taxi, bus, bus, taxi, minibus, minibus, car) to stay at a house in the middle of nowhere. Got back with a direct 2 hour flight after staying in a beach-front resort with an infinity pool. Definitely the adventure of a lifetime. Cheers to being young and reckless.

jaws. in the real world.

Went shark-cage diving, which should really be called shark cage dipping. After spending far too long struggling to get into a wetsuit, you’re lowered into a metal cage that’s just large enough for four people to stand in. There are two bars to hold on to, which you use to pull yourself down and look at the sharks that are being attracted to the boat.

Our guide asked who wanted to be in the “hot-seat” which I quickly claimed. Apparently we saw a total of 8 great white sharks--not that I could tell them apart. This one shark during our “dive” was not afraid of getting close. The hot-seat ended up being very hot when the shark bit the cage directly in front of my face. This happened three different occasions. The first time, I made sure to stay still and stare into her eyes (rather her mouth) despite it being only inches away from my face. But each time my courage faded. By the end, I was inching away and grasping Hannah’s hand for life. The dips were only interrupted by gasps of breath followed by continual screams of “Oh my God” and fanatical laughs. Ellen coined a suitable nickname I’m not sure if I deserve: shark-whisperer. But I can’t say I object. Especially after enduring this in my face:

(almost) signal hill sunrise

After no one else would go with Brett because of his relative insanity, he dragged me out of bed literally kicking and screaming at 4 in the morning to watch the sunrise over Cape Town. Through gritted teeth, I thanked him for doing so after. Could you blame me? We spent the entire time shivering under multiple dirty blankets on a park bench and taking panorama pictures that I haven't yet stolen from him. So hopefully better pics to come.

pre-k party.

So with the end of the semester coming much too fast, Talya and I planned a graduation/birthday party at her house. We drove our usual trip to Khayelitsha, though for the first time unaccompanied. As we pulled up to Baph, we were soon flooded with our proud kids. Despite the beautiful weather (which is at this time of the year VERY lucky!) they were wearing way too many clothes and donning unnecessary backpacks.

S potentially locked himself in the bathroom, which led to a flashback of Mori locked in the bedroom with me singing Aladdin songs. Since S speaks literally no English, coaxing him out of the room would have proved to be quite difficult. Thankfully it didn’t come to that point.

After that hic-hip, we continued with the party. We drew. We painted. We played 1,2,3 (our version of duck duck goose). We danced to Michael Jackson. We sang the chorus of Justin Bieber’s Baby. We played hide-and-go-seek and Simon Says. We ran around for no apparent reason. We played soccer. We leaked water-balloons. Yeah, we didn’t throw them because the kids just liked to poke tiny holes in them and squirt them at each other. We baked a cake and, since there is apparently no such thing as packaged frosting in South Africa, we even made homemade frosting. K tried to crack an egg semi-alone. She wasn’t so successful but we brushed the dirt off of our shoulders in time to eat pizza. We ate our cake in addition to Knick-Knacks (think Cheeto’s) and potato chips and candy. Without fail, this led to many sugar rushes, followed by a few sugar overdoses and a one or two sugar comas (Talya and I). Just when we thought the sugar flow had stopped, the kids pulled out cookies and mini-pizzas from their bags.

It was an exhausting but satisfying day that unfortunately reminded me that the end of this trip is around the corner. I really don’t know how I’m going to be able to say goodbye.