Saturday, January 14, 2006

 

A week at Pemba

We just returned from a four day trip to Pemba, 450km north and supposedly one of the best beaches and scuba places in the country. The whole trip was kind of spur of the moment- it started when our friends Rhett and Konstantine showed up (they were on a very extended trip across the country!) and wanted us to go to Pemba with them. They had hitched the whole way up the country, so we all decided to hitch up to Pemba.

Konstantine has a theory that trips can either start out really good, use up all your luck and end badly, or start badly and have no where to go but up. Ours was the latter. I woke up at 4:30 (ideal hitching time) ready to puke- possibly from my anti-malaria drugs, which can cause nausea- but decided to go anyways. Before leaving I tried to withdraw cash from my american bank- this being a vacation afterall, so we felt we deserved a little something extra- but the bank ATM stole my card! So I had to wait 2 1/2 hours until the bank opened to get my card back... which gave me a chance to get over the nausea at least.
Hitching rides can be a really long process, depending on traffic- and a lot of places here see surprisingly little traffic- and it took us 7 different cars to get to Pemba (Eli Rhett and I traveled seperatly from Konstantine and the Monapo girls), but we did meet an American couple that lives in Nacala as missionaries, and hopefully we´ll get to know them well.

Now Wimbi beach (the beach at Pemba) is pretty, but its not that much better than our own fernao velhoso to warrant a 450km treck. What it does have is some great coral reefs, and Eli and I spent a whole morning snorkeling around looking at fishes (I was also keeping an eye out for sharks...) We went out twice, the second time in a boat- which was basically a hollowed out canoe with two logs spaced a few feet on either side as stabilizers. It was fun to ride in. When we got to our reef I jumped out of the boat and turned to ask Eli to hand me my fins and mask, with just enough time to see the boat roll completely over, dumping out Eli and our boat guide. Oops :-) I guess I didn´t jump out as gracefully as I thought.

We managed to recover everything that fell out, except the sunscreen (the result- we both have nice sunburns, mine are itchy too) and still have a good time. The other big thing about Pemba is the seafood- our first night we each got 2 lobsters, one normal and one giant- for about $14, which I assume is a good price... anyways it was tasty. Secondly, Pemba is famous for its Makonde wood carvings, so we had to buy some souvenirs to decorate our apartment. We got 3 little monkey statues, covering their eyes, ears and mouth for see no, hear no and speak no evil respectively. We also- don´t ask me why because I´m still not 100% sure- bought a large drum. A really large drum, its like 2 ft. tall. Its pretty neat looking, carved and painted with a fur on the top and 3 wooden legs. It was $18 which seemed cheap to me but someone later told me it was expensive... it was a touristy shop afterall. Lastly Eli and I bought carved wooden rings, since we don´t have gold wedding bands here.

So after the start we had a really good trip- only the way back was less than perfect too. We decided to take a direct bus at 5:30am to Nacala- easier than hitching and we found out not to expensive. (the majority of moçambican transport is cramped and slow, but buses can be OK) The bus would have us home by 1pm or so- except we broke down in the middle of nowhere and had to wait 5 hours for another bus to come get us!!! Its amazing though, Eli and I have gotten really patient after 4 months here, so we just spread a sheet, sat down and read and played rummy for 5 hours.

Today we´re going to try to get a dog- we saw him last week before Pemba and he looks good, no open cuts. He´s not a puppy though, so we´ll have to see what kind of personality he has.
So, thats the situation. I dont know if I already mentioned, but eli and I have some good computer speakers (2 satelites and a small subwoofer) hooked up to our MP3 player, so the house is enjoying some good jams :-) Hope you are all enjoying your cold weather, we´re hitting 40 degrees C pretty regularly here. Also, my inbox is empty and we have yet to recieve much more than a post card from people! (some exceptions noted) Take care everyone!

Comments:
Thanks for the mail! :-)
 
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