A Maputo weekend--for a change

This weekend we stayed in Maputo for the first time in a month. My body was clearly telling me this week to slow down and rest and I headed the warning. I was feeling better by Friday, so I asked one of our CDC drivers (Lileza, who is also a music dj) where to go that evening. He directed us to the French Cultural Center for some live music. He assured us that it would be a good show after checking the paper to see the acts that would be performing. The French Cultural Center was very interesting. It had a little art gallery, out door courtyard where there was live music, bar, and a semi indoor auditorium for a concert venue. (It had a roof, but was opened on the sides). We were thinking it was a cool idea and someone should open up something like it in DC. The music was really good. The drummers and accompanying dancers were amazing. There is no way I could move that fast! Then there was a group of musicians called Acoustic Africa. They were also really really good and played forever. I pooped out around 1 am and had to go home. Turns out I only missed the last song, but it had looked like they were going to play all night.

Saturday, our colleague Cate took us to the wood craft market. We were glad that she offered to take us because she had an idea of what to pay for things and can speak Portuguese. I bought some cute things for gifts and probably should have bought more, but I was in sensory overload by the end. People constantly are coming at you trying to sell you their things. They don’t even give you time to think and they gang up on you. It’s not annoying for like 5 minutes and then it gets old. I was getting a headache and we had to take a break for a drink and lunch. We walked a few blocks through the city and you can so see how everyone says that Maputo used to be the place to be. Before the Portuguese left and the civil war happened (mini history lesson—Portuguese left around 1975 and the civil war did not end until 92), Maputo rivaled Cape Town as the place to holiday. There really are some amazing old buildings in the city, but they are all falling apart now. Everything has just been neglected and it is rather sad. (Kind of reminds me of my hometown in this aspect). I think people are anticipating that the city will get it’s second wind and will be a totally different (and awesome) place in 10 years. It definitely has potential and after spending time here, I really hope for the Mozambican people that a change is coming.
So back to the market. I did enjoy my interaction with the “bead guy.” He had finished a little giraffe while I was there and I of course, could not pass it up. (If you did not already know this, I am obssessed with giraffes, as all of my travelmates found out the first time I saw a giraffe in the wild). He also wasn’t pushy. There was a lot of nice wood statues, but I couldn’t decide what I liked/wanted. (We have no idea where the alien looking heads on all of the people statues has come from, though. People say this is unique to Mozambique, so maybe at some time in history, Mozambique got taken over by aliens). Hopefully, I will get back to the wood market before I leave and will actually be able to make a decision. After the market, we went to Casa Elefante to buy capalanas (the material that women wrap into a skirt). They were closing, though, so we didn’t have a lot of time. I got a few pieces of material that I think can me made into pillows. Hopefully, I can make it back there, too. But then again, maybe I shouldn’t. I am already having anxiety at the thought of trying to get everything to fit in my suitcases for my return.
Sunday, our colleague Jackie finally arrived after spending the night in a sketchy hotel in Jo-Burg. We met up with her and found another Atlanta CDC colleague along the way, who had just arrived in Maputo, and headed to eat at the fish market. I was NOT a fan of where they sell the fish (the raw squid made me gag and if I start to think about it, I will gag again), but in the back there are a bunch of tiny restaurants that will cook your seafood the way you want it. Instead of us having to go and bargain for the raw food, they restuarants will do it for you. Then they bring the fish back to make sure it is to your liking before they cook it. Like I would know what a good raw whole fish looks like. I normally buy my fish in fillets at the supermarket. J There is something to be said for eating fresh seafood, though. It took a while, but everything was sooo good. We feasted on clams, prawns, and a big ol fish.

After this weekend, I feel I have now had the opportunity to spend time doing “all things Maputo.”

And so it goes....

I have had a rough couple of weeks health-wise. I knew I would get sick over here, but I assumed I would get some sort of GI illness. Not the case. I was getting better from my previous illness and then Monday night..BAMB. I got hit with a fever, chills, aches, etc. Went to the health unit yesterday morning and perplexed the staff. They couldn't tell if I had the flu or strep throat. They put me on Tamiflu and told me to come back the next day. Sure enough, the doc's instincts were correct and I ended up showing the classic signs of strep throat this morning. Now am on antibiotics and hope to be better soon. The staff at the Embassy Health Unit were so nice and just plain kind. (something you don't see too often in the states anymore). I was in really bad shape on Tuesday and they just let me sleep in their office. They didn't want me to be myself. Feeling better today and hope to go back to work tomorrow.

I just saw an email came out to the CDC staff here saying that many people have come down with a "flu-like" illness. I hope I am not getting blamed for this! But I don't have the flu, I definitely have strep. Plus, I think we all picked up stuff in Swaziland. A lot of the staff went there this past weekend.

One interesting side note in all of this: The doctor took samples from me to send off to Atlanta to see if I had swine flu on Monday before we came to the strep diagnosis. Well, the gov't here won't let things like this out of the country. So I guess if there ever is a swine flu pandemic in Mozambique, we will never really know.

Bush Fire Music Fest, Swaziland

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Swaziland. We went out for the Bush Fire Music Festival, which is basically an international African music fest. We stayed at one of the Swaziland game reservces--best known for their hippo pool. :-) There were about 9 of us and I was lucky enough to stay in one of the beehives (a traditional swazi hut) that they offer for accommodation there. Here are some pics:






Above right: warthog about to unkowningly bri
himself and become dinner!




We ate dinner and watched some music on Friday. The venue was at a place called House of Fire. It was a very unique venue. Friday was in an indoor venue that kind of reminded me of a bar you would see in OC, but decorated fancier. The acts were pretty good.







The proceeds went to supporting Young Heroes, which is Swaziland's first Internet-based initiative against HIV/AIDS. Therefore, there was a lot of talk about abstinence and how to prevent HIV. One odd part of the show was when one of the woman performers (who appeared to be in her 40s) said she likes to breast feed her mother and asked the crowd if they also do, too. I would like to think something got lost in translation there, but she was speaking English. You may be wondering why Swaziland of all places would have a 3 day music and arts festival around HIV/AIDs. The HIV/AIDS rate in Swaziland is about 40%. For a country this small (or any country really), that is just unbelievable. Swaziland is ruled by a King..yes, there are still some of these types of monarchies left in the world. However, it seems to be better off than Mozambique in a lot ways (other than the HIV rate). The roads, food, and shopping were all a ton better than here in Maputo. (Hence, why I ended up doing a lot of shopping this weekend. In my defense, proceeds from the majority of what I bought went to some sort of aid organization). I also noticed a lot more ads and things through out the country that were making people aware of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and what they can do to help control what is going on. I even saw a billboard telling people to take their ARVs all the time as directed. So far, I have not seen any type of advertising/health promotion about HIV/AIDs in Mozambique, which has an HIV/AIDS rate of about 17%. (Yes, I must start putting some facts within my blog to try to give you an idea of the situation). People in Swazi are definitely poor like Mozambique (people live in shacks, etc.), but they appear to be able to run businesses, farm, and things like this way better than Mozambique. The difference between the two countries in these regards is really astonishing considering they are border countries and Mozambique is the run by a "democratic government."

But enough of the culture lesson...back to the weekend. Saturday, we got up and had breakfast next to the hippo pool. Then we decided to take a hike and got a bit lost. The map the gave us was absolutely ridiculous. It made no sense and just had all types of different lines everywhere. Our little 1 and 1/2 hike turned into about 3 hours. It started out nice, but as we seemed to get more and more lost, I thought our colleagues that went off to the spa had the better idea. Then we came upon some zebra, who were quite inquisitive of us and followed us for a while, which was a bit scary-though it didn't stop me from taking advantage of the photo ops.











After our hike, we went back to the restuarant for a drink and got to be pretty close to some of the hippos. During our conversation, we also came to a conclusion that it would be pretty nice to be a hippo. You can be as fat and ugly as you want, but people will still think you are cute. All the other animals avoid you, because they know you could destroy them at a moment's notice. You spend the majority of your life sleeping, eating, and being in water. Doesn't seem too bad to me!






Then we went to do some shopping at a glass factory, then back to the music festival to hear some music, then to dinner, then back to the music festival. We saw Johnny Clegg, who is a very famous S. African performer (I had never heard of him) that has been around since the 70s. He was actually pretty good and I may look to download some of his toons. I think some of the songs were in English, but there might have been a bit of Zulu thrown in there. The venue moved outside and was packed. We even managed to meet up with our fellow IETA, Ed. (Ed randomly went up to some of our colleagues in a grocery store and asked them if they knew of any Americans living in Mozambique...and they were like yeah. It took a little bit of back and forth (due to our colleagues joking behavior), but Ed finally realized they were with Christine and I. How random is that?) We joked that Friday night it was an international festival for americans living abroad. I think we saw almost every Mozambique USG employee there. The crowd was definitely more local on Saturday and after Johnny, the acts were not as good, so we decided to leave around 930 pm. Here are some pics:




It started to storm right after we left and rained/stormed through out the night. We stayed nice and dry in our little beehive. But at one point, Megan and I were both seeing a floating light coming through the top of our beehive. My guess it was an alien, but we never did figure out where this mysterious light was coming from. Our beehive was pitch black without any lights on, so the whole thing was a bit bizarre. Megan even went out in the down pour to try to figure out where it was coming from but no luck. The center of our beehive, where the light was coming from was pretty high unlike the entrance door, so it isn't like someone could have playing a trick on us. Insert weird space alien music here. :-)

We woke up to heavy rain this morning. After getting to watch 4 hippos be very active during breakfast, (they are so fun to watch) we took it easy by reading some books by the fire in the main restuarant overlooking the hippo pool. Then after busting through a road out of the game reserve that was apparently shut down because of the rain, we were off for more shopping and then back to Maputo. I must admit, the whole..day of downpours..seems a bit foreign to me. It so common back in DC to have days of heavy heavy rain, but I have not seen any rain really in the 6 weeks I have been here until last night and today. (It is officially the mid point of my assignment). Driving into my Maputo, it looked like a riot had happened or something. Roads were blocked due to standing water and the streets...hmmm...how can I describe this...had trash EVERYWHERE..even worse than normal, which is pretty bad on a normal sunny day. Everything must have been washing everywhere. It really was not pretty. Maputo normally doesn't get this kind of rain/storms this time of year, so the whole thing is a bit odd. Also, I got a glimpse of what the local staff keeps telling me happens in the summer months here. They say the roads flood so high that no one can get anywhere. Trash+poor sewage and drainage=DISASTEROUS.

Also, Sheila+the ability to shop=disasterous packing situation. I may need to buy a third suitcase to lug the stuff home that I bought this weekend.

Oh well, an odd way to end my blog for today. But I am sleeeeepy..and must get some rest for the work week ahead and my long evening of packing my stuff tomorrow night in preparation for our move to the hotel. :-(

So many places to see and not enough time...

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Well, my congestion won't seem to go away, but I am still tons better than last week at this time. This weekend we are heading to Swaziland for the Bushfire Music Festival. It seems to be a big deal, as almost the entire USG community here appears to be going. The weather is not looking too promising (low 60s and rain), but hopefully, we will find a way to stay warm and dry. We are staying at a game reserve known for their hippos. Hopefully, some good pictures will follow.

We will be moving on Tuesday back to a hotel, so I will have to say goodbye to Luna and Lobo. I am very sad about this. They are such good company, though they do expect constant attention and tend to wake me up every morning around 4 am to let them out. Last night, I refused to let them sleep in my room and actually got to sleep through the night with no interruptions.

The internet situation at the place we are going to is also not optimal. You have to pay for access, which just seems odd considering the other hotels in the city do not appear to do this. It also isn't cheap (over $10US for an hour). I may have limited access to update pictures, but will do my best. I am hoping that I get at least some reimbursement for internet/phone services while I am here and may just eat the cost of what isn't reimbursed. The good news is the hotel has a gym, which I need desperately. I will be so happy to get back into a normal work out routine.

Some pictures of our current abode, since I never posted any previously. You can see why I am not looking forward to the hotel so much. I will post some of the outside on another day.

I am finding my work more challenging than expected. If you saw the description of my assignment, it looks simple. However, I think I highly underestimated the state of disarray of the files here. Everything is a mess and I can't find most of what I need. I am trying to implement a new computer tracking system for all documents related to the research going on here, while cleaning up and organizing old files. I am also working on a training presentation for the staff here on everything (that I will have to present before I leave--it is already 40 slides long and is not nearly complete), along with drafting/finalizing instruction documents for the various procedures here related to clearance and filing. I am mainly focusing on various types of documents and procedures related to the research that is going on in Mozambique. It has helped me to get an idea of the various activities that they are trying to implement here and the challenges along with them. My supervisor is also assuring me that I will be doing site visits before I leave here. I think I will find this the most interesting part of my experience. I feel like I am failing her, though, because my progress on cleaning up these files has been slow.

I am getting excited as some fellow IETA participants are all making their way over to Africa in the next couple of weeks for their assigments, including a girl (Jackie) who is coming to Maputo. We are already starting to map out travel. :-) The only downfall of all of this is that there appears to be too many places to see and not enough time. I am having trouble picking and choosing where and where not to go. I am contemplating taking a personal vacation after I get back to the states to come back to Africa. Wonder how my boss and people covering my work will think about this. If I have learned anything from my stay here, it is that life is too short, be grateful for what you have as there are so many in this world that have nothing (but still are hapy), and take advantage of all opportunities given to you. With this thinking, I must say a vacation will be in my near future. :-)

Praia do Tofinho=Improved Health

I really wasn't sure how this past weekend was going to go. We were scheduled to fly to Inhambane on route to Tofo and Tofinho beach around noon on Friday and the tickets weren't refundable. I woke up Friday morning actually worse than the day before. After coughing up what appeared to be blood and having really bad lower back pain, I decided a stop at the Embassy Health Unit was in order. I got there early and after about an hour of sitting with a very nice (and retired) doctor, I got some zithromax and codeine cough syrup. (I do believe, though, the doctor was trying to get me to go home and make my own cough syrup with alcohol and sugar...to which I kind of looked at him like he was crazy--haven't made an elixir since pharmacy school and have no intentions of doing it again anytime soon). Anyway, it may have been viral, but there was a small chance I was developing bacterial pneumonia and neither one of us wanted to risk me getting worse, so I got the zithromax. This isn't the place to try out the health system and since I was going somewhere with even less civilized medicine, I took my zithromax immediately and hoped for the best. I had already resorted to the fact that diving was not going to happen for me this weekend due to this little bug that I had picked up. :-( I also hoped Mozambique was not taking the Chinese approach to swine flu. I had joked to Christine that if we were in China, I would have been quarantined at the airport and never even allowed near a plane.

After the flight, which appeared to be delayed because the President or some other VIP needed to land at the airport, and a lovely ride through the countryside, we arrived at our home for the next two nights. We were staying at Cafe no Mar at Tofhino Beach. It only has 5 rooms and Christine and I were the only guests they had on Friday evening. It was really nice getting the personal attention from the two guys (Casper and Hine--pictured at the end of this entry) that are running the place. We had a lovely dinner in Tofo, but I must say I was feeling quite awful by the end of it.

I went back to my room, chugged some cough syrup and probably was asleep before 9 pm. Next morning, I felt better and actually had some color back in my face. The breakfast was lovely. This was the view from our little "cottage."

The marine life was amazing. We could see dolphins and whales from shore. Christine and I took a walk along the beach from Tofinho to Tofo..stopping to marvel at all of the different marine wildlife and the beautiful colors of the ocean, along with the wind and kite surfers.

Later, we went on a horseback ride along the beach and through the country side. I must say, at first, I was not liking this. I had never been on a horse before and they give you like ZERO instruction on what to do. Then they take you up and down a hill right away. Luckily, our guide, Alfredo, took ahold of my horse (Riverdancer) and led us along, because he could see I was a bit worried. It actually turned into a lovely ride. We got to go through the country side and see all of the little villages. The coconut, cashew nut, and mango trees were really beautiful, too.

Then we stopped to watch the sunset before grabbing a drink at one of the local beach hangouts before dinner. Again, was feeling better, but not great...so I went back to my room, chugged more cough syrup, and was asleep pretty early again.

We got up early on Sunday to watch the sunrise. I took a walk looking for whales before breakfast, but had no real luck. We were able to see them during breakfast, though.

After another quick walk along the beach, we had to head off for the airport. :-( Hine and Casper gave us a little personal tour of Inhambane before sending us off back to Maputo. The city is definitely forgotten and it is such a shame. Some of the old buildings are very beautiful, but time has definitely taken its tool on them.

For everyone back at FDA that may be wondering how work is playing into my little adventure..don't worry...I am still working...in fact, i will be working extra in the coming weeks to get caught up on the time I was sick last week. I am now way behind on everything that I have to get done here.

I keep thinking through out this trip that Mozambique has two faces. It has beautiful scenery, beaches, wildlife, and people (EVERYONE in Tofo and Tofinho were extremely nice and we felt safer there than in Maputo), but then simple things are just not taken care of...like the garbage in the streets or basic up keep of sewage systems, buildings, and roads. Everyone keeps telling us that before the war and before the Portuguese left, the country was amazing. I believe someone even said Tofo was once one of the Top 5 beaches in the world at one point. Maybe one day, Mozambique will somehow regain this glory. It seems more and more travelers are starting to take notice of the country for its beaches and amazing dive sites, so I think there is hope.

Sorry, for my side bar...but it was a lovely weekend, even though we weren't able to go snorkeling with the whale sharks like I had hoped. We would not have made it back on time on Sunday for our flight and the water was a little rough for snorkeling on Saturday. It is probably for the best for me (but not for Christine), as I probably shouldn't have been near water yet. I have vowed to go back before I leave Mozambique, so that I can dive Manta Reef and see the infamous whale sharks. God love Hine, Casper, and Christine for putting up with me and my sickness all weekend. It could not have been fun hanging out with a girl who sounded like she smoked a pack of cigarettes every day for the last 30 years. There must be some sort of magic healing powers of Tofo, because I feel a million times better today...or maybe it was just the zithromax doing its job. (Being a pharmacist, I guess I would have to say my improved health is due to the power of modern medicine).