Maya Ruins and Cave tubing!

Our first day of adventures began with a gorgeous sunrise.

After an early breakfast and two cups of coffee, we (and several other guests) piled into a van and drove two hours to Xunantunich, a Mayan archeological site with stunning views of Belize and Guatemala.

We also got our exercise! Howler monkeys called in the jungle, but unfortunately, they wanted to be heard and not seen. Valerie and I had been exercising each day, including a fitness challenge to build up to doing 100 squats in a day. After all of these steps, we decided that we had earned a day without squats!

After a delightful lunch at a local cafe, we began the second part of our day. We arrived at St. Herman's and suited up for a short jungle walk, and then descended into a cave system for some river tubing. Although we had headlamps, we all turned them off and tubed in the dark for a little while! 

It was an amazing experience. The water was cold and in some places, very deep. The pitch black can be a little scary, but we survived :)

Bird Nerd!

I think it's official.  I have become a bird nerd!

Moving Martha

This weekend was moving weekend!  For a change, I wasn't the one moving.  Martha, my roommate from junior year of college, moved from New England and into my apartment.  Friday, two other friends and I drove up to Massachusetts to help her move her belongings down to Pennsylvania.

Meet Martha:

We arrived at about midnight and promptly went to bed.  The next morning, Martha rented a U-Haul and we packed up!

By 1 p.m., we were ready to get on the road!  We drove to Charlestown and stopped to let Martha say goodbye to her favorite beach and to have a picnic lunch on the beach.

We left the pizza on the rocks when we went to take some pictures by the water's edge.  Imagine our surprise when we came back to empty boxes!  We lost our leftovers to a hungry seagull!

Refreshed by our break, we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Pennsylvania.  

We arrived at my apartment at about 11 p.m.  I figured out that the three of us who left Pennsylvania on Friday had travelled about 800 miles in a 29 hour period.  I don't recommend it!  Bed felt very, very good!

It has been odd to read about and see pictures of the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast and yet continue to enjoy the summer heat in Moz.  Our thoughts and prayers have been with and will continue to be with those of you on the East Coast. 

I am gearing up for another transition.  I have less than two weeks remaining here and I'm afraid the return to PA's winter might be a real shock to my body!  My four months in Moz have passed quickly and I have loved my time here.  My memories of Mozambique will be softly colored by sunlight and smell of the ocean. 

This lovely fellow is a Mangrove Kingfisher.  I love his colors!  The other day, he was flitting around the trees in our garden while I enjoyed the breeze and spent my quiet start to the day. 

 

And of course, I'll miss my little gecko friends.  We have spotted a new little one inside the house, but this fellow below is on our walkway between the carpark and the veranda.  

 

I recently came across a comment by Richard Fuller, who was an engineer and architect in the USA.  He said, "There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes.”  I rather liked that observation. 

Butterflies on Bougainvillea

I have always loved bougainvillea.  We have three different colors blooming in our little corner of a garden: purple, a dark reddish pink, and a very beautiful orangey red.  As I sat on the veranda reading, I noticed two butterflies flitting around the blossoms.  

I think every African garden I've been in has a magical capability to slow time.  Maybe American yards have the same affect, but I suppose we don't sit in them long enough to feel the effect.  It takes me back to my childhood to sit on a camp chair in the shade, feel the hot breeze, and believe that this day will last forever.  

The stillness is a little deceptive, because it's only the larger creatures that stay in one place.  Butterflies fly from one flower to another and the wood borer bees disappear and reappear from their holes in the support beams.  Geckos and other lizards scurry around on the support beams, floor, and walls, and dash under the shade of ferns.  Doves, bronze manikins, bee-eaters, orioles,and the occasional coucal visit the birdbath in the corner and retreat to the shade of the bushes.

A garden is a grand place to wake up slowly.  I am savoring the days when I can crawl out of bed, make a cup of coffee, and sit in the quiet.  Oh, it is not entirely quiet, given the school children, air con, and traffic on the road in the distance.  But is a good place to think, observe, or just be still.  I saw a lizard drinking water laying in a puddle under our air conditioner.  I don't think I've seen a lizard lapping water before.

Summer is arriving in Mozambique.  The grass is getting a sun bleached look despite the best efforts to water it.  Temperatures are rising.  Last Saturday, we slowly baked in 36 (96 F) degree weather, with a heat index of 46 (115 F).  Most days are not quite that hot, but the typical temperature seems to be in the thirties.  Mosquitoes are becoming bothersome.  Deltaprim and mosquito nets are once again a part of my life.  I don't mind the mosquito nets though.  I think mosquito nets took the place of a canopy bed in my childhood fairy tale princess dreams.  

And now it is October.  I have thirty nine days more to savor the Southern Hemisphere.  

Milpark

In our travels last week, we needed to spend a night in Chimoio.  We stayed at the Milpark.

Chimoio is 731m above sea level.  We welcomed the cool evening after a long hot drive.  The road from Beira to Chimoio cannot be described with words or pictures.  You have to feel it to know how bad it is.  Thankfully, improvements are being made.

As you can see, the hotel has a lovely location, complete with peacock, pea hens, ducks, chickens, and even a few turkeys wandering the ground.

The gardens are very pretty.  Mom and I couldn't identify this one tree, though.  If you have any guesses, feel free to leave me a comment!

Mr Peacock wouldn't show off his tail feathers for us

Bird of Paradise

The restaurant had good food and friendly staff.  When we drove back through a few days later and stopped to collect some things left in their storage, they didn't charge us for a cup of coffee while we waited for the storage room key.  I thought that was very kind, especially considering they let us store some things there as a favor rather than a typical practice.  (My dear mother was very considerate.  She assumed that we weren't communicating clearly and left money to cover the coffee anyway.)  If you find yourself in Chimoio and need a place to say, I think this was a good choice.  I personally voted for a little place called the Pink Papaya, but the appeal was mostly in the name.

Wildlife, Part 2

Our household wildlife keeps us entertained.  The lizards and geckos and birds may not be as cuddly as a puppy dog, but they do provide us with amusement.  (That reminds me of a little language quirk.  Dog in Portuguese is "cão," and is pronounced "cow."  Fortunately, we don't have many cows in the city, so we can generally assume someone is talking about a canine in Portuguese rather than a bovine critter in English.)  

This morning, Mom and I had breakfast on our veranda to enjoy the morning and the "wildlife."  We were looking at the various little birds that come into drink at our birdbath.  Mom was identifying them for me.  The birdie above is a European Bee-eater.  I think this morning could have been the start of my transition into an amateur birder.  Mom has loved birdwatching as long as I can remember.  This morning, she saw a Pygmy Kingfisher for the first time!  

As I started to write this, I realized I had forgotten the name of this bird.  So, with no context whatsoever, the following words were exchanged:

Me: Who was that little guy up in the branches?

Mom: Zacchaeus?  

I'm still giggling.