Paradise Found

Beautiful place, isn't it?

I'm assuming this is a seaslug? In Portuguese, this is called a lesma. I did not want to hold it, but I did get a closer look!

When the tide goes out, there are natural pools formed in the sea. It makes for a delightful place to swim without any waves.

One beautiful feature (of many) of the beach at Itacimirim....we could see the sunset and the moon rise at the same time. The two pictures below were taken the same evening, from almost the same place on the beach. Incredible.

Jungle Ride

Our last planned adventure in Belize was a jungle horseback ride. Valerie had never ridden a horse before but she was willing to humor my burning desire to be horseback once again! After another gorgeous morning, with coffee and sunrise swim, we headed to a nearby stable.

This will remain one of my favorite places to drink a morning cuppa!

Val enjoying her first coffee of the day

We were each assigned a horse and then in the company of three guides, off we went. We rode through several orange groves and then into the jungle. Several of the guides have seen jaguars, but we were not so lucky (although perhaps we were lucky not to see them!) Partway through the ride, we dismounted and had the option of a cooling dip in the Sittee River. I was the only one crazy enough to go in the river completely, and it was worth the slightly damp clothes on the return ride. 

Sittee River

Silver and I

Upon our return, Michelle, the owner of the stable, gave Valerie and I some fresh starfruit! I have never seen this fruit on the tree before.

Following Michelle's advice, we decided the best way to combat saddlesore-ness was to spend the remainder of our day in the water :) 

The only challenge was deciding on which way we wanted to enjoy the water. The day, as you can see, was gorgeous.

Ocean City Day Trip!

After July, I decided it was time to take a little bit of time off in August.  I'm not doing a big vacation break, but I think a few days here and there will help.  Martha misses living near the coast, so we decided to take a day trip to Ocean City, NJ, on a day we were both off!  We woke up at 5:15 a.m. and got on the turnpike by 6 a.m. By 9:30 a.m., this was my view!

It was wonderful to have a day off! 

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!

Resettlement

Three weeks ago, I was enjoying 95 degree weather and the warmth of Mozambican culture.  I've traded palm trees for pine.  Pennsylvania has experienced its first snow and the weather outside, while not frightful, is definitely chilly.

I love airplanes and flying but I wonder if they have hindered our appreciation for the transition between one place to another.  I've never crossed the Atlantic by any means other than an airplane.

It is a bit surreal.  In January, I would have said, "I live in London."  On the last day of January, I boarded a plane and seven hours later, I was in the USA and I had officially moved.  The trip from Moz took a full day of travel.  The transition is more startling.  It only took a day to go from one place where clean water is scarce to another place where we are focused on buying excess material goods with our excess income.  

A longer journey would not change the differences between locales, but perhaps the time to reflect would change the traveler.   

Planes come equipped with a personalized entertainment system for each seat.  (As a child, I can remember having a TV screen for the entire cabin.  If you didn't like the movie, you listened to music or slept.)  You might watch movies for the duration of a 19 hour flight from South Africa to the USA.  An ocean liner today can cross the Atlantic in a week.  When Henry Hudson crossed from Amsterdam to New York (in 1609), the crossing took two months.  

Imagine a relocation journey taking two months.  Days of ocean and waves and no land in sight.  No entertainment system.  No wi-fi.  No seclusion except in thought.  As an introspective person, I love the idea of having days to just look at the waves and the clouds and simply ponder.  Time to consider where I've been and wonder where I am going.  Time to write in my journal until I run out of words or pages.  

I cannot explain my thankfulness that this past year has included time to consider my options.  Had I needed to go from my last job, which finished in May, to looking for another job immediately, I would have been incredibly frazzled.  Instead, through generosity and grace, I was able to take the time necessary to consider my next steps.  I've been back in Pennsylvania for three weeks.  In those three weeks, I've purchased a vehicle, gotten car insurance (for the first time on my own!), made decisions about where I will live, applied to academic programs, started job applications, took my computer to be fixed (which isn't possible but I am going to attempt some data recovery), and am considering my options in the areas of phones, computers, and more practical things like mattresses and winter coats.  While it is sometimes overwhelming to make all of these decisions, it is possible because I have had time to consider my options, needs, and my Provider.  

The title for this blog, The View from a Thousand Hills, comes from Psalm 50:10.  The Lord says, "For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills."  This verse reminds me that my future is in good hands, and those hands are not my own.  

Farewell to the tropics

Today is my last full day in Mozambique.  I'm surprised by how sad I feel to say goodbye.  The church had a special place in the service to say goodbye to me.  I was given several really thoughtful gifts and during the process, I started crying.  I think that was actually a source of great entertainment for the church, although not in a malicious manner.

The community pool for my parent's little complex has been a source of much joy for me.  In the last few weeks, the pool's temperatures have soared to perfection.  It may not be an ideal pool by American standards (considering the water is very chlorinated and usually has a variety of palm fronds, ants, and occasionally a roach floating in its depths.  But I'll miss it.  I'll miss the little Bronze Mannikins who line up side by side on a branch of the almond tree to catch the last rays of the day.  I'll miss the pink blossoms of the frangipani.  I'll miss the bliss of warm water on a hot day.

 

My parent's house has been home for four months.  I keep snapping "just one more picture," wanting to capture people, places and memories in megapixels for preservation.  I have mementos taped into my journal to accompany my written notes and souvenirs packed into my suitcases.  But the best parts will still be here in Mozambique, waiting until I come back, whenever ever that may be.  In the meantime, I'm so thankful that I will be able to picture my folks at home and at work.  Mozambique and her people will have a special place in my heart.  

 

The next step of my journey will begin tomorrow.  I have a sneaking feeling that the East Coast of the USA will offer weather a teensy bit colder than I like.  Although goodbyes are making me sad today, with every goodbye there is another hello.  The hello at the end of this journey will be my US family :)  See you the other side of the Pond!

Innocent's Barraca

For a treat and for our friend's Orville and Cheryl's last night in Beira, we went to Innocent's Barraca.  (A barraca is the general word for a tent, stall, or hut in Portuguese.)  Innocent makes seafood like no one else in town.  His establishment is tricky to find at first, but it's worth the search.

The decor is simple, mostly flags from football teams and countries.  The lampshades are baskets turned upside with seashells dangling from the rims.  This last visit, our waitress was a girl from Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's flag

Innocent arranges the seafood beautifully.  I admire it even though I don't eat it.  My usual option is fish, but my time in Mozambique is testing my commitment to eating fish as well.  (I don't like it when my food looks back at me, and most of the time, fish is served with entire body still entact.)  However, it is impossible not to appreciate the color and visual appeal of Innocent's food.  

Windy Palms

Walking the beach today was truly rough.  The tide came in very high and the waves were violent.  We haven't had much rain, just showers of rain that last barely long enough to settle the dust, but the wind has been strong.  

Early in the day, we had been reading about Isaac reaching Louisiana.  I have never lived in an area affected by tropical storms and hurricanes.   The palm trees blowing and bending in the wind probably would have looked mild to a more seasoned pair of eyes.  As my mother and I observed how high the tide came just from this wind and recent full moon, we couldn't help but think about how much devastation would be caused by a cyclone.  There is something eerily beautiful about stormy weather at the beach, but it wouldn't take much for that beauty to become destructive.  Thankfully, the island of Madagascar helps to shield this part of Moz from some of the cyclones and tropical storms of the Indian Ocean.  

Wildlife

Wildlife has not been a typical part of my Moz experience thus far, unless you count geckos, birds, and the stray cat that sleeps on our veranda.  However, one day last week brought several species into my lens. 

Dad picked up this snappish fellow on the beach.  He was less than amused at having an audience.  

On the drive home, we encountered a small troop of baboons in a grove of gum trees.  Most snobbishly ignored us.

This one looked like he wanted to leap through my open window.  Can we say, "Cheeky monkey...er, baboon?"  :)

The next creature declined a photo.  Truthfully, I couldn't think for a few minutes after we met, anyway.  Do you see the smooth line in the sand that goes through the center of the picture?

My parents have not seen a snake in their six months here in Moz, unless you count one dead snake on the road.  Well, we were at the beach on our day off this week, a bit further north of the city.  After having had enough sun, we decided to relocate to one of the little thatched shelters for some shade.  As I walked over the sand dune, I saw the brown sand in front of me twitch and move at an astonishing pace towards the brush that grows over the dunes.    I jumped back and said something along the lines of "Ohmygoshijustsawasnakeitwentthatway."  Dad gave me a strange look and passed me to continue on his way into the shade.  Mom also walked by me, but she at least attempted to understand what I had said.  

I didn't think either believed me, and then I realized they simply weren't bothered.  I don't know if I will ever reach that level of comfort with the more scaly elements of nature.  To them, a snake was here but isn't any longer.  To me, a snake was here so we shouldn't be!  I did move to sit under the shade with them, but I did not forget that I was a mere three feet from the brush which now sheltered "it."  

As we left the beach, we asked a fellow named Lloyd what types of snakes live on the dunes.  When I described it (three feet of sand colored slither), he told us it was likely a green bush snake.  They are members of the constrictor family and prefer lizards for dinner.  Their name is because their heads are a bright green, even though their bodies are more olive toned.  Lloyd said he witnessed a green bush snake climbing a palm tree. 

Sadly, this next story has no picture to accompany it.  As we walked along the beach, my dear mother looked out into the surf.  "Hope, there's a nice big conch shell!  Go get it!"  The beach here in our city doesn't usually have nice shells.  So, I walked into the water in search of the shell.  It looked too dense to be shell, but the waves kept tossing it around.  I looked closer and told Mom I didn't think it was a conch.  I couldn't get a proper glimpse of it.  (The water in a port city isn't exactly known for its clarity.)  I thought it looked like perhaps bone or coral or....something.  Mom told me to pick it up so we could see it.  Figuring whatever it was had been washed by the salt water and bleached by the sun, I grabbed it.

And that, my friends, is when we realized I had just pulled a pig's skull out of the Indian Ocean.  

Preparations to Teach

Mom and I ran a few errands this morning, getting some groceries and also some supplies for the sewing class.  We are suppling the women with a piece of cloth and thread and needles to get them started.  The thread and needles have come from Mom's supplies until now.  We needed to get a few more types of embroidery thread, so we returned to a little material shop.  The shop was crowded today!  It is a small shop regardless, but today it was full of a large group of Muslim women wearing abayas and niqab.  It warmed my heart to see them.  It brought back to mind the family groups visiting London in the summers.  

Once we returned home, William (a good friend of Dad's) stopped by with a few questions.  Someone visiting from the USA had given him an iPad, and he needed some help using it and changing some things on his Facebook account.  I did not expect to be "tech support" during my time here, but it has been a more frequent occurrence then I expected.  I'm glad to be able to help.  

Mom and I went for our walk, today going down to the beach.  The breeze off of the ocean was strong and cold.  The water had a rather brown look to it.  On the way home, we passed this group.  They were laughing and chattering, shouting "Olá! to get our attention.  I took this photo and showed it to them.  They giggled like it was the funniest thing in the world.

On our way back home, we stopped by the complex's pool to see how the temperature feels.  It is pretty chilly, but it still might be ok for a swim.  Although this picture doesn't show it, there are quite a few seed pods and leaves floating on the surface.  Mom warned me that the mosquitoes come out in force as soon as the sun sets.  

Next, we set ourselves to the task of lesson plans!  Mom and I are taking on a new class, one we will teach together.  Most Mozambicans do not speak English, or at least not much.  For a Mozambican to travel or work abroad, even in the surrounding countries,  English is very beneficial.  International companies starting to work here often look for employees with English qualifications.  Tomorrow will be our first English class.  Mom taught English in Zim and I have my London experiences.  Tomorrow we will teach together!