The longest bus rides "In Africa"

I had to get to Maputo, the capital, for work and decided that the bus would be the best option to get down there. It's about 435km from Quissico and about 550km from Inhambane. Instead of taking the easy way, ie. going from Quissico where it is less distance and therefore less time, I decided to drive to Inhambane on Friday with Mary so I could go to the beach for dinner. As mentioned in my previous post- totally worth it. But here is the tail of the longest bus ride (but not really for anyone who has taken the Greyhound in Canada).

Inhambane. View from the hotel.

Wake up at 7am to catch the 8am bus as I was told that there is a bus every hour from 6am to 11am. But I doddle getting ready and decide the 9am bus will have to do. After a good breakfast at the hotel we wonder on over to the bus stop. We get a little lost and I am thinking that I might miss my bus when we arrive with about 10 minutes to spare. I get over to the dude and I ask him if this was the bus to Maputo (in case it wasn't obvious with that sign in the window "Maputo") and he says Yup (but not really 'cause he's speaking Portuguese). I ask if the next bus leaves in 10 minutes and he says No, 11am. Since there are no other options, I buy a ticket and decide that I can work on my report while I wait. Mary heads back to the hotel (she gets to fly down...). And so I buy a little sweet bun and a bevey as I think a 6 hour bus ride isn't too long and a small snack should do. I settle into my seat and get started on my report.

2 looong hours and a very crowded bus later we're off.

I am still trying to organize my two back packs that are squished in my seat with me so that I can also feel my feet when sitting. I send a message to Mary saying "Just leaving now!" all excited to nap, being an expert napper and all. Right be we get out of Inhambane the bus pulls into the gas station. Okay cool, the lady next to me gets off and I move my bags and stuff around deciding to get my snacks ready now- unfortunately the muffin I nicked from the buffet is crumbly and gets crumbs all over my seat-mates seat. She comes back and I'm all Canadian-like so I apologize a bunch as I brush the crumbs off. She says nothing. Oooookaaaaay then. Back to music and napping it is. And we are off!

In between naps, I wake up when we stop to drop off and pick up people along the way. Hardly registering the crowds of venders trying to sell oranges/ pop/ bananas/ peanuts and other goods through the windows at each stop. Or, the two lane traffic becoming three and sometimes four lanes when big buses or trailer trucks pass us as terrifying speeds. Or, even when a pick-up speeds by with the back piled high with a lone dude sitting on a lawn chair on the top of the pile.  By the time 16h rolls around I am getting antsy as I am supposed to be at a meeting at 17h. Realizing we are still a ways out of Maputo, I text Mary and let her know I should be about an hour late. Finally, we hit the outskirts of Maputo and grid lock traffic. We're already running late and the driver knows it so he decides to make his own traffic lanes. We drove on wrong side of traffic, played chicken with a tuk-tuk (the tuk-tuk won oddly), drove in 6 lane traffic (on two lane roads), dodged the people walking in between the cars and fiiiiiiinally made it to Maputo. 9 hours later.

Woeboe face. 

(Pronounced: woah-bow. For Woah. B.O.)

Met with Right to Play and went over the manuals (going through some of the many translation errors and changing formatting etc). Walked around Maputo lots with Mary and watched most of the world cup games. Equally exciting, had free wifi for the first time since leaving Inhambane meaning I was able to update apps and back up my photos (without hogging all my data).

http://www.righttoplay.com/

Finally got to kill my pizza craving while watching the World Cup!

Sadly, Tuesday morning came meaning Mary had to leave and I had to head back on the bus. Again getting to the bus station at 1030 thinking the bus would leave at 11am (as I was told), only to wait until 12h... which actually turned into 1245... which actually meant we went around the block to another stop and waited there for another 35 minutes. So by 14h we were finally leaving Maputo. Again, being optimistic I only brought a few snacks and a bottle of water.

By 1530 I am thinking we are making good time because we haven't stopped at all since leaving Maputo.  Trying to shift. feet slip on my bag- holy mother! Ugh, for sure just broke my nail. I see a sign saying we're about 105km from Xai Xai (which is a big city about 2 hours from Zavala) and I'm getting excited. However, very shortly afterwards we are stopping on the side of the road and a bunch of venders come- all holding bananas and fish. I am thinking maybe we are dropping someone off or the bus driver wanted a banana. (I am also, of course, rocking out to Florence + the Machine so I haven't heard anything). Then I notice every one is getting off. Well, that's weird 'cause I am sure we are in the middle of nowhere and most people are headed to Inhambane, surely? I ask the timid guy next to me and he mumbles something about smoke. Then I smell a horrible burning smell and decided too to get off the bus.

As I pass the front, I see a guy with his head down a whole in the floor of the bus and there is a LOT of smoke billowing out. Trying not to gag, I step off the bus.

2 hours pass waiting, wondering what the deal is. Wishing we stopped at a city or town that had more than fish and bananas. I bought one banana and it was good but due to other dietary concerns I think it's wise to limit myself to only one. I've eaten my muffin and part of the mango I jacked from the hotel and all my water is gone.

Fish? Bananas? 

Road side sunset.

Another hour and we are back on the bus (mostly because it was now dark and I was starting to get eaten by mosquitoes and it was cold).  Finally the bus starts and we're off!!!!

Going no more than 15km/hr. I swear. Another hour or so and we stop in a slightly bigger town. (We hadn't even made it to Xai Xai which was less than 100km from where we stopped). And we wait.. Some people get off the bus, I don't because of the mosquitoes. I decide to whip out my computer and put on some Harry Potter (because I had, during all this waiting, just finished reading the first book on my phone and had started the second book) and charge my phone a bit. Most unfortunately, my computer was not fully charged and died just as Harry and Hagrid get to Diagon Alley.

Back to reading.

Bought a coke to keep me energized.

Awe, it's 21h. Missing the soccer games.

Somewhere around 22-2230h a new bus arrives.

Phone dies.

Intermittent napping.

0030... where are we now? Zandamela. Oh, that's in Zavala... about 45 mins I should stay awake now.

Nap.

0115. Stop. Eek! Where are we???



Coconut's House. Phewf. Next stop.

0120. Time to walk.

Holy.. My ankles are as thick as my calfs. Damn, how'd I get so many mosquito bites?
Okay so I can see a thing. Is this the bend in the fence that I turn at? Ya! It is. There's that stick I usually walk by.

Hmmmm.... The stars look amazing. I love that I can so many and the different colours. Oh, yay the hotdog stand-hut. Almost at the school. What's that thing stuck to my foot? Must be some coconut stuck to my gauze on my foot.

Brr. The sand is so cold.

What's that sound? Ha, damn pig.

Are those cinder blocks? Ya must be, this is the turn to my street. Oh good, they left the light on.

0140. Not too shabby. Only 14 hours trapped on the bus.

Time to scrub the living daylights out of my feet with antibacterial soap, cream and a new bandage.

Oh and there's always time for one more chapter in HP...

The working life

Olá!

This week has been very work busy! On Thursday last week my colleague and friend, Mary, arrived in Zavala. For those who don't know she is the one who offered me this job and was my soccer coach when I was 16-17. We started at a running pace planning the provincial sensitization workshop for the next day. Basically we went over the program layout, concepts and methodology. Most stressful part was doing the translation for Mary...

(This program is called Jogo Saudável or Healthy Play. It is a play and sport based methodology that Right To Play developed and Mary adapted to include themes of water and hygiene education. It uses the Reflect, Connect and Apply process to get the kiddies to understand the concepts presented in basic games. Essentially we play games like British bull dog except it's called Soap Beats Bacteria etc.  And we uses the questions to guide their learning.)

Selected our communities and off we went to playing our community sensitization activities. But before we did that... we went to the beach!

                  

Eating freshly caught and cooked fish on the beach! And teaching Mary how to take a selfie!

Canda Beach. Praia de Canda.

After waiting for three hours for our ride, we made it to the little slice of paradise above. There were no restaurants or food stands so we bought some fish from some guys who were fishing and they cooked it for us in a small fire they had made.

Each day this week we went to two communities. In each community we spoke with the Mamas and Papas, explaining the program and asking for volunteers who could attend our leader selection workshop. Then we could play a game with them so they know what we will be doing with their children. 

         

Getting bite by mosquitoes and showing how you shake with a fever when you have malaria

After the parents we bring the kids out of class, talk about the methodology (reflect, connect, apply) and then play a game or two (depending on timing as African time is slow! Yes, meaning me- Ms. AlwaysLate- is always waiting here...) I have some really great photos of the kids playing but they are on my big computer and I don't have the cord with me (I am in Inhambane before going to Maputo tomorrow). 

PASARI Water Pump

Here's a video of our oh-so-fun ride to one of the communities. Sucked more for the people who were riding in the boot.

After all of these community visits we had another workshop with the community volunteers to talk about the leadership criteria. We will be training 30 leaders from the communities to run the sessions with the children. This workshop went really well with really great feedback from the participants. Now that all of these workshops and visits are done, I have to write a report and start compiling some data... lame. Luckily I get to work this weekend from the capital, Maputo, with Mary as we have a meeting with Right To Play to go over the translated manuals. But we decided to go to Inhambane after the workshop so we could have dinner at the beach, of course. These photos are from Barra beach.

We had the most amazing meal at a restaurant called Green Turtle right on the beach. We had a crab and advocato salad, prawn cerviche, a roasted crab dish and a shrimp dish. All of which was absolutely amazing. So fricking good. And right along the beach. Again I got some really nice photos but they are on the big camera. Then to top it off, I had a real espresso and it was mmm mmm good.

Is it coffee time yet?

Hello again!

Here I am sitting in my living room (which also happens to be my bedroom and usually dinning room too), writing this blog on my computer because, YES, I have internet finally! Wooooohoooo! Okay, it's really not a big deal. I can handle not having internet on my computer... except for the whole sending work to my colleagues in different cities (and countries). But, what makes it really exciting is if you know how many times I had to go to the internet store and how long I had to wait. And how many people it took. Only took a week and a half... continuously... Enough complaining though because it works!

 Here's a photo so you keep interested

As most of you will know, I love coffee. Like, a lot. And coffee flavoured anything. Coffee isn't really a big thing here but it isn't none existent, thankfully. I think the three months in Portugal with amazing coffee made this transition even harder but I have experimented a few coffees around town and most are pretty good. This one place grinds up the coffee beans and sugar with a mortar and pestle, a splash of boiling water and voila! Coffee. A little bit sweeter than I would like but really quite nice.

Coffee/ Sugar mixture

Foot/ Toe update:

Warning, if you get grossed out easily or are my mother do not read any further.

Last Thursday I went back to the hospital because the top part of my toe started to look gross with more blisters appearing even though I thought the bottom was looking marginally better.

Please note the difference from the photo in my previous post 'First Impressions and First Aid'

And the bottom

I go to the hospital and they take me to Minor Surgery and set up a sterile field for my cleaning. The young nurse was clearly very nervous after finding out I am a nurse but she had very good sterile technique, I have to say. Midway through the cleaning and debridement, someone claps their hands over my hears, I can barely hear, the room is getting dark and I am sweating bullets. Knowing that I am about to pass out, I very politely ask if I can lay down and they help cool me down. I was able to breath through it and didn't end up passing out but I also was unable to see what they ended up doing. Though there was a lot of cutting,

On Saturday, I go back for my first dressing change.

Day two post debridement/cleaning

Thumbs up man!  

Yesterday's cleaning: (Sorry for the crappy focus...)

Day four post debridement/ cleaning


"Clean hands Save Lives!"   Sterile Field                      

As a reward for continuing to read you get some random photos from the week!

Victor on the local radio talking about Women/Child/ Youth Health Awareness week! With your's truly as a special guest. More radio talks to come

Local kiddies who all ran and asked to have their photo taken with me

Love looking at those palm trees. Especially at sunset.

Torrentially raining, not that you can see in this photo.

Well, hope you enjoyed today's addition and please stay tuned for more. This week is an important work
week and I hope to update you guys about what we are doing here shortly.

Thanks. Obrigada. Nabonga. 

First impressions and First Aid

First week came to a wonderful close yesterday as I took a nice trip on a sketchy motorcycle to the distant lake/ lagoon (what's the difference actually?) Lagoa Quissico with my new friend Victor. Victor is my liaison at the hospital for the Jogo Saudável program. He's been a trooper teaching me Chope (local language) and answering my hundreds of questions.

(This is a video, which apparently only works for Android users, sorry!) 

But let's back up a bit to my arrival in Maputo (the capital). I was in the very last row so obviously I was one of the last off the plane... except the dude who had too much to wine on the flight and got carried off on a stretcher. The customs officer didn't even look at my papers so that's the good part about arriving at 22h.
All I really saw of Maputo was traffic, restaurants, and pot holes. My hotel was really, really nice and fairly close to the airport. Needless to say, I will be making a weekend trip back to Maputo to explore more.

Maputo hotel breakfast 

Inhambane. A hour and a half flight from Maputo including one stop over at a clearly tourist place as that's where a bunch of tourists joined the flight. Inhambane is the capital of the province, is a big town I would say, has a lovely pier, very calm and quiet. This town is also where my "headquarters"  and colleagues are. I had three days to orientate and sort out some logistics (buy stuff for my house, cell phone, internet etc). Other than my one colleague from Chile I was the only white person around 98% of the time which means I stick out like a red thumb ('cause I'm a ginger? Get it? )

Zavala! Which is really the town of Quissico, the capital of the district of Zavala. I will admit, as we were driving to my house we passed a lot of very "African" housing and I was starting to get nervous. But then we passed the high school, turned a corner or two and bam! I am a spoiled brat again with house that has electricity and running water. Here I am the only white person 99.5% of the time. I've seen one and a half other (the half was hitch hiking so they weren't really sticking around). AND out of all the white people so far, I have been the only ruiva (red head).

Main Market 

Okay now comes the First Aid part of the title...

It started in Lisbon before I left (ask Julie, I complained a lot), with extreme richness and some pain on the top of my foot near my small toe. Long story short a week and a bit later I have little bumps on my now swollen baby toe and a huge blister on the bottom side. Here comes a picture so if you're easily grossed out... sorry! 

From this

To this, in a day

Doesn't look as bad but gets crazy itchy! 

Back to Victor, He works at the hospital so he got me in at the end of the day (no wait, yay! ) saw the nurse who gave me (yes, she prescribed it) an anti-inflammatory, antihistamine and an antibiotic.  As shown below 

 Detailed pharmaceutical instructions 

Refer to manufactures instructions 

Or, take in the morning, lunch and evening, not before bed.

Most of that was for all my nursing friends. I will let you all know how it goes!  And if I am allergic to penicillin hahaha

Sorry for the long post!  Hope it was worth it!  More to come on my actual work (which I am doing, I promise!)

Thanks. Obrigada. Nabonga.

Technology, I tell ya

Hello again,

I apologise for any redundancies or what not as I have no idea how to make a blog. I was going to make a post with all the pictures I promised, but then I made a "page". I don't know what that is.

I do know if you follow this link:

http://gingerinzavala.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html?m=1

You can see all the wonderful fotos and descriptions I so lovingly and patiently posted.

Okay, that's it, I am out of here. I promise, the next posts will be better...

Thanks. Obrigada. Nabonga.

Ok, ok, I'll start a blog....

Well, I was thoroughly against the idea of creating a blog even though I frequently read travel blogs and think "wow, those people are cool! "
But given that the internet is less than awesome here and refuses to send pictures to more than 10 email addresses at a time... I suppose this medium will have to do to save me time and frustration.

If this proves to be easy, there will be more to come!

Thanks. Obrigada. Nabonga.