Year 1 - Week 1: Through Hell and High Water

Eight of us headed for the northern Inhambane area loaded up into a van around 6:00 AM to get on the road. We knew we were in for a long day: getting to Vilanculos in a day is not impossible but it is ambitious. I think all of us were tired, and most everyone in the car was feeling a little anxious. For Richie (my roommate) and me, the excitement was tempered because we wouldn’t be getting to site for another day. We have the longest driving distance of any site in Mozambique.

We were going along smoothly until we pulled off the road in Maputo. The driver wanted to go to a mechanic. An hour later, after getting something repaired, we were back in the road. We picked up a completely random person – the driver claimed he was his brother – and started cruising along.

The drop-offs began in Morrumbene, a small town near Maxixe. The house was decent – coniço (reeds), but comfortable. It was occupied by a Volunteer for the last couple of years and was left decently stocked. Back on the road, we got to the pothole section. For a solid hour, we were in and out or dodging potholes. The road was also filled with a lot of South Africans headed for vacation. The only thing I can compare it to is the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. The difference is this is real life: the boulder at the end is actually a truck and you might actually die in the end.

After avoiding countless accidents, we stopped in Vilanculos for three drop offs. The first house was spectacular. Running water, internet, and prime location made this place barely recognizably Mozambican. It was night and day compared to the first house. The second house wasn’t so bad either. It was a circular coniço house with running water and electricity that could be in the running with the prior house. The location is just beautiful: right on the water in a big city.

By the time we were done dropping off the first set of people, it was nearly pitch black. 14 hours into the adventure, it was time to call it a day. We made it to the hotel, where we were greeted by…hot water, cheeseburgers, and wireless internet. This is good news. I played on the internet until my computer died and ate more than my share of food. This is definitely a future vacation location. I went to bed, exhausted from the day, ecstatic from the accommodations, and excited for the arrival.

We were back on the road somewhat early. After leaving at 8, we made our first drop off – of two people – in the beautiful city of Inhassoro. Once again, beach front location is amazing. The schools looked beautiful and it looked like it had a cute town area. Considering its proximity to Vilanculos but quaintness, this is a nice balance. After dropping them off, it was just Richie and me for the rest of the trip to our destination -- Machanga.

The first part wasn’t so bad. The road was smooth and we were pretty much sailing smoothly as we crossed into Sofala. Then we turned and so did the trip. The rain started coming, harder by the minute. The road was back to the Indiana Jones ride except this time with water spraying up every couple of seconds. We definitely could have used a canoe to get down the road. It might have been more effective then the 4x4. As we made the trip, we were damning a list of people. For 60 kilometers, we saw almost nothing – just trees, mud, and water. We were waiting to come across civilization.

Finally, we saw some houses. We knew ours was concrete, so we weren’t incredibly disappointed as we passed the mud huts. Our hopes were high: after seeing the houses get progressively nicer over the course of the day yesterday, we thought we had a good chance of having a nice house. Not so much. The house was concrete but small – two small bedrooms, a bigger living area (?) and a tiny bathroom. The bathroom has a sink and a porcelain whole in the ground. After two years of squatting, I’m going to have great thighs.

We were greeted by a couple of teachers, one who taught history and one who taught biology. We wanted to head to the market to get some food, but first we needed some time to get settled. By three in the afternoon, we were ready to get out of the house. We made our way for a couple of kilometers through the rain and the mud. Getting to the market was like ice skating: we both almost fell many times over. We made some initial purchases, met the store owners, and put our Portuguese to use.

The rain came and went the rest of the afternoon. As we were told would happen, our power flipped on right around 6 PM. We had started preparing our food – spaghetti and homemade pasta sauce – before the power came on, so we were ready to go right at 6. We used a borrowed electric burner and were eating about an hour after we started. The lights flipped off at 9, and with that, it was bedtime.

The morning started where the night left off – raining and hot. With nothing to do, I refused to get up until 7:30. It was somewhat nice not to have a schedule, and at the same time, I was in dire need of structure. We went to the market around 9:30 and bought up some food – tomatoes, garlic, and a rather delicious pineapple – and some household necessities. We really wanted some bread, but there was none. Once again, we damned a list of a people. We killed off the rest of the morning hanging stuff – yes, you can put nails into concrete – until lunch, which was pinapple and a tomato-onion salad. On the way to the market, we saw a cart being pulled by two cows. Between the rain and the cows, I feel like we got sent to Peace Corps: Oregon Trail.

The afternoon was quiet. No one is here really, maybe 14 or 15 teachers at most. The most noise we heard was from the pounding rain. So far, after two days in Machanga, we have yet to see the sun. Our world is painted in a pallet of grey and brown. Both of us did some reading and napped in the afternoon while we waited for the power to come on.

Just as it did last night, the power came on right around 6:00. We prepped our food and got cooking…and then the power went out. Crap. Luckily, one of the teachers had brought a little grill and some charcoal for us earlier in the day. We tried to light it up, but with the wind and the rain fighting against us, it was a struggle. Finally, just as we got it lit, the power came on again. Sigh. We ate our dinner – scrambled eggs and French fries – around 8:30 and the power was out at 9.

Over the last couple days, we’ve been asking ourselves a series of questions: What are we doing here? What did we do to deserve this? Is it ever going to stop raining? Does this town really not have bread? We’ve also been wondering how many hours our parents could survive here. The fact that we have made it a couple days without starving, falling in the mud, or going completely crazy is somewhat miraculous.

It’s hard to stay positive, especially since we’re not really doing anything. School doesn’t start until February, so until then it will be slow and the rain is just depressing. The only good news is that with these first few days being so crappy, it can only get better. Right?

It got a little better on Thursday. It was a hot night with absolutely no breeze. And I think I was slightly paranoid about bugs getting into the bednet. I ended up cutting a good chunk of it out to make it fit over my bed when I set it up. While it was a good idea at the time, it has made me uncertain of how well it will work.

After we were sufficiently awake, we cooked up some French fries and scrambled eggs over charcoal. In the few days we have been here, we have realized a couple things regarding food: first, it is easier to eat two consecutive meals of the same food because there is usually leftover from the prior meal; and second, there is no longer any such thing as “breakfast food” or “lunch food” or “dinner food” – there is just food.

The rest of the morning was devoting to making this house feel like a home. We organized our rooms and cleaned up the rest of the house. As Richie cleaned the patio and did some reading, I made some curtains out of some purchased cloth and rope. At least this place finally has some color in it. As the morning came to a close, we started prepping for lunch – spaghetti and a garlic sauce which turned out to be not so good.

The afternoon was a little slow. I made my way through the front page of an LA Times from after the election. Thirty pages of election coverage were enough for me. It also drew the interest of some of our co-workers, who were eager to talk about Obama. It also led into a conversation about how the American people are represented in government. This is the second time I’ve had to explain the Electoral College in Portuguese, and it was definitely easier this time. I was able to use more vocabulary, more verbs and tenses, and they were able to draw comparisons to their own system.

As it was not raining – although still cloudy to the point that we had not seen the sun since arriving – we took a tour around the school. The school is pretty big: it covers first to twelfth grade and has about 1400 students. This is good for the teachers because it means the class sizes will be right around 40 kids, small by Mozambican standards.

Our power came on late which wasn’t a big deal. It’s just nice that it came on. We reheated the spaghetti and sauce, which was slightly better with the addition of some red pepper flakes. The rest of the night was spent watching “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – ironic considering to this point it has never been sunny in Machanga – and killing all sorts of bugs that managed to get into the house.

We woke up Friday to something amazing – the sun. By 9 AM, this was already a good day. It’s amazing how quickly this place dried out. While there were still some puddles, we didn’t have to worry about our feet sinking in the mud. What a glorious day. And as if that wasn’t enough, the market had bread! Absolutely mind-blowing. It’s like all everything that had happened the first few days was put on hold.

Richie and I returned home – after eating some of our bread, of course – and since it was a glorious day, we threw around a Frisbee. There is nothing like the feeling of having 15 pairs of little eyes stare out you as you throw around a plate. We finished a couple minutes before noon and starting preparing lunch.

Lunch was scrambled eggs and French fries – noticing a theme or a trend? If anything, we are perfecting the art of our meals. Each time we cook the two things we eat, they get better. We relaxed until 2 or 2:30, when we were met by our school director. As it was the first dry day we had, we went around town to meet some town officials. It was a good opportunity to meet the most important people here and practice some Portuguese.

After speaking with my parents about the situation here, we spent the rest of the afternoon talking with some colleagues. For dinner, we had spaghetti – surprise! – but we mixed it up and made the “white sauce” that has been talked about since day one in training. It was actually tolerable, but not as good as the tomato sauce. Still, a little variety was nice. We capped the night with some “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” All in all, the day was good – pretty, pretty good.

Saturday started off like Friday: sunny. We both slept in. It is really nice to not have a schedule. We enjoyed some bread and butter and coffee and wasted away the morning doing nothing, waiting for lunch time.

The best part of the day was right before lunch. A priceless picture sat in front of me: As I heated up lunch and water over charcoal, I watched my computer charge on a solar panel. Two polar opposites of technology working equally well. We had our standard scrambled eggs and French fries – the best French fries we’ve had to date.

The afternoon was a lot like the morning – a lot of sitting and doing nothing. I killed some time tuning my guitar, amazingly by ear. It’s probably not perfect, but it’s as damn close as it is going to get without a tuner. I have plenty of time, so I might as well learn something. The latter part of the afternoon, we went to “passear” around the other side of town. We walked with no end in sight, with no purpose, and o yes, it started to rain as we walked around. So to review, it was hot, it was sunny, it was rainy, and we were walking to nowhere. We returned and added that person to our list.

The night was pretty standard – reheating the spaghetti from last night, watching “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and dodging bugs left and right. As Richie eloquently stated as our night came to a close, “Today was such a worthless day.” Just another day in Machanga.

So Week One is over. We survived, although probably a few pounds lighter. The saying goes “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Well, I think it’s fair to say that this week – especially the first half – was hell. There is little to do, there are a ton of bugs, we have power for three hours a day, and it’s either hot and sunny or hot and rainy. The funny thing is: we signed up for this. But much like training, I suspect it will move faster and easier as the weeks go on. Right? We can only hope.