Year 1 - Week 3: The Failed Escape

We had originally planned to leave Saturday morning, so I went to bed on the early side on Friday, thinking I had a long day ahead of me. When I woke up at 4:30 for some ungodly reason, I noticed that Richie still hadn’t returned to the room. This was not promising. At some point, he made it back to the room. He woke up around 7:30 and uttered the words “I feel like death.” My hopes for getting home shrunk considerably. As if that wasn’t clear enough, by 9:30 he said “I don’t think I’m going to make it.” That was the final dagger in our effort to get home.

So I went with it. There was no point in being angry; after all, if you are going to be stuck in a place, Vilanculos is a nice place to be stuck. And it proved to be a blessing in disguise: we got rain for the better part of the morning into the afternoon. It would not have been a pleasant ride back to Machanga.

I spent most of the morning with some new friends from Peace Corps South Africa. They have an interesting group and all of them are very kind. We spent most of the morning playing a game called Skip-Bo. It was a good time-killer and it got us to lunch.

Seeing as we had planned to go back to Machanga, I did not expect to have to spend a lot of money on food. I figured since we would leave now on Saturday, I would buy one meal in a restaurant and try to eat locally for one. So I went into town and bought some bread and vegetables to make veggie sandwiches. I was very pleased to be able to get some vitamins in me. We just don’t get that kind of variety in Machanga. Of course, as I got into the town, it started to downpour so I bought a much needed umbrella. I did not want to walk back to the hostel in the pouring rain.

The afternoon was spent the same way the morning was – playing cards. This time, we played Euchre. It was pretty nice to have some Midwesterners around because they already knew the game. We played three games for a couple hours on end – just enough to get us toward dinner.

As Richie was still in a state, I went to dinner with the South Africa crew. Thinking this was my last decent meal for a while, we went for pizza, where we also indulged in milkshakes. I came back, and Richie was semi-conscious, so we made a plan to get back to Machanga for Sunday – out by 9:00.

We woke up around 8:30, once again to rain. We packed our bags and made our way out. We stopped at the bank to stock up on money for the next couple of months – this is the closest bank to us – and we were on our way. Luckily, we got a chapa and not a truck because it started to downpour just as we got going. Things were looking good: Richie was awake, we had a chapa to the crossroads. The only thing we needed was a little luck getting a ride north.

And this is where the fortune ended. After 10 minutes of waiting, a car pulled up to stop near where we were. I asked if we could get a ride heading toward Beira. The man replied, in English, that there was no transport heading north because the bridge collapsed. Well, we didn’t have much choice but to turn around and head back into Vilanculos. We tried to contact Peace Corps of our plans, and thankfully – finally – our text message went through. Between the service being terrible and the spotty weather, it’s been a tough go using cell phones recently.

We came back to the house where we had stayed for the first couple nights. Most of Sunday was a lazy day. We stuck around the house. By the afternoon, the town was hot and dry so I did some much needed laundry. For dinner, we ate a fantastic and very summer camp-like meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

I woke up Monday on the early end. My index finger on my left hand was inflamed, destroyed by bites of some kind. My hand looked like a Braille book. Richie and I ate breakfast at the Volunteer’s house where we had stayed, then made our way back to the hostel where we had spent some of our time. The beach was a lot more accessible there and there were more people there too. It seemed to make sense to spend the day there. On the way over, I bought some vegetables for lunch.

The day, much like yesterday, was lazy. I spent some quality time in a hammock. The ocean was warm as always, but was shallow and had a strong undertow. My card-playing Peace Corps South Africa friends were on a little day trip to the islands, so I made some new friends with some Peace Corps Zambia people. Mozambique is clearly the place to be during the holidays.

We had something of a unique – and cheap – dinner: gazelle meat sandwiches. They were delicious! I could eat those everyday…oh, wait, we don’t get that in Machanga. I spent the rest of the night hanging with the Peace Corps Zambia crew until heading back to the Volunteer’s house to sleep.

Tuesday went pretty much like Monday. But that’s the way vacation is supposed to be, right – just doing a lot of nothing. I woke up at the Volunteer’s house, made my way over to the hostel, and just hung out for the day. I committed to buying only one meal at the hostel to keep my food costs down. I figured that I’m not paying for room and board so I can splurge a little on food everyday. So I have been taking advantage of foods that are just not available to me in Machanga – cheeseburgers, grilled cheese, pizza, etc.

Wednesday was probably the laziest day I’ve had here. I woke up late after sleeping amazingly. There was a storm that blew in right as I was falling asleep, so the weather stayed nice and cool. Richie came over, but strangely, he didn’t take a shower like he had been doing. His reasoning was that it was so frickin’ hot that the moment he stepped outside, he would just be sweating again – perfectly good logic. We made pancakes and some delicious syrup, and were on our way for the day.

I spent hours on end in a hammock under some coconut trees doing absolutely nothing. Not thinking, not eating, not drinking, not anything. Even if nothing was exactly what I’d be doing in Machanga right now – especially since all of the teachers are in Beira – this nothing is a lot better than that nothing.

Finally hungry, I got some food – gazelle skewers and enough bread to give me a good base for the upcoming night. The party started somewhat late for new years. The hostel had a decent live band going and the weather was decent for most of the night. The rain starting coming just after the clock hit midnight, but that didn’t stop the party. By the end of the night – and I mean the end of the night – we were on the beach, hoping to catch sunrise over the Indian Ocean. But the cloud cover was too heavy and we it just got progressively less dark. By 6 AM, I was done.

Rain brought in the New Year. Sure, this place needs it, but this could once again put a damper on travel plans. Hopefully the roads will be drivable and we will be able to get back to Machanga. We will be around Vilanculos today and will be out of here, hopefully, tomorrow. I don’t know if we can afford another failed escape.