Year 2 - Week 2: Sitting, Waiting, Integrating

It’s truly amazing what a difference a couple hundred kilometers and a beach make. Doing nothing in Vilanculos is so much different than doing nothing in Machanga because Machanga, despite its coastal location, is lacking swimmable ocean.

The location change also apparently changed my sleeping habits for the better. I slept until nearly 8:00 and for the first time in months, I couldn’t recall any dreams. Maybe it’s Machanga and not the Larium that’s driving me crazy.

What little time we had left in the morning, we used to finish “Troy”. Due to calls from one of my best friends and my grandfather, we didn’t have the chance to finish it last night. And with twenty-four hour energy in Vilanculos (the rich get richer), we have the power to watch movies whenever we want.

But why watch movies when there is beautiful weather to be had? Following lunch, Richie and I relocated to the backpackers’ lodge that we like. Located on the beach and with two unused hammocks, we each took some time to read. I got sucked into “Rule of Four”, a novel I read years ago. That’s right, a novel. This one is special, though, because it is full of history and that’s what got me good.

I spent almost the entire day in that hammock. I really can’t think of a better way to spend a day. Returning around 5:00, I was back home in time to cook dinner. We just did a simple and sauce dish. Richie watched some “30 Rock” while I spent some time on the phone with my parents. Amazingly, this was probably the last time I’ll talk to them before I see them face to face. It’s so close now.

We had a relatively busy and productive Monday. One of the things that Peace Corps really stresses is “community integration”. As this is our community for this week or so, we thought it would be best to integrate ourselves. This is a fairly simple task, given a lot of time, but it is made especially difficult because of the location and time of year. These days, Vilanculos is full of muzungus and to most people, we appear to be just two more South Africans. Our goal today was to start to put an end to that.

Before we could get integrating, we had some shopping to do. Both of us wanted to buy capulanas, Richie for a pair of shorts, me for a gift. With that task complete, we moved a couple hundred yards away to hit the little hamburger stand. And then the integrating began.

We walked into the market, turned left, and found a table that was in the shade. We ordered a beer and just started talking. The lady selling the beer was a bit surprised that we spoke Portuguese. It is a bit of a novelty. After a couple beers, I broke a deck of cards and a couple kids came over. Here we go. A couple of magic tricks later and the kids were hooked. When a new kid came over, he bet that I couldn’t find his card. Thirty seconds later, I had myself a free Sprite. When an older person came along, I had myself a free beer.

By the end of the day, we were not only feeling good, but we had made some new friends. Sandra, the woman working the bar, is our new best friend in Vilanculos. She and her neighbor Gilda taught us - and got a good laugh out of us learning -- some Chitswa, the local language here. And we met a nice lady, Veronica, who sells vegetables. We are now set: we have a person to sell us beer, a person to sell us eggs, and a person to sell us vegetables. No more fighting for prices for us.

We made a quick stopover at the backpackers’ just to see if anyone was there, but it was suspiciously quiet. We waited it out for an hour, but nothing changed, so we went home. For some reason, we had pizza again. I think the fact that they deliver made it easier to spend money on a relatively expensive dinner.

The fun however didn’t stop after dinner. In fact, it picked up. Being the winter solstice, one of the bosses in the compound we’re staying in decided to have a little bonfire. A group of about 11 of us gathered around the fire, the conversation easily switching between Portuguese and English. All said, we were out until about 11 and for one day, we were well integrated into Vilanculos.

All of that integrating really wiped us out. I slept well again -- dreamless, again -- until about 8:30. We didn’t want to integrate so hard in back to back days, so we thought it best to take the day off. Good thing there’s no pressure on us to do anything.

The morning was slow, calm. It was nice. Before the weather got too blazingly hot, I took the dog out for a walk on the beach. We all need our exercise, including the dog, and we might as well do it next to an azure ocean. After the forty-five minute walk, Richie and I had a quick bite to eat and went back to the backpackers’.

My big task today was to finish “Rule of Four”. I had about 200 pages left, but it was such a quick read that I finished it within just a couple hours. I think I could read that book over and over again. As long as I have a hammock, I can read just about anything, I’m convinced.

We came back to the house for lunch, and once the stores reopened, we headed into town to pick up some items. We didn’t find everything we needed, but I got some stuff that I wanted. I’ll call it a draw. After shopping, we headed to the backpackers’. On our way there, we made a stop at two different tailors. One had finished sewing up the gift I was making for my brother, the other was just starting work on a pair of shorts for Richie. I’m very happy with the way the gift turned out, and I hope my brother and his wife enjoy it.

There was nothing really special at night. After dinner, we watched “Ocean’s 12”. Following another rough day in paradise, we called it a night.

We woke up Wednesday hoping that things would pick up at the little backpackers place. Last year was absolutely insane. It was a standing room only party night after night. But so far this year, it seems that things are very quiet. Maybe the economy affected travel here. Maybe people are just keeping to themselves. Either way, it’s been kind of dull.

There appeared to be more people at the backpackers today, but it still didn’t compare to last year. With few people around hanging out, I committed myself to reading “Not On Our Watch”, a book by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast about Darfur. It was a less than engaging book -- often repetitive with these strange pages-long interjections. I don’t want to call it a time-waster, but that is all it proved to be: a way to waste the day away.

The pace picked up in the afternoon, but only because we forced it to. We left the backpackers, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to Sandra’s place in the market. We were only going to have one or two beers, just to cool down. That plan changed quickly. Along the way, we were both recognized. People only spoke to us in Portuguese. There were no calls of “boss” or “my friend”. And someone even gave me a new nickname: “Senhor de Batuta”, roughly Mr. Clever or Mr. Fraud. I can work with that.

On our way home, we made a stop to get hamburgers, which were quickly followed by dinner. We didn’t do much of anything the rest of the night. We were both pretty exhausted and wanted to save our energy for Christmas eve. We watched “Role Models”, a strange, funny movie and went to sleep.

Before heading over to the backpackers on Thursday, we had some business to take care of. We both really needed to go to the bank. I also needed to make a stop at the hotel where my family is staying to confirm their pick-up from the airport. And finally, there were some things that I needed to grab from another Volunteer’s house. Well, I was able to do two out of three -- and we got rides both to and from the other side of town -- so I would call that a success.

We made a concerted effort to avoid going back to Sandra’s. It’s not that we don’t love Sandra…we just knew that if we ended up there, we wouldn’t make it through the night. From there, we dropped off our things at the house, made a quick egg sandwich, then went to the backpackers to hang around. The pattern repeated itself later in the afternoon -- we dropped some things at the house, made an early dinner, then went back to the backpackers.

The party seemed to pick up a little bit at night. There were definitely more people out, but it still wasn’t the raucous party from last year. Regardless, we made some nice friends from Australia and drank enough for two people each. Well socially lubricated, we headed to the discotequa around midnight and went crazy.

The party continued well into the morning. The sun was rising as I walked back home and by then I was mostly awake. There’s no rest for the weary. After a long night of dancing, I was in dire need of shower. And if I wasn’t awake enough, that finished the job. We mostly just wanted to relax for the day. We headed over to the backpackers and that’s when our bodies gave out. Richie came back home about half an hour. I didn’t have it in me to walk back to the house, so I laid out my capulana and passed out for a couple hours in the shade of a palm tree.

When I woke up, Richie was already back at the backpackers. Very very strange. I woke up feeling absolutely miserable. Richie thought the solution would be a beer. And the truth is that it didn’t hurt -- it just didn’t help much either.

Santa’s gift to me was stomach problems. I guess drinking a half-liter of rum on a mostly empty stomach will do that. How pleasant. Fortunately, this has been about as sick I’ve been the entire year, which says something about healthy I’ve been.

Richie and I ate lunch at the backpackers, and with no reason to stay, we headed home to sleep. Being up for the better part of thirty-six hours will make you tired. Both of us passed out between 4 and 8, hoping that it would be enough to get us through the night.

For better or worse (probably the better), the backpackers was quiet. We went intending to continue the party from last night, but it was quiet tonight. We gave it until 10:30. When things didn’t pick up, we went back home and right to sleep.

I woke up feeling mostly okay. I had one more small bout, but that was it. Otherwise, it was a beautiful, peaceful day. Richie and I made one run to the market late in the morning, and that was it. After a small lunch, I took an extensive afternoon nap, then took the dog for a walk. It was a boring day, but boring was exactly what I wanted.

The twenty-four hour stomach problem proved to be nearly exactly that. I’m just glad it’s gone before my family arrives.

Ah yes. My family. After 11 months of planning and waiting, they are finally arriving tomorrow!! I don’t know if I’ll believe they’re coming until I actually see them in the airport. Needless to say, I’m excited beyond belief. I never thought anyone else in my family would step foot in Africa.

It should be a phenomenal two weeks.