For the past few days we've been travelling up the coast. First to Inhambane, a charming town dating back to colonial times. It has a much more homey feel compared to the immense Maputo. But even the little towns of Mozambique are just swarming with people. I don't think anyone ever stays at home during the day. They're all out and about. Filling the towns with life.
From Inhambane we went up to Tofo. A beach paradise. We hardly realized what we were in for when we went, it was just breath-taking. Silk velvety sand. Thundering waves. Hammocks. We almost felt guilty for being there, when our main purpose for being in Mozambique is to help! We traded with a few vendor children for shell necklaces. It was lots of fun.
Then we headed further north to Vilanculos, which again was very nice and a lot more tourist-oriented than we expected in Mozambique. We boated out to the beauitufl archipelago and went snorkelling. We just loved our hostel -- Zombie-Cucumber-- and the owners. Not to mention the amazing food. We stayed an extra day there almost excusively for the Sticky Toffee Pudding that was on the menu for the next day.
And now we're back in Maputo, geared to head the Zimpeto orphanage tomorrow. We're so excited! Now that we've got a feel for Mozambique and its people, we're just aching to help out in some way.
Sorry, we have some pictures, but they're not properly uploading to this website for some reason.
If you'd like to look at some pictures you should be able to see them at:
http://sfu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10880&l=fc250&id=513045324
and
http://sfu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10884&l=f4cc5&id=513045324
and
http://sfu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10881&l=8a32d&id=513045324
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Thank you!!!
HI everyone!
This is just a quick post to express our gratitude to all of you who are checking and posting (we realize there are some of you who read and don't post and that's okay too). It really means a lot to us to hear from people we love, although it makes us miss you way too much!
Love you all, Mindy and Elise
This is just a quick post to express our gratitude to all of you who are checking and posting (we realize there are some of you who read and don't post and that's okay too). It really means a lot to us to hear from people we love, although it makes us miss you way too much!
Love you all, Mindy and Elise
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Our First Few Days: Maputo and Inhambane
HELLO EVERYONE!
Here we are in Mozambique! It's been absolutely amazing and there's so much to tell after only 5 days, but we'll try our best to be brief.
Our first day here, we set out on the streets on Maputo, after dropping off our stuff at our guest house. Within an hour, we had acquired 5 little followers. They started by asking for money, but within half an hour we were all just laughing together and they were showing us around the city. One of them spoke English. They were our translators, tour guide, and friends. As we came up from the beach, heading towards the information centre, they stopped at a booth and bought us candy. They wouldn't even let us pay for it! They went from asking for money from us to refusing to let us pay for a little bit of candy. They were so sweet. And strangely enough, we felt safer walking through the streets with our little entourage.
All the pictures here are from the first day. Unfortunately we were unable to upload later photos. Our second day, we met up with the same boys and spent most of the day at the beach. They just stripped down and went swimming. It was so fun. Making sand castles with them and playing soccer with this makeshift ball made out of a bag of styrofoam. They even shooed away the vendors that continually accosted us (it is quite evident that we're not from around here. In Maputo especially, which isn't too touristic, we certainly invite a lot of stares). But in general, people have been so friendly and helpful. We feel very safe. And the people of Mozambique have made such a good impression on us.
The next day, we met up with a friend of a friend who lives here, Ana. She and her husband took us on a day trip to an all boy's orphanage, Casa de Gayato. It was so amazing. It is such a functional orphanage. It's on a farm. We had an amazing meal of rice, chicken, cheese, bread and soup and everything we ate was produced there. They make all their furniture. They sell soy milk. And they equip the boys with practical skills that they can use later in life. It was soooo neat! We're planning on heading back there to work for a week in July.
The next day we sat in a crowded bus for 7 hours careening through the countryside up to Inhambane, where we are now. The rural areas are filled with mud and straw structures, as well as makeshift houses made out of advertising billboards. You can see women carrying big loads on their heads and kids running around everywhere.
Inhambane is very beautiful. The beach is gorgeous. At nighttime, along the shore, you can see sparkly blue phosphoresence in the ebbing water. It's so magical. This is a popular tourist spot for South Africans, so we don't quite attract as much attention here as in Maputo.
So in short, we're having a wonderful time. We love it here and so far everything has gone very smoothly.
Thank you for your prayers,
Love, Mindy and Elise
Here we are in Mozambique! It's been absolutely amazing and there's so much to tell after only 5 days, but we'll try our best to be brief.
Our first day here, we set out on the streets on Maputo, after dropping off our stuff at our guest house. Within an hour, we had acquired 5 little followers. They started by asking for money, but within half an hour we were all just laughing together and they were showing us around the city. One of them spoke English. They were our translators, tour guide, and friends. As we came up from the beach, heading towards the information centre, they stopped at a booth and bought us candy. They wouldn't even let us pay for it! They went from asking for money from us to refusing to let us pay for a little bit of candy. They were so sweet. And strangely enough, we felt safer walking through the streets with our little entourage.
All the pictures here are from the first day. Unfortunately we were unable to upload later photos. Our second day, we met up with the same boys and spent most of the day at the beach. They just stripped down and went swimming. It was so fun. Making sand castles with them and playing soccer with this makeshift ball made out of a bag of styrofoam. They even shooed away the vendors that continually accosted us (it is quite evident that we're not from around here. In Maputo especially, which isn't too touristic, we certainly invite a lot of stares). But in general, people have been so friendly and helpful. We feel very safe. And the people of Mozambique have made such a good impression on us.
The next day, we met up with a friend of a friend who lives here, Ana. She and her husband took us on a day trip to an all boy's orphanage, Casa de Gayato. It was so amazing. It is such a functional orphanage. It's on a farm. We had an amazing meal of rice, chicken, cheese, bread and soup and everything we ate was produced there. They make all their furniture. They sell soy milk. And they equip the boys with practical skills that they can use later in life. It was soooo neat! We're planning on heading back there to work for a week in July.
The next day we sat in a crowded bus for 7 hours careening through the countryside up to Inhambane, where we are now. The rural areas are filled with mud and straw structures, as well as makeshift houses made out of advertising billboards. You can see women carrying big loads on their heads and kids running around everywhere.Inhambane is very beautiful. The beach is gorgeous. At nighttime, along the shore, you can see sparkly blue phosphoresence in the ebbing water. It's so magical. This is a popular tourist spot for South Africans, so we don't quite attract as much attention here as in Maputo.
So in short, we're having a wonderful time. We love it here and so far everything has gone very smoothly.
Thank you for your prayers,
Love, Mindy and Elise
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