Semester break was finally here, and I was more than ready for it. The excitement had been building as locals told me that Mozambique had the most beautiful beaches in all of Africa. We left early Friday morning for the bus pickup where we had already bought all of our bus tickets ahead of time. Everyone got off at the South African border (only about 25 minutes away from school) to fill out their departure/arrival forms and such and less than an hour into the trip, I was almost brought to tears. To stay in Botswana Americans don't need visas but once we get here we have to get a waiver.. basically a piece of paper saying were allowed to be here for less than six months. The University of Botswana international office had made a copy of my waiver for me, telling me not to bring my actual waiver anywhere so I don't lose it, to just keep it in my room and bring the copy everywhere I go. Well, it just so happens to cross borders you need your original waiver, a copy will not do. After arguing with immigration officers for 20 minutes about how we already paid for our bus and we couldn't go back, we eventually took our stuff off the bus and began thinking of a plan. I was traveling with three other international students, two of which had their real waivers with them so continued on to Johannesburg, and one of which was stuck at the border with me.
Rushing off the bus, we were telling Laura and Sagan (the two continuing on, best friends from Wisconsin) that we would try to catch the bus the next morning and somehow meet them in Mozambique. Frustrated and upset that our break was being ruined we tried to think of what else we could do. Jenn, my roommate and travel partner from Washington state thought of the idea to hitchhike. [Worrying family, please brace yourself for the following story and know that I am being very safe here and I do realize that some things that I did may not have been the safest decisions in the world but they were the best choices at the time, they were learning experiences and I do not regret them] At first, I didnt want to. Of course it sounded dangerous to me even though I did know that hitchhiking is extremely common in Africa, unlike the States. We went to the border security guards and told them our situation and asked if they thought it would be safe to hitchhike back to school, get our waivers, then hitchhike to Johannesburg so we could catch out next bus as Laura and Sagan waited at the station during our layover. They all agreed that we would be perfectly fine.
A little worried, we decided we would ask people that were crossing into Botswana that looked harmless (that sounds so stupid when I write it because I know you cant really tell good and bad people from looks) and see if they would bring us back to school. The first guy that pulled up was a middle aged white South African man in a jeep, he had no problem bringing us so we hopped in and began our journey. We had been driving for 20 minutes and he said he just needed to stop by his house real quick before we went to UB. We're sitting in his driveway, Jenn in the passenger seat and me in the back, and after 10 minutes he comes out of his house with nothing but rope (that kind of looked like a karate belt?) and a box cutter. As he walked towards the jeep I kept saying between my teeth to Jenn “Is that a box cutter? Why does he have a box cutter? Why would be have rope and a box cutter?” My stomach tightened as he opened the back door, put the rope and box cutter behind the drivers seat and got back into the car. He said nothing about it. We continued on our way and he began making small talk. It ended up he is a scientist that is working at the University. He stopped and bought us fat cakes (doughnut things) from his favorite bakery then dropped us off, telling us where his office is if we ever wanted to stop by. And that was that. I will never know, and didn't want to ask, why he stopped at his house for rope and a box cutter.. but luckily, he actually was a very nice man and hopefully had a very normal reason for needing those things.
Once back at school we had to run around using peoples phones and such and eventually had our good friend Anthony come to bring us Jenn's phone (he was keeping all our valuables at his house for the week) and he ended up being us back to the border.. after we had gotten our waivers of course. At the border, finding another car to hitchhike to Jo'burg in was easier than I ever would have thought. In line at immigration, a man overhearing us talking offered to drop us off there on his way back home to Pretoria. We took the first offer we got! The man seemed very nice, another middle aged white South African who was traveling with his business partner back home from a business trip to Gaborone. On our way to their car as we walked through the border, we got another offer from a sweet looking couple to bring us to Jo'burg. We actually would rather have gone with them, but the other guys were already waiting for us, so we kept to the plan. Four hours later, after driving through the beautiful hills and small towns of South Africa, we made it to the station and managed to find Laura and Sagan sitting at a restaurant after about 20 minutes. People must have thought we hadn't seen each other in years, we were so excited to be reunited and back on track with the plan. After an overnight bus to Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique, we took a ferry to Catembe and then got picked up by a guy from the place we were staying at. It was another three hour drive, very bumpy and very dusty with house music blasting nice and loud the whole way.
Finally we had made it to our final destination of Ponta de Ouro, Mozambique. We were staying at Kaya Kweru in the backpackers hostels. We stayed in bunk beds and shared a kitchen area with a couple other people. There was a pool, a bar, and most importantly a two minute walk to the beach from our room! Our week consisted mostly of relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean (my first time seeing and being in the Indian ocean!), boogie boarding, trying to avoid the blue jellyfish, and exploring the town. In the mornings we would take a walk to the market where locals have little tables and booths with fruit, vegetables, eggs, pasta, and a few other things. We would go to this little bakery hidden in the market every morning for fresh little loaves of bread for 10 meticais (32 cents in USD!) that would last me three meals or so. A couple days into the trip we found tons of booths selling African souvenirs with jewelery, artwork, carvings, and all that good stuff. I had a good time making small talk with the guys from Maputo selling things that their “dad or brother made”.. we literally met over 30 people that have very creative dad's and brothers..haha. And of course I bargained my way into getting many good souvenirs.
In Mozambique they speak Portuguese, and really the only word I learned other than hola was obrigado, meaning thank you. On the first day I must have said it 20 times to different people at the backpackers and the market, every time getting a laugh when I said it. I assumed my accent sounded funny to them, until the next day I was told boys say Obrigado and girls are supposed to say obrigada.. the laughing now made even more sense.
One day we rented 4-wheelers and took them up the coast for awhile. We went to a place called 360 and ate a meal with a beautiful 360 degree view of Ponta de Ouro. We saw many friendly locals including little boys trying to sell us chameleons (which is illegal to do), and found some other booths with similar crafts.
On the last morning of our trip we woke up at 5:15 to go out on a 'swimming with dolphins' trip. This wasn't the kind where you swim on their backs or anything, this was with wild dolphins and there were very specific instructions about what we were supposed to do. We even learned what it meant when the dolphins did certain things, and what we should do in response. We were so excited even though all of us had sunburn on some part of our bodies (Me being the least burnt by far). We helped push the catamaran boat into the water and everything began moving very quickly and they were yelling for us to jump in. We just did our best to jump in, and for me it didn't work out so well, haha! I cut open my leg and scrapped my knee. It really wouldn't have been that big of a deal if it wasn't for my blood phobia. As the blood dripped down my leg and I wiped it away over and over again all my friends and I could think about was me passing out while sitting on the edge of a boat going 30 MPH through the ocean's waves. Luckily I was able to zone out the blood and focus on the beauty around me, the peacefulness of the ocean and the wind blowing through my hair. 20 minutes went by looking for the dolphins, then 30, then 40.. then we started to worry. Eventually we stopped to get out and snorkel anyways, hoping to see something until we found the dolphins. As we plopped into the water and looked down at the black and brown rocks on the bottom of the ocean's floor we began noticing jellyfish everywhere. There were jellies literally a foot away from my face, and since Sagan had just been stung the day before we were not willing to risk getting stung to look at a boring oceans floor. We all agreed that if there were dolphins we would go back in and risk it. So we got back in the boat where Laura began trying to throw up over the side because of sea sickness and Jenn curled up in pain from having her sunburnt stomach dragged across the boat as she was pulled back in. We continued looking for another 20 minutes, then headed back to shore with nothing but pain and disappointment all around. They said that hasn't happened in a very long time and that we could come back the next day for a free trip out to try again. Unfortunately, that was our last day and the next offer do it the next time we come back to Ponta de Ouro didn't sound too much better considering the chances that we will ever be in this place again are not the highest.
Trying to forget about the 300 rand (44 USD) I had wasted on the dolphin trip, I was so happy with our relaxing but adventure filled trip. We then headed back to Gaborone, the same way we got here.. minus the hitchhiking. Ended the trip with a marriage proposal on the ferry from a man from Catembe who wanted me to stay in Catembe with him forever. Unfortunately, I had to break his heart. We had a wonderful meal in Maputo, a very large, busy city that was kind of dirty and did not interest me too much, before boarding our bus back to Jo'burg. During our long layovers in Jo'burg we took turns watching the bags and going out to explore the city for a little bit. Jenn and I adventured out first, having been warned that we were in a somewhat dangerous area of the city. We walked for about 15 or 20 minutes both times that we went being bombarded with “Hello beautiful! Can I be your friend? Can I walk with you? Onions! Three Rand! Can I take you to the movies? Kiss me!” and our repetition of “No” and “Don't touch me” got old and we made our way back to the station after buying a few treats for the ride. It is not a place your should walk around with more than 10 rand on you, and never walk alone or at night, but it was great to experience the crazy streets of Jo'burg.. I still find it amusing that even in South Africa we stood out as the only white girls around, getting way more unwanted attention than we ever have in Gabs.
This trip was amazing. This was why I wanted to study abroad: to experience new lands, meet new people, and learn about new cultures though once in a lifetime experiences. It made me even more excited for my next traveling adventures up to northern Botswana to Chobe, to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and to Capetown, S.A.
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