The Blog(ger) is Back

Wow - it has been six months since I last posted anything.  How time flies.  Six months in Maputo is like comparing dog years to human years.  And to think that a year and a half ago I wasn't sure I would survive even six months.  But yes, we are two-thirds into the 30 month commitment.  Carl will have had three birthdays and I will have had two.  We are balder and silver-haired - respectively; older and...older.

So, to recap the past eight months in a nutshell:

What has changed?
A trip to to the states
A trip to a game park
A trip to Paris
A trip to a game park

Seems to be a common thread.

Oh, and a new grocery store opened.  Bigger but not always better.
And two more Peace Corps Volunteer groups have established themselves throughout Mozambique with minimal attrition.

What has not changed?
Power outages
Transformers exploding
Water outages
Spinach outages
And the road construction continues...

We did a whirlwind trip to the states in September that included bookend Ben time in Atlanta, a week in California that included all the family, a quick visit with Carl's sister and family and Carl's father, as well as time in the DC area.  It provided another opportunity for a four generation...

and uncle photos

And yes, Ben does have a mother. I appreciate the estrogen balance.

While we accomplished a lot of the had-to's, we did not get in nearly enough of the want-to's.  Although if we had known we were taking a five week trip, instead of a four week trip we might have planned somewhat differently. Our return trip from Atlanta to Johannesburg was canceled after sitting on the tarmac for three hours, the flight was aborted and 250+ passengers were relocated to hotels.  We spent the next week at the Atlanta airport Hilton with a daily trip on the hotel shuttle to the Delta counter to pick up hotel and meal vouchers and check on next available flights.  On the positive side, it gave us more Ben time.

And on the sixth day...we fanagled two seats on the second to last row of the plane, said good-bye to the Atlanta family and headed back.


AND ON THE 15TH DAY - the power came on and has stayed on for a full 8 hours, so here we go again.  I may be back in that states before I finish this chapter.

At a charity event event sponsored by a South African based travel company that caters to ex-pats in Mozambique incapable of access to - or just incapable of - managing their own travel arrangements, I won two trips to two different game parks (we also won two beanies and 100 Rand in gift certificates to a SA grocery store which bought us exactly two pounds of parmesan cheese, no small thing).  We did the first trip in November.  It was a small establishment abutting Kruger.  Hot as Hades when we were there, but only 12 rooms and with access to a less traveled part of Kruger.  So, if lions were spotted, which they were, only three other jeeps instead of twelve or fifteen came racing up as well. 

After that, a few more weeks of the same old, same old: boil water when the power is on, buy as many greens as possible when they are available, strategically place candles and matches throughout the apartment, choke down the dust from the construction on the street, hold your nose while passing the garbage piles, and survive 9 hour work days (and on the fifth day USG in Mozambique said "Thou shall work only 4 hours"). 

Then..,Paris, City of lights, Christmas decorations, good food, culture.  This was our first Christmas ever without family, but Paris was pretty good compensation.  I was desperate for holiday cheer - the only decorations here were in the ex-pat oriented mini-mall and the plastic tree at our Chinese masseuse's. We rented a small efficiency on the banks of the Seine, one block down from Notre Dame.  It was heaven - and confirmed for me that Paris is absolutely my favorite City.  Decorations were abundant,

Santa  (and Santa wanna-bes)evident  

and the food and wine to die for.                    

We strolled the large Christmas Markets on Montmartre and the Champs Elysee and found some smaller neighborhhood markets as well.

We spent our days walking, enjoying

 previously visited tourist sites as well as exploring new neighborhoods, revelling in the paved sidewalks and only occasional piles of dog poop.                  

A new addition to the Paris

scene - and not just for tourists -

 locks personalized with the initials,

names, dates, etc. of couples and

attached to the bridges. Voila!- there

was actually someone selling locks

on site as we

strolled across the bridge.   

Those assured of everlasting love throw the key in the Seine.  We kept all three keys...

Warning to sons: three keys to be bequeathed.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate said lock "P&C". (size does not matter?)


I found a small tree at the flower market and we had an enjoyable Christmas Day, doing our last meanderings through the City and flying back to "MOZAMlicious" at 11:30 pm. Next year we hope the tree is bigger than the hats and more importantly, more than two people are in the picture.

After two weeks of trying to get this completed, my "African" instincts are to send this while I can - who knows what the next day, hour, minute will bring.  My increasing admiration for Peace Corps volunteers who live with uncertainty on a daily basis.  Mozambique has had horrific flooding in the past two months - many Mozambicans and 18 PC volunteers displaced. 

We had one bad day of flooding in Maputo, but because our apartment is high we were spared water damage, just experienced the obligatory water and power outages.

In the (belated) and immortal "words" of my grandson: May you have a "trauma free" year.

*this blog was done "Mozambican".  Dec 25th = Feb 25th to March 3rd????

To be continued (kind of like watching Downton Abbey, eh??)  Stay tuned for the second Game Park and Adventures in Swaziland!!!  Ciao, ciao