Aug.23-24: Tanzania safari and heading back to Canada

Susanne with her last entry..... :)

Jambo!

Well, when looking back, it is amazing to see how much we were able to take in over the last few weeks.  The build in Xai Xai, the South Africa safari, then the Kili climb and we had another adventure booked.  About 1.5 days in Lake Manyara and the Ngora Ngora crater.  Fairly close to Arusha, we had booked a tour with Leopard Tours and  were picked up nice and early the 23rd.  7 of us continued here.  Carin had another safari booked and Steve was flying out that afternoon, the group was shrinking from 9 to 7.

It truly is amazing how well this group has gotten along. Someone said that morning: you know, in stressful situations, it is normal that people snap at each other once in a while, but it never happened in our group of 9.  very true.  We were very, very lucky to have the dynamics we did.

Our sweet ride arrived in the form of a big, beige Toyota Landcruiser which had a pop-up roof so that people could stick their heads out top and have a 360 view of the surroundings and still have some protection from the sun.  Our driver`s name was Moses, he was from Tanzania and was amazing in trying to explain his native land and the people.

We had to drive about 2 hours to Lake Manyara,a lake which is buzzing with pink flamingos and greens during the wet season, but in the dry season, the alkaline takes precedence in looks and it basically looks like a dry salt lake.  There is still a lot of water, but the water level is lower and the edges dry out and have a white colour.  Am not an alkaline expert, but know you can buy alkaline batteries...hence the ``no life in the water`` explanation makes sense. There are some small fish and also the food for the flamingos which gives them the pink color...forget the name right now, but not much else lives in it and animals don`t drink from it, either.

We went for a game drive around the lake and saw a lot of rain forest type of trees when first entering the conservation park which is tiny compared to Kruger...maybe about 300 square km`s.  Baboons, monkeys and many other animals similar to what we saw.  It is always exciting to see animals, though, as you see them in a different setting, at a different distance and in different circumstances.

While driving to the game drive, we drove through part of Tanzania, and it was interesting to try to form an impression other than just from Kilimanjaro which obviously does not give you a generic view of the country.

There are about 120 tribes in Tanzania, it is a very peaceful country since independence from British colonies.  One tribe is called the Masai and they herd cows, and goats.  They live in round little huts and often in family circles. Maybe 8 huts if the male has one wife. If he has lots of goats, then he may have more wives, and the little circle of huts could expand to 10 or 15.
The Masai are very traditional and trying to hang on to their ways of life: everything centers around the cows and shepherding them basically. They used to fend off lions when living life in the bush and brush.  They would put a bad smelling oil on their skin which would basically keep lions away from them, and they fear buffalo more than a lion. Hard to believe. They walk around with a stick which used to always be as spear...also used to take lions down if needed.

We saw an interesting progression of the tribe: tire shoes.  Shoes made of pieces cut from rubber tires and strapped to the bottom  of their feet.  It obviously works as a protection but also serves another purpose: when Masai might steal cattle from another, they like wearing the tire shoes, so that foot prints don't designate which way they may have gone due to the tire marks working both ways.  haha, too funny!

Kids walk up to 5 km`s to school. There are many boarding schools in the rural communities and kids go to them starting at age 6. Yip,imagine some of your kids going to school for 5 days at a time at that age,and then only coming home on weekends. very independent kids. They walk to school along busy roads, wear school uniforms, and often try to hitchhike to help with the long distances. You could count on one hand the amount of people I saw during that entire drive who might have been a bit chubby or overweight.  Lots of walking and exercise would take care of that, I guess.

Girls wear their hair short until high school. Again, often striking facial features and really nice looking people.  All roads are incredibly dusty and basically everything close to the road (about 20-30 meters or so) is covered by a layer of ``PEI dirt colored`` dust.  It is on stores, vehicles, plants..you name it, it has dust on it.

Before our safari, we had checked into our beautiful Serena lodge....a collection of huts overseeing the Lake below. Beautiful view and very, very nice hotel with nicely landscaped grounds, a pool and a buffet which gave our bellies a good challenge...we kept loading up our plates with things we had been craving (especially salads etc).  Great lunch!
The evening was spent having a nice dinner and drink, and calling it a ``late`` night at around 10ish or 11, as we had to get up at 5 am on Wednesday, our last safari day and travel day back toward Canada.

• schools can be public (about 20,000 shillings a year or about $13 or so, plus cost of uniforms, books etc). 60-70 kids on those grades/schools.  Cost of private school about $1200 per year and smaller sizes
• English is taught right away
• You can see an Internet cafe and beside it a Masai in traditional garb of checkered red or blue fabric wrapped around them. can spot them really far away. Really interesting mix of old and new
• saw a guy strap two live chickens onto the back of his bike with bungee cords. hmmm....why not, I guess
• random furniture beside road all the time. i.e. 10 lazy boys of different fabric or patterns....dusty, of course
• the reservation parks have no fence here, so animals roam more
• $1500 Shillings= $1 US
• plugs are weird, 3 prong fat adapter needed...
• saw random camels on side of road

The Ngora Ngora crater is a reservation park and inside it is an actual crater which houses 25,000 animals in a location about the size of 10x19km or so....not huge!

We saw tons of animals again, and topped a great day off with seeing a Cheetah.  Almost completely hidden by grass but enough of a head sticking out to take a few pics. amazing little creature. We also saw a serval, and I ended up seeing the movie African Cats on the plane, so felt well prepared :)   After the safari, we had a quick lunch at a picnic stop in the game park where we basically had two elephants almost join us for lunch and off we went to Arusha where we said bye to Alex, and got our bags.

The way home was eventless. We stopped in Amsterdam for a 10 hour layover, so took a train downtown and took a Gracht/Canal tour. Beautiful day and nice to enjoy some of it outside.

Now am at home in Halifax at 6 am writing this blog as I have a bit of insomnia, I think.  Just got home at 4 am after a delayed flight from Toronto and discovered that someone took stuff from my bag...grrrrr..... second glitch.
Well, everyone: it was fun writing and sharing some of our experiences.  It was truly a trip of a lifetime.  One month full of very special activities, and also of forming impressions/memories which are there to stay.

Thanks for being a part of our adventure!  Stay tuned for Chile and Machu Picchu next summer.... :)

Kili continued....Aug. 21st was Summit Day, oh what fun that ``little hike`` was :)

Susanne writing a couple more entries...

Day 5 was an easier one and day 6 was basically summit day. The guides never wanted us to know much about the days ahead, it seemed....so we wouldn`t worry too much. Now I get it. Summit day is basically a wake up call at 11 pm after going to bed at 6 pm but being so nervous and excited that it was hard to sleep, and the climb starting at midnight. This last leg of the hike is very steep; you are counting on your headlamp as it is otherwise pitch black, and the lack of oxygen made some of us pant like chain smokers running a marathon. It was rough..Stellar point is the point which you want to get to. Basically the point high above you which you can see somewhat even in the dark as that is where the white glaciers are, and you see some head lamps off in the distance of those climbers who left a bit earlier. The climb is steep. You cover just under 6 km`s but with an incline of about 1.2 km`s....which should explain why. Uffff!!! We got there before sunrise and the sun started to just come up as we arrived (I seem to remember, but am a bit fuzzy here). Once there, everyone cheers, and hugs, but then you basically have another hour or a bit less to Uhuru Peak where you get your pics and which is the true highest point. The sunrise is stunning, you can see the crater to the right, the glaciers to the left...it is a truly magnificent site.

Even though it is exhilarating to be at Stellar Point and see the sights, you are super tired, many of us too tired to take pictures, too cold to get your camera out and exhausted....in our prep info it said something like ``ìf you feel tired, don`t lie down``.....didn`t really understand that until we got closer to the top of Stellar Point. I likely could have napped....so tired from lack of sleep, the cold, the darkness and we spent only a few minutes at the peak and then started our descend again. The way down makes you aware what you climbed on the way up...now in daylight. There is a lot of loose rock called scree (sp??) and you can basically slide down it, but you are likely to fall on your butt at some point. The dust is everywhere, but again, at this point, you really don't care. The climb up had taken us until sunrise, the way back down was .....I don't remember, we started to go at different paces and since more than the usually 4 guides had come to the summit, we had guys all around us making sure everyone was ok. There was some nausea happening with some folks due to the quick change in altitude.

We had a quick nap and then had to go another 2.5 hours to get further down the mountain.  Going up the mountain is rough, but down is not that easy either: really tough on the knees and toes.
Then we spent the last night in tents and early on the 22nd, at around 7 am, we started our last leg to make it down to the gate where we ``got the t-shirt``, drove to the store in Moshi where we returned our stinky, smelly rental gear (now the renters felt better than the ones who had to carry all their stuff all the way home), and got back to our Impala hotel in Arusha to take our first showers in 8 days. Yip, it ain`t pretty, but it`s the truth. :)

FYI:

• Dirt under finger nails...not so pretty
• Dirt in ears.....interesting Q-tip moment
• Dirt in your nose: just plain gross, and you have to sneeze allll the time
• Wet wipes: best invention ever for camping
• Spitting tooth paste into bushes is much more fun than spitting it into the sink
• Portable toilets in tents: not so great on a cold and windy day...there can be lift-off!

It was a truly ``once in a lifetime`` experience. The people, sights, weather, physical and mental challenge.....the lack of gear made it a bit tougher all around, but NOW it is a great story!
I want to take a second and thank all my team mates and want to also congratulate them on their Kili success. They will always be an important part of this memory. 

Congrats to Nancy B, Nancy V, Carin, Chelsea, Michelle, Lisa, Steve, and Alex!

We did it! ... we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (Aug.16-22)

Susanne reporting from Tanzania....

We did it! The 9 of us who set out to climb the almost 6000 meter mountain were all successful! But it was quite a feat.
We started August 16th with a trip back to the airport to hopefully recover the missing bags for 6 of us...but were unsuccessful. So on it went with more paperwork to fill out as apparently no one had really even started looking for our bags and had no idea where they were. At least we wanted to have them upon our return as they were quite valuable with a lot of our climbing gear...likely about half of it seemed to come from MEC. :)
I`d be lying if I said we were not ``more than disappointed``....we basically had the clothes on our back and carry-on items. We tried to put some important things in the carry-on in case this would happen (ie. we all had worn our boots and had maybe a jacket and a few thought about underwear etc) but a lot of stuff was still missing. So we were told: we have to get going, the climb was supposed to start in the morning and we did not get to the rental place in Moshi which is a little town close to Kili, until about 1pm. The rental place had lost electricity so it was quite an adventure to root through the hanging clothes in the dark, trying to figure out what one would need for the next week on a cold mountain....I spent about $176 for the essentials....jacket, pants, gaiters, some thermal stuff, some dry fit shirts, gloves, socks etc. They only took cash, so we had to dip into what we planned to be our porter money.
It was pure chaos! :)

We started the climb on August 16th at around 3 pm, walkedwell into darkness at around 7 pm, and climbed for 4 hours, starting at the Machame gate at an altitude of 6000 feet and ascending to about 10,000 feet.
This is when I have to get generic. :)

In the coming 6 days, we climbed up, down, up cliff walls like mountain goats, through rain forests and deserts. We did evertyhing from what feltl like rock climbing (super fun) to sliding in mud and dust.  I`d have to count, but I think we covered about 60 km`s and ascended from 6,000 to over 19,000 feet.

Our group of 9 was diverse. We ranged over 3 decades in age, came from different provinces and experiences and some of us only met during the Habitat trip. Now we were tent mates, climbing buddies and had no chance but to get even closer during this adventure. Our days consisted of early breakfasts in a larger tent, usually it would be freezing cold until the sun came up. Routines of brushing teeth nearby some rocks, and using the portable toilets (inside little tents, best investment ever), getting our big bags packed up for the porters and our own backpacks with a change of clothes, cameras, our daily 2.5 litres of water etc. Then came the gaiters and finally another ``must have``: our trekking poles. They helped balance, took a bit of pressure off your back, the stuck into the ground to get leverage and made life a bit easier. The pace was not fast but the steady incline is what made things challenging...and the altitude and lack of oxygen that comes with it.
After a couple of days, legs started to burn and the altitude started affecting some people, even though we were all taking Diamox. Headaches, some nausea, and general soreness from always carrying the packs, quads were feeling the exercise and we were getting burnt from the strong UV rays. Funny, when we did the Habitat trip, we complained that a lot of things were getting tanned but your hands usually don`t get a tan as you`re always wearing gloves to work. Here, it was the opposite. During the days, when the sun was up, you could climb with a long sleeved shirt , but since your hands were always exposed to the sun, we would get the tops of our hands and knuckles tanned/burnt. I guess some things do even out. :)

The nights in the tents were cold, and it was amazing how much you become aware of anything weather related: the stars are incredible at night, so clear. If you`re lucky, some moon light would help you out sometimes on late walks to the washroom (there is a story with that word actually...later), but headlamps ruled the day. Mornings were cold, we had frost on the ground the very first morning. Once the sun comes out, you could cook in it if shielded from wind etc. We climbed in t-shirts on our second day, I think. It gets dark very quickly at around 6:30 or so and with the lack of sun, the cold returns. We learned to dress in layers, fleecies were our favorite outfits and we constantly took layers off or put them back on.
Since we were still missing a lot of things that you can`t rent, there was a lot of sharing going on by the 3 (Chelsea, Carin and Steve) that had all their gear as well as some that lucked out by packing their carry-ons well: water purification tablets were regularly shared, flashlights, batteries, toothpaste...you name it, if you asked enough people, you could likely find it or something similar. The group was sooo amazing about helping each other.
We tried to take in as much of the beautiful scenery as we could: the changes with altitude brought 4 distinct ``looks`` to the mountain. From rain forest with monkeys and baboons swinging though the trees, to heather moorland where you saw very distinct Kili plants, to semi desert and finally desert...the finally two not so exciting and SUPER dusty.  But still very cool ....

Well, let`s talk about the dirt and grime for a bit. Everything had to go into the tent at night to keep it warm including boots and I hate to admit it, but those things don't smell so pretty after a few long walks. Also: we literally had to wear stuff not only once, but 2, 3, or 4 times as we only rented a certain amount of gear, so out came the baby powder to mask the smell of socks and other things. Dust starting accumulating everywhere: ears, nostrils, under finger nails and after a while, you just really didn't care anymore. You did the best you could with a little tub of water which appeared before all the meals in front of the meal tent to wash hands, and then there were sanitizers and baby wipes, but they only do so much. Dirt got into your skin in ways I have benerv seen before and since we had no mirror, we had to point out things to one another...sun screen under eye, dirt/dust on teeth from hike, sunburns...all were things we did not necessarily discover on our own as we had no mirror for a week.

Besides the 9 of us, there were lots of other important people. We had 4 guides and about 30 porters which included the cook, assistant cook, and the soooo important guys looking after the 2 portable toilets. We always had one guide ahead setting the pace, two at the end and a floater...but mostly one ahead and the others were in the back somewhere. After we would leave for the day`s hike, the porters would clean up, get our tent stuff, eating tents and the 9 chairs, all cooking supplies and everything else packed up and basically pass us on the way up (yes, that did not help the ego greatly). They carry their own pack and are allowed to carry an additional 20 kg`s which is usually done on their heads in large baskets, or in gear bags or large white bags which are balanced on their own packs. They mostly have boots, but some have shoes only and they have no poles and are like mountain goats climbing and often running up and down the hills. They are amazing!
There are obviously other climbers you see along the way and the camps are much larger than I thought with what sometimes looks like 50+ or so tents. On our last night at base camp, the tents were literally placed on the sides of cliffs in whatever even spots the porters could find. We often slept on slants and would slide in our sleeping bags, and most meals, the table was uneven so that you would strategically place yourself at he ``receiving end`` of the table (the lower part`) or the higher part, depending on preference. Often, when walking around camp sites, it reminded me of Sackville Street in Halifax and making it up the hill on cold winter nights.

Tanzania Notables:

• we were told early that we do not go to ``pee`` or use the washroom, but we ``send an email``. Number 2 is called ``sending a fax``. well, the theme carried all week with going to the Internet cafe, emptying the trash box, the fax machine being broken or having a bad connection......it went on and on :)
• Hello is Jambo ..how fun is THAT to say all the time!
• Coca Cola rules here
• Toyota is king of vehicles
• gas is close to $1.50 a litre
• unemployment rate is 70%

　
TO BE CONTINUED...HAVE TO catch ride to safari...

August 15th: travel day from he....#@!&*!!!!!!!!

Susanne back at it.

Monday, August 15th

Well, everything had overall gone extremely smoothly to date.......besides a few people getting sick for a day or two, all had gone quite well. Too well maybe...... :)

(Suspense...)

We left the hotel early and instead of the anticipated 20 minute airport ride, we were there in less than 10 minutes. We walked into an open, but deserted airport with no one at ticket counters or anywhere else beside two sleeping security guards at the front entrance (well, it WAS 4:30 a.m. after all).
The first flight went well.....we got into Johannesburg at the anticipated time around 8 am and were supposed to be on a 9:40 am flight to Nairobi to catch our connection to Kili.
Well, this is where the ``smoothness`` sort of stopped. Chelsea and Steve were ahead in line, had gotten their boarding passes and went on to security. When the rest of us got to the counters to get our boarding passes, we were told that the flight had closed as it was now only 45 minutes until the flight departure time.

We had been in line for a while and no one did the habitual roll call you would get at the airport at home ``anyone going to xxx location , please move to the front of the line``. We tried many ways to still get on board...pleading, complaining (someone had actually further delayed us by giving us the wrong info and sent us to the wrong counter)...we finally found a wonderful South African Airlines Supervisor who spent about an hour trying to get us on another flight two hours later, so that we could maybe still catch our later Nairobi connection to Kili. To make a long story short, it was a bit of a roller coaster morning. We went from yes, to no, to `not today`, to `yes, but at a cost` when trying to rebook flights or find alternative ways to get to Kili where we are supposed to start our ascend tomorrow.

4 of the 6 remaining climbers ended up getting onto a 11:40, including me, and kept worrying a lot about the other two that did not make this one. But we figured that it would be easier to rebook 2 versus 6 people and we could at least try to find and take care of their luggage. We were all supposed to be checked in but at the last minute, the paperwork for 2 was not right and somehow they were not in the system. The Kenya Airways counter guy was awful, moved slower than a snail and we are not fans at all. Glenda, the other supervisor who helped us, deserves a medal: I have never seen someone try so hard to help someone. She literally ran back and forth behind counters and floors in her high heels, trying to make this happen. The 4 of us on this flight hope to catch the 6 pm Kili flight from Nairobi. we weren`t holding our breath as the connection was tight already and we left 30 minutes late. The last option was a $300 charter flight at 10 pm. we had to just play it by ear....grrrrr......well, something had to happen sooner or later.

Some of us had said that there is definitely a break on any wine or beer in prep for the Kili climb as it obviously dehydrates you...but we all ordered a drink as soon as it was offered on the plane. What a stressful morning......let`s hope we all get there sometime tonight and are able to stick with our departure date of the 16th tomorrow. We also had a bumpy first flight and have started taking our Diamox altitude pills as our ``trial day`' so we are all a bit weary, tired and ticked off.

We made the 6 pm flight by running from one gate in Nairobi to the other (much smaller airport than we thought, and did not have to go through passport control...but I may have run one or two strangers over on the way with all of our carry-on and waterbottles bouncing around our little backpacks) and arrived in Kili at 7pm....without luggage.  So after a ride to the hotel, we had a nice dinner and I am now sitting in the same outfit I had on all day and which I might have to wear tomorrow starting this climb. If we are lucky, the flights will arrive with the two missing group members at 11 pm tonight, if not, then at 9 am tomorrow and we have to get our stuff on the way to Kili. Not the preferred method, but likely the only option without starting our climb late.

One very noteworthy mention: we flew by Kili  at 19,000 feetand my stomach just about dropped. I had been feeling great about the build, but flying by it and seeing the peak above the clouds is certainly intimidating when thinking: hey, you get there via plane, but can we REALLY climb up there? Hard to believe!!!

So folks, this might be the last entry before our climb tomorrow. Wish us luck in finding our luggage and on the climb :)

Hope to drop a note on the 23rd when we are back down. Hopefully 9 for 9 for our might Canadian group.  Actually: I am sure it`s 9 for 9....great little group and we`ll push eachother up.  We already planned drinks and called first showers in the rooms for when we return.  The altitude pills are already working:  they act as a diuretic and people have been peeing all day...great, just what you want. Lots of washroom trips without washrooms unless a lunch or night rest stop!

Other thoughts about the trip:

• 7 days without washing our hair.......yikes, not the happiest thought....you thought helmet hair is bad!
• Actually: this is one I think about a lot.....will leave it at that. Will be a first :)

Cheers, take care, all!!!

August 13th, last evening with the gang back in Maputo and14th, our lazy Sunday

August 13th evening:
After the safari, we got back to the Maputo hotel and had about an hour or so to get ready for dinner. we staked out some restaurants and settled on one called Maputo Waterfront which was about a 1.5 km walk from our hotel. this would be the last night as a team. Sunday, most team members would be heading home, a couple ere heading in different directions (Cecile to go diving and Dan to head to Capetown) and the rest of us were headed toward Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The dinner was nice, we invited the 3 Mozaic guides and had also invited Magaia from Habitat who lives in Maputo. We did our habitual walk through the very odd downtown of Maputo and arrived at the restaurant which had live music, a great menu and relatively fast service for African standards.

Dinner was great with lots of laughs,reliving memories from the last two weeks and having a really nice final night as a team. I was really impressed by this group. It is not easy to travel with a group of 20, to make sure everyone is ready on time, is open to the same things and is easygoing enough to handle all the things that can happen on this kind of build and trip: lack of materials on work sites, lack of food at times when meals are delayed or rescheduled, waiting for other team members of staff, waiting for buses and drives, and dinners to be ready and specific answers to be available.....you really have to be somewhat easy going and patient about a lot of things. we had an extremely busy schedule and had an awful large amount of early mornings including a few 5 am`s....I am pretty sure they will have to go home and sleep for a few days. Hats off to this group, they really adjusted, bonded well and was a fabulous group of people to experience Mozambique and South Africa with: some new friends and it looks like some already caught Habitatis. :)

Sunday, August 14th:
today we had planned a market visit in the morning. After a couple of wrong turns, we finally found the market. A market with crafts and other paraphernalia tucked into an older building behind an open air, fresh produce and fish market. Chelsea ran a bee-line past the somewhat smelly fish section as usual. The rest of us had a good looks at the red snappers, prawns and other interesting fish available. I had grilled calamari last night and it was delicious...seafood here is fabulous!
The market was not great...too bad. Many of us had planned to do a lot of shopping in Maputo but some of the stands weren`t open as it was Sunday and the choices were somewhat limited ...so don`t expect a ton of gifts :)
About half the team left by lunchtime or just after and we were left with our Kili group. we went to search for a laundromat but were unsuccessful...the town is pretty quiet on Sunday`s. So the rinsing in the sinks started. Things did not do well drying wise, so many of us were at it with hair dryers later in the evening. It was nice to have a slower day before catching a 7 am flight on Monday morning. Time for a nap for some, Internet visits for others, and just putting or getting caught up on journals.
We had dinner again at the Scorpion and said Good Bye to Andrea who was staying another night but was not coming to Kili with us. Bedtime at 10:30 pm in preparation for a 4:15 am hotel departure.

Maputo tidbits:

• About a million people live in this capital. Brand new large stadium built for the African games taking place in September.
• Better English than in Xai Xai but still some language issues. Hotel menu offering ``smashed potatoes`` and when Nan ordered a ``salad``, she got ``salt``
• We saw little of the city so I want to be careful offering opinions, but many streets were incredibly dirty, smelled like ``not so nice things...if you know what I mean...`` and had kids begging in the evenings, sink holes in the middle of the sidewalk which could swallow a whole person (without tape or a warning) and a very interesting mix of old and new
• Our walk to the Waterfront hotel took us along the waterfront and the Saturday night activity for locals seems to be to park the car facing the water, open all the doors and blare dance music. Funny thing is that the cars are sort of close together and play different music so it`s an interesting mix of songs and basses walking by them all. Quite the stereos, though!

The mall downtown was phenomenal....very classy and very expensive even for North American standards. Nike golf shirt at the Nike store: $100. Needless to say, we only window shopped on this lazy Sunday.

Internet was broken again at hotel (hence the late blog writing). Since I was luckier early in the week for our one night at the hotel to steal someone`s wifi, we decided to give it a shot. Michelle, Nancy V and I walked all the way from the 12th floor to the floor of the hotel, holding the laptop in front of us and refreshing the network list to see if we could get a wifi connection from ANYBODY :) No such luck. Michelle and I also tried the same for a few blocks down the street, but again: not our day. Will have to wait until we get to Kili maybe.

August 11th-13th: we`re Going on a Safari!!

Chelsea on the keyboard:

Thursday, August 11th.
Mozaic Travel came to pick us up the next morning at 6am. We had 3 vans- each with a guide: Thorcen, Pete and Kerry. We headed out shortly after that for the South African border and Kruger National Park! :) Everything went as planned and we entered the park via Crocodile Bridge midday. We did a 5 hr game drive through the park on our way to Satara- our camp for the next two nights. It was amazing to say the least! We saw elephants, kudu, impala, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, vultures, hippos, buffalo, warthogs, mongoose and about a million bird species. We caught the tail end of a white rhino crossing the street in front of our van and stopped just in time to have a herd of 8 elephants walk metres in front of us! It was incredible! To see all of these animals, roaming freely in their own habitat was surreal. The elephants might stop and stare at you, the baboons came right up beside us, giraffes towered above us... you had to be there!
The animals weren`t always that easy to spot though- Thorcen trained us to scan the bush from right to left as opposed to left to right because we are so conditioned to read that way that we can easily overlook things like we do when we`re reading and skip words. Many of the animals blended right in with the background- the hippos usually looked like big rocks in the middle of the waterhole! We started to get the hang of it by the end of the trip but Thorcen, our guide, caught most of it for us. By the time we had checked in at Satara we had seen 3 of the Big 5. They call it the Big 5 because they are the most dangerous animals to hunt. They are the: rhino, elephant, leopard, buffalo and lion. Leopards are one of the hardest to find and lions were second. We threw our bags in our super cool circular huts and boarded the open backed Jeep for a sunset safari hoping to see a lion as they prefer to hunt at dusk and dawn. We headed out in to the bush and what do you know- we found two! Well actually, someone else had spotted them but whenever you see a car pulled off to the side you stop to see what`s going on. Hiding 100-200m off the road were two lions, a male and female, relaxing below a tree. Our guide Tevin (who worked for Kruger) drove up the road a little to get some space and took us back down, off roading in to the bush. We were only 5m away from them- unreal! We were set, 4 of the Big 5 in the first day.... now to find a leopard!! :) We headed back to our camp, grabbed a quick meal prepared by our guides outside under the stars and packed it in for the night as we had another 6am morning coming up.
We spent Saturday doing much of the same stuff. Driving around the park for hours, spotting animals, taking pictures, and checking them off in our Kruger books as we went. We saw a ton of animals, including the same 4 of the Big 5 and some others like the ostrich, monitor (lizard), turtles, storks etc. Our drive took longer than expected, as it normally did- it wasn`t unusual to take 3 hrs to drive 10km, stopping all the time to take pictures of animals or watch all the action at a waterhole. We eventually made it back to the camp, had a quick lunch and then most of us headed out of a short 1hr game drive before our next sunset drive and bush dinner. We found another lion and a herd of elephants mud bathing! We went back, grabbed those that had decided to spend a little time poolside and headed in to the bush once again for another open top Jeep tour on the way to our dinner in the middle of the park! We drove out of camp, spotting a bunch of different animals while enjoying yet another beautiful sunset. That`s one thing about being in Africa- the sky has never seemed so big and unending. It`s blue as far as you can see during the day with very few clouds and switches to a vibrant red-yellow-orange at sunset before turning pitch black aside from the thousands of gleaming stars filling the sky. As the sun was setting and we were driving through the bumpy, windy roads we came around a corner and nearly collided with a elephant!! It was just hanging out, chomping down on some tree branches. We grabbed some awesome photos and maneuvered around it and off to our dinner. When we got there it was as if we had just won a reward challenge on Survivor! There were tables perfectly set, paper bag lanterns lit by candles lighting the path down to the table, and a huge bbq meal cooking on a massive outside bbq. We had an amazing dinner under the stars and just enjoyed each others company, listening to stories from our guides. On our way back to Satara, we saw some hyenas and two huge lions lying right on the side of the road!!
Ok, this is Susanne taking over....we are all writing this blog on August 14th going backwards in time and hopefully getting caught up before heading off to Kili. I already packed for our departure and just came down to join the others on the deck of the hotel which is overlooking a very busy Maputo street. ...Chelsea had to run up to do laundry.
So back to the safari story. I do not have the recollection of details that Chelsea has whatsoever and will have to go more general....sorry folks. Plus: I would be at it for hours :)
A few stories worthy of sharing:

• 2 of the vans saw the 5th of the big 5 on the 3rd day heading out of the park (Saturday, August 13th). Apparently you only see leopards about 1 our of every 6 visits or so, so they were very lucky. Someone had sighted it in a tree and flagged one car down, the other car was closeby and so two vehicles got to tick their `5`off. Our van was not lucky in the leopard territory but cannot say we are disappointed as we had so much other fascinating stuff.
• Have never taken so many pictures in such little time...you end up taking 3 or 4 pics of the same thing, as the animals are usually chewing, walking, running or doing other interesting things, so the ``scenery`` changes all the time.
• Our 3 guides in the 3 vans had stories about everything.....how long the various animals live, how and when they mate, what they eat, what eats them...the stories were endless and it felt like a National Geographic documentary.
• One cannot describe the sights, sounds, and smells but many animals were so close, you could hear and see snorting, hear them trampling over the ground and hear them splash in the water (herd of elephants)
• I am definitely a giraffe girl/fan...they are stunning....some were so close to the car, I had to lean out and look up and could not use my 250 telephoto lens....too close :) Giraffe means ``camel horse`` in another language as they walk like a camel but run like a horse.....not sure I agree with the horse comment, they are pretty gangly and awkward but magnificent
• All birds here have stunning colors. Even the starlings are a beautiful blue (sort of like our sparrow in function...picks up all food at rest areas etc)

Noteworthy mentions:

• female hyenas have male sex organs...without any function,so apparently just for looks. When asked why, the guide said it is likely an intimidation factor....one person squeaked from the back of our jeep ``who knows, but it must be why they`re always laughing``. :)
• Everything was incredibly dry as it is winter and all is dry until the rains start in October. Green might be prettier, but it is much easier to see through the bush as you can ``see through`` it, versus leaves blocking the way
• Animals are so incredibly clever, they find shade when it`s hot, find water to cool off. They pair up with other animals to use their senses (i.e. a giraffe has great eye sight, so others tend to hang around them as they see predators before they do). Other animals are used for their sense of hearing or sense of smell.
• Leopards often take their kill up trees, we found a carcass...some bones and a skull hanging from one tree and then the 2 vans who spotted the leopard saw a half eaten Impala on a branch in the tree next to it
• Kruger is about 400 km`s in length and maybe 100-200 in width, I think. There are about 2500 lions, but as a comparison about 130,000 Impala. Impala are pretty little antelope that have the color of deer but some beautiful stripes in black and white in their sides. There are a ton of them and people here also call them ``McDonald`s``. That is because so many other animals eat them and because the striping on their behind like`s like a big McDonald`s ``M``. The most popular food source. Yikes :)
• Besides being amazed at these animals and being impressed with how they are respected and treated here (you cannot get out of your car, can`t feed them, can`t litter etc.), there is also a sad part: poaching. Even though the park is a protected one and you have rangers looking our for hunters, some still come across the borders to Mozambique and others come by helicopter. We saw pictures at one rest stop of awful reminders that poaching and hunting are a reality even here. And sometimes tourists think more about getting a great photo than thinking about the impact on the animal. There was one story of a crowd closing in on a leopard at a place until it ran itself into an electric fence and died, rhinos which were killed for their horn which is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Asia as it is used for medicinal purposes, snares are around the hooves of others animals caught perhaps for their hides an left to die. Awful. I don`t want to put a big downer on this blog, but is not all as rosy as we describe it...there all still some awful things going on and further steps have to be taken by government and conservation organizations to ensure that many of these animals are safe and can live and die in their natural ways.
• OK, onto happier thoughts: wart hogs are hilarious. ``Pumba`` could be found wandering around quite a bit. They are born with a callous on their front knees and literally eat while on their font knees. They move around like that and only hop up when covering longer distances. When they are feeding and looking for food, they are on their front knees and back feet. Too funny!

Other tidbits:

• South African Rand are about 7 to 1 in currency. things are not too expensive, you can buy a bottle of wine for about 33 rand at the lowest price. Must admit we had a few of those during our days there
Sunset takes about 5 minutes, amazingly fast., Same for the sunset in the morning Am looking at Chelsea`s blog part above and am seeing she renames her guide. He was German and his name is Thorsten, not Thorcen...nice try. She said she called him ``Toystory`

We left the park and made our way back to Mozambique. The border crossing was sketchy. One van saw a body lying covered on the side of the road, someone who had likely been run over...half covered, yikes. Just later on the drive a drink driver apparently rear ended one of the other van`s trailers it was towing behind with our luggage, everyone was fine and it only broke the trailer light but lots of excitement!

Safari: cannot recommend it enough as something to do in one`s lifetime. At one point, we had a pride of lions cross the road right in front of us and the male stopped to maybe pose for us and then walked by my car door so closely, I could have likely touched him...but limbs in car! Will never forget these 3 days and can`t believe we have another short one coming up right after Kili. We are very lucky!

August 10th, last build day!

Susanne reporting.

Wednesday: today was the last build day.....always a day you sort of look forward to as it means the family can move from one standard of living to the next. On the other hand, it means that a somewhat emotional day is ahead...one with more building activities, a dedication ceremony to officially hand over the new home to the family and final good bye`s with the work crew, families and community.
Funny: we stayed in a hotel right by the ocean but could not really go swimming due to crazy waves, surf and undertow, but a few of us decided to go for a 6 a.m. walk on the beach. What a nice morning....we did the obligatory writing in the sand, took pics of the sunrise and enjoyed the waves and fresh air.
We had a what we call a ``green shirt`` day last week and got a team picture taken by Dan who brought his tripod. We made today another green shirt day and put on the green Habitat shirts in honour of our last day. All our stuff was packed last night and we packed up the vans for the very last time.
We already knew that we would not be able to finish all three houses completely which often happens. Materials are sometimes not delivered on time and we had lost the day on the Scratch site due to the owner`s Mom passing away. We spent the morning trying to finish remaining tasks and entertaining the kids some more....then 12 p.m. came around and we went to the home site for a quick lunch and the upcoming dedication ceremony.
The specific project we worked on was the vulnerable children project for kids who have been affected by HIV/Aids by either having lost one or both parents or having sick or dying parents. A reminder of this came early in the day when we found out that one of the home owners would be missing the ceremony as it was Wednesday and her day to pick up medication. When getting medication to treat HIV on behalf of herself and/or a family member, the dedicated family person has to be there that specific day and it cannot be changed...so the Mom appointed another community member to attend the ceremony with her kids. Affliction of Aids and/or HIV is about 20 percent here, so when looking at the families and all the kids...one can`t help but do the math to see just how many of ``our kids`` were likely infected already and even though medication was available, people here were certainly not the in the same position as North Americans, for instance, to fight this disease. Very, very sad.....
Once the ceremony was about to begin, kids gathered around, the 3 families came, all the workers (2 per site) and the team as well as one other Habitat staff. It was a really nice ceremony..speeches of thanks from all sides, a presentation of the 3 signed Canadian flags from us, heartfelt speeches from our team members, lots of singing and an overall emotional, meaningful and unforgettable ceremony. Isabella, Mom of house number 3 was happy to have a roof that did not have to be replaced every 2 years like the one on her hut which had reeds. Eunice's aunt Louisa gave a thanks that Eunice, her 12 year old niece who was an orphan, would have her own house to live in. Eunice who was quite shy in the beginning, but grew on all of us so much since we met her. Of course all the attention on her today was a bit overwhelming for her age, but her aunt took care of all the speeches etc and Eunice was all smiles even though she hurt her foot stepping on a wire as she is also mostly in her bare feet. Our first aid kit came in handy once again :) Magaia, our Habitat contact here, sang a song his mother wrote who is a pastor and it truly gave us goosebumps....even though we could not understand the language, we had a pretty good idea of what the song was about.
We left mid afternoon and went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, settle final bills and switch vehicles and gears as the Habitat build part was now done and the next part of the trip would start: the R&R part which all centred around the upcoming safari. We piled into two vans operated by Mozaic travel (the company to take care of us for the next 3 days), and started our 3-hour drive back to Maputo. It took a loooong time. Since we left around 3 and had some stops to make etc, we were quite hungry on the way. So our snack of choice: hard boiled eggs which magically appeared in our van in a large crate type of container....not a bad snack actually! The last few kilometers to Maputo seemed like a roller coaster as roads were not paved anymore and the bumby roads made most of us wish we had a helmet in case our heads would bobb up or sideways. Quite the ride! We also ran into a police check point. The police asked Magaia why he wasn`t wearing a seat belt. ...apparently he answered `because I am tired...which seemed to work! Love it, would be fun to try in Canada one day to see how that answer would fly.
We arrived at the Hotel Turismo around 8pm, and went to the Scorpion restaurant for dinner! We were all starving, having not eaten since 12:30, and couldn`t wait to eat! We ordered our food and had some drinks and waited for our food.... then we waited some more, oh and just a little bit more- it took them 1.5hrs to prepare our meals!! I`m pretty sure our stomachs were eating our insides by the time it arrived- good thing the food was awesome! :)
Off to bed to get ready for our first safari day tomorrow.
A great, but long day. ...lots of hugs and good bye`s. Sad to leave but a great feeling to have been able to help these families. Habititis at work :)

Tuesday, August 9th...where has the time gone!

Susanne at it again :)

Tuesday was our last full workday, we finish up on Wednesday
On these trips, you usually work week days only and take weekends off.  Since we are doing a safari and have a far drive to South Africa for it, we did 6 work days last week, and are working today and tomorrow to finish wednesday. but tomorrow will be a shorter day as we will also have the dedication ceremony...so it`s time to scram.

we were able to put the second roof on, which only takes about an hour or so. trusses across and then sheets of the wavy sheet metal come perpendicular down the graded roof.  then there is a raingutter attached and of course the water is usually collected and used ..that is pattern here, there is absolutely no waste of anything.

• bent nails are straightened and used
• cement that falls down is picked up and mixed up again
• our empty water containers are collected and used for water fetching
• every piece of wire is cut to the size needed, so that you don't waste unnecessary materials
• cracked cement blocks are used in flooring
• cement bags are used to plug holes or to put cement on when on scaffolding

makes you aware of how wasteful our culture (myself certainly included) really is......

this afternoon we had a visit which especially our 3 teachers Chelsea, Jenn and Michelle have been looking forward to.  School visit day!!!  well, school visit hour...we didn`t want to miss much build time. since the kids attend in shifts, we weren`t sure which ages we would get to see in the school and I naively thought: hmmm, maybe we`ll see  classroom or two with kids, can say a quick hello and we`ll be on our way.

it all started with a walk.....  we wandered thought the community and followed Magaia, our fearless leader and Habitat rep.  He has been excellent to work with, is great with the team and all the families, and has a really nice way with the kids...he has a few magic words which can send them scrambling when they get in the way too much, but mostly he is very patient with them and us.

when we got close to the school, we basically got mobbed....hundreds of kids seemed to run and we weren't sure whether they would stop when closing in on us.  little hands grabbing for cameras, kids encircling us and doing what is clearly a favorite activity here...little hands trying to touch our arms, rub them and curiously see what this paleness was all about, I assume.  I guess they were all trying to get a look at these strangers which have come by for a visit.....at the same time...like a stampede... it was spectacular!  1750 kids and 36 teachers accountable for them....whaddayathink of that, Ali and fellow teacher readers here from Chelsea`s and Michelle`s school?    60 kids per class...some classrooms made out of brick and some were just huts made of reed with kids sitting on the ground..I will try to post some pics of this.

I am not sure about the shifts in terms of classes as it seemed like every single one of them was at school....at one point, i took my camera and took a video of them all around me..at least a hundred.  I then held my camera up high with one hand, they were soo excited already and trying to get on camera. Then I waved with the other hand, trying to get them to wave back....welll, well, welll...did they ever. It was like a mad frenzy with all the kids waving back. Another unforgettable moment...have it on video and will show some of you at some point. unforgettable..... :)

Tuesday night would be our last night at the hotel in Xai Xai....the team was clearly getting  getting poopedand everyone was ready for a night of packing and relaxing after dinner. Dinner was usually at 6:30 and when nothing seemed to be ready in our usual dining room with the other guests, Magaia came in to let us know he moved supper back to 7.  ok, no biggie...we were getting ready for a bit of a wait.  But then our little surprise came. Dinner was served in the ``disco`` at 3 large tables decked out for a wedding with fancy table cloths, napkins, seat covers....it was cute and the hotel went all out to surprise us. The evening also included a DJ just for us, Chinese food (sort of...) and champagne.  what a nice surprise.....so it was another dancing kind of night, we signed the Canadian flags we brought as gifts for the families and still had a fairly early night.  Great, great day!!!


Random:

• do chickens ever sleep? the ones here don`t.....pretty sure
• hitch hiking sign here is not to put thumb up but to point down. wonder why?
• why NOT have salad for breakfast?  just need to try it...
• people here are really afraid of snakes....80 percent are harmless, others are not. Don`t blame them a bit...not the best snake odds....
• mosquito patches don`t work...grrr.....
• Nutella rocks!

I was one day off, this one is about Monday :)

Sorry, everyone...you got Susanne again...not much mixing it up now. It`s allllll up to the one being able to stay up late at night now.
It`s been so busy and we are getting up so early that any extra time writing is hard to find. those of you that know me well know that I can usually find extra time in the wee hours...so here I am: 2 a.m. but really keen to share our last three days.
I also need to apologize for my awful spelling. I am actually writing from our new temporary digs in Maputo today..of course the Internet is broken in this hotel, but through some crafty digging, I found a ``2 bar`` wifi network of some neighbouring hotel and am not in such a rush to write. so I had a chance to go back over the last blog to see where I left off....and yikes....not only did I misspell, I think I missed words here and there.  No time for proof reading :)
The problem is that everything shows up in Portuguese when you first log into gmail accounts and such and the spell check is also set up that way, so I don`t have the benefit of the red lines....you allll know which ones I mean. Never knew how helpful they really were...

also: for those of you following along, thanks so much for the comments, we love reading them all and love them, so keep `em coming!

Ok, here is what we did Monday
We started doing the inside of the homes.  it`s funny, we put the bricks up so fast for the three homes in about two days for the main walls that everyone thought: geesh, we`ll be done in no time.  other builds I have done have basically have brick walls and roofs only. these houses have a lot more detail.  the speckling outside was one thing. now we had to add a layer of cement to the inside which would be patched on with trowels, then a 2x4 made it more smooth and then we basically sanded it with these rectangular things....takes a long time but looks awesome when done.
I think I mentioned before that our hotel is on this magnificent beach which has crazy waves, so that you basically can`t swim there, but my gosh, what a view and sound all the time.  waves crashing and the colors of sunsets and sunrises here are amazing. 
when getting home from work, kids were selling paintings and shell necklaces and some other art.  they were quite polite actually and as always, US currency rules if no local currency is available (some of us had run out of exchanged cash)....we exchanged some money today and discovered that in the run of a week, the Moz currency increased by 10 percent compared to the US dollar....wow.  you used to get 30 meticash for a dollar, now it was only 25.  well, it was 30 for $100 bills, and 28 for $20`s and less. Older bills are not accepted...took us forever to do the currency math in our heads before, now it comes easy.

Did I already mention how incredible the women are here?  They are amazing, I have such great admiration for them.  Physically strong, they get water, hoe the fields day in and out, look after chickens, pigs and whatever else might be running around the yard...they pick the fruit from their yard (bananas, oranges, lemons, some have papaya, cashew trees, mangoes, and then corn, corn, corn, and tomatoes for veggies). They get water, wash, cook over an open fire and they often carry little ones on their backs doing all of this.  They are loving Moms to what seem to be 3+ kids on average (sometimes 4, 5, or 6) and have the biggest smiles.  They love to hug, are hearty laughers and are sporting lovely prints on their skirts, head wear, and blouses....so colourful, and absolutely beautiful people.

The hotel staff is great and we are trying to guess meals by rotation now...seems to be fish, meat and chicken....all great.  After one week, we are now in the routine.  Hand keys to cleaning staff on way to breakfast, make a cup of Nescafe (yes, Mom, your favorite..)..well, made my Nescafe.  Eggs (omelette or fried), the usual salad which is served with all meals (tomatoes, onions, lettuce), bread, bread, bread with some jam, little bananas.  the backpacks come out and off to work we go like a little assembly line piling into our vans which start over the bumpy roads.  once there, we get the ``runners``...we get the waves from those that see us coming, but there are a few kids who start yelling and laughing and run toward and sometimes alongside the bus. we know where they live and which path they take when darting down the little sandy roads in their bare feet. and they are super fast! ....greatest welcome ever!

Gloves come out, sunscreen, bug spray....funny.  This group knew very little about the work site a week ago and they are pros now.  Love `em dearly already, my mighty Canadian group!

Monday, August 8th. Starting our second week here!

Susanne reporting for blog duty again.....Chelsea helped.

Friday
We arrived at the site today to learn that we would only work at Danger Zone and Fast Track, as the owner`s mom at Scratch passed away.  So we had 2 teams of 10 instead of our regular group sizes of 6 or 7.  We asked what we could do for the family and heard that it was customary to buy sugar, flour, oil and tea which we picked up later in the day and gave to one of the daughters on Saturday.  People who pass away in Mozambique are often buried the same day or very next day, so that the home owner was busy with funeral preparations.
Friday was build day number 5 for us.  After spending a few days on walls and bathrooms, we finished off tying off the reeds for the bathroom walls and got going on an extension of the walls which would hold the sloping roof.  5 rows of brick in the back, and 2 in the front supported by cement beams with rebar in the middle which we had tied together with wires earlier.  Some team members went to the well to get some water and Cecile got to try carrying some water on her head. All the women here carry anything on their heads including water from the well, firewood and food. It is amazing and they make it look a lot easier than it is. Some others tried their luck at carrying firewood, but again: looks easier than it is.
kids w2ho were leery of us earlier in the week when we were ``new`` now wave at us as soon as they spot the vans coming down the sandy roads, and run alongside or behind us, picking up other kids along the way.
today was the first day where we ran into a bit of a lull due to lack of materials, so the teachers took over to lead us in some games: duck, duck, goose with a large group which might have been worthy of a Guinness book of world records.
According to our Lonely Planet Guide, our hotel is THE place to be on Friday nights, as there was a disco in the building, so we thought we would check it out.  Every time we asked what time it started, we got a different answer.  One time, we asked: what time does the place close...answer was ``2, 3 or 7``.  So we we ready for anything as our rooms were right above the dance floor and we expected it to be a long and noisy night.  Well, after dinner we sat around for a few pre-party drinks with Dan`s speakers which have been put to great use all week at the work site and went to the disco around 10ish.  We were pretty sure that the floors were greased before the night as it was sooo slippery.  Awesome time all around with the waiting staff joining us and great music played.We had a blast with Djassi showing us some Mozambican moves and everyone getting some good exercise.

Saturday:
It poured.....well, not right away.  The beginning of the day was cloudy and then it poured.  We were back on 3 work sites and tried to get some work done between downpours and then finally during downpours.  We built some more brick wall (angled sides) and began stuccoing the exterior walls with splatter cement.  It's a little handheld container which holds runny cement, you turn a handle and the it splatters against the walls, covering the bricks like stucco.  The workers really don't like the rain. As soon as it rained, things sort of stopped and the workers told us to go inside their existing homes...the huts with reed roofs. Some did, others finished some others tasks...so some of us got pretty soaked.   They look after us so well, some brought blankets and both Chelsea and Susanne lucked into blankets with volleyballs...what are the chances :)

We wrapped it up mid day and waited a while for the bus....soaked to the bone and freezing cold.  Once back, we got ready for a few glasses of wine and our big dinner out at the Limpopo Indian restaurant.  As we were now a few days into the build and different food, a few stomach problems had appeared on the team.  So it didn't really occur to Chelsea and Susanne that Indian food may not have been the best choice...but we took our chances and all was great.  Meals were amazing, but spicy......ok, I will take the blame as another trip leader had suggested the place. Allllll me :)

Sunday:
Today was our day off.  No work today after our 6 day week.  We got dressed for church and piled into our vans which took us to our community.  Females had to cover shoulders and knees, and we arrived at a building which did not really look like a church but would be used for the service, as we found out.  It was amazing.  People trickled into the large shed which had a few mats where women and children sat on the ground.  Men sat on chairs or benches on the side.  We were welcomed by the minister and a 2 hour service started which is hard to describe as there is no way to convey the songs, voices and general experience which was absolutely amazing.  Lots of translations between speeches, and thank you`s, songs, and the sermon.  We got to say a few words of thanks, and it was interesting to note that it was important for the people here to not only hear from Chelsea and myself who said a few words as team leaders but also from our 3 guys. They did a great job and the main message from the people in the community was to thank us for coming all the way from Canada to help build the homes, but also that it was an overall message of hope that people in far away places care and that we are all the same...whether black, white, and no matter where we live. Again, I can't do any of those two hours any justice by describing the morning.  Songs were loud, there were lots of ``Amens`` and ``Hallelujahs``, clapping, drums and cheering.  We had to sing a song for the people in the church and we did our best of ``Oh, Canada`` and Angela was a little star for presenting a gift to the church which she had brought from home; a large poster of a cross which was proudly lifted up after she gave it to the minister among cheers and clapping. All in all, it was an incredible experience and I know some team members said that they found it to be quite emotional...myself included.  Wow, it will be hard to forget this moment.....
We had lunch at a local restaurant  in Xai Xai before we got home, stopped for a 45 meticash iceream (about $1.50) at KFC (yip, they have one here!) and got back to the hotel. Our planned beach did not work out so well today as it was still cloudy with some showers here and there. Seems to be a repetition of last year`s Cambodia trip when it rained as soon as we got to the coast for beach time.  People needed a bit of a break, though, so it's nice just to sit, have a glass of wine (we found cheaper wine at the local super market...about $7 or so a bottle) and get caught up on blogs, diaries or reading.  just hanging out :)

Quick facts:

• Dairy Milk Cashew and Coconut chocolate bars....best thing ever for the coconut loves (other than me...).  $3 or so
• Teachers make $120 a year and class sizes are around 50-60.   Kids go to school in shifts; ie. young ones from 6:30-9:30 am, then some a bit older for the next 3 hour shift etc.
• Mozambique beer: 2 M is great, nice and light. Laurentina beer is dark, also really good
• Most wine is from South Africa
• Many meals come with rice and potato, not just one side
• Men can have more than one wife. Women don't marry guys who don`t have a job usually. Many Mozambican men work in the mines in South Africa for months at a time.
• Gas is $1.50 a litre
• Restaurants seems to have TV`s on all the time and are turned up pretty loud.  We have one in our hotel dining room which plays anything including something like much music, as well as soap operas, news etc.  The resturant today also had a TV blaring.
• Meals here are huge and we are eating a ton of bread...it`s sooooooo good. Kind of like french baguette.. am thinking that the idea of losing a pound or two was likely not so realistic....grrr!
• Menus are translated into English...somewhat:  ``sharimp``  in the seafood section

Friday, August 5th

Thursday, August 4th.

Well, here is my debut: it`s Susanne , sitting in my room in PJ`s at 9 pm trying to get some things written down before posting them tomorrow at the Internet cafe.

Since I have not read or written our blog yet, I only have a vague idea of what you`ve been told but bear with me for any repetition.  Have not been at the Internet cafe since arriving. Those of you who know me and my addiction to me blackberry well, you will know this is quite a drastic change for me :)

 Mozambioque has been incredible.  Our location at the beach means that every morning, when the bus arrives at 7:30pm to pick us up, we see crashing waves in the background and get a light breeze off the ocean. The weather has been great.  The first two days have been warm but a breeze here and there.  Today and yesterday have been hot, hot, hot.  Team members are getting tanned and burnt, sunscreen smell and bug repellent smell christen the work site every morning and we are becoming ``regulars`in our routines of doing the above, filling up water bottles, getting gloves on and marching off to the work sites.  A lot of fruit is served for break time, sandwiches for lunch (including cold cuts, peanut butter and nutella).  Backpacks are worn everywhere to the 3 worksites which have now been named ``Fast Track`(the one which was quite a bit ahead of the others` in the beginning), Scratch (as it started from scratch without any foundation, the others already had two layers of brick in), and Danger Zone for a bit of a mishap that happened a few days ago. All is good though, no worries :)

Since there are 20 of us with 3 sites, we keep rotating through to different ones and also switch up teams so that we have an opportunity to get to know all three families and work with different team members.

After two days of building the brick walls, we are now into the more intricate stuff.....well, I guess not all of it:  We had to shovel I am no sure how many wheel barrows of dirt inside the home to elevate the floors for a later time when cement can be poured into them.  Honorable mention by Kesley `Love what you`ve done with the place`.....nice greeting for Sam and Nada who had been smoothing out the umpteen wheelbarrows of sand dropped inside the door.  We also helped build the bathrooms which have cement floors, then  wooden beams bringing some support and then reed (not sure if i am spelling that right) which are placed all the way around as a privacy fence. Fun to do.  Today we helped move loads of small gravel which were delivered by the road, into the work site by the house and then proceeded  to make cement beams  which will hold another few rows of bricks and then the roof.

 Yesterday, we got a tour from Djassi of various Habitat homes which had been built in the community for needy families in earlier times.  Many have stories interwoven by tragedy including , HIV/Aids affliction, but sometimes it is hard to believe, because you see so many smiles and waves from complete strangers. We saw about 6 or 8 homes, and one of the latter ones was a woman who was disabled and could only crawl versus walk. After stopping and talking with her, we found out that she had 4 sets of twins (most kids here are born at home) and her husband died. Habitat ended up building her two homes side by side for all her kids and the church pitched in and gave her a well inside her yard due to her tough situation. Most other households have to walk a long ways to a single well which the whole community seems to use close to the main road.  It is simply amazing ..the stories you hear and the lifestyle these families have. Responsibilities at a very young age of siblings to look after their younger brothers and sisters...carrying them on their backs when they are still small themselves, feeding them and looking after them all day when their parents may be working on a farm or doing other chores. Most everyone`s clothing is torn and ripped, but smiles are plentiful!  The people of Mozambique are truly attractive, nice looking people with gorgeous features and great posture ...likely from carrying water, food and supplies on their heads wherever you look.  Straight as a broom....we will try to learn this while here!

 Today, we had some exra time in the afternoon and went to another site where we had an impromptu concert by about 20 kids. Sergio, one of the Haaitat staff, started singing and soon all the kids joined in. First a song in the native language, then an English Christian one...can`t even describe the moment. Amazing, all these little ones singing, and clapping and then a few even danced ``in the circle``. The rhythm and swinging hips.  wow, impressive.  There was some hopscotch going on, as well , and games of duck and goose.  Must have been the largest circle ever, at least 40 kids...it started with a few but then the word spreads and more and more come along.   All ages from babies coming in the little back bundles to teenagers.  Lots of laughs!

 Other honorable mentions:

·         finding out that the `bathrooms without holes` which we wondered about for days but have been using as bathroom facilities, were actually showers (straw/reed huts without anything in them indicating they were showers, by the way). whoops!

·         having our great supper at the hotel today and Michelle wanting to take the red sauce as she saw we had spaghetti noodles ...she was about to take some red sauce, and the owner of the hotel quickly said `no,no no...is very hot...ATOMIC`` . Great word choice,  of course we tried some and I think it`s Piri Piri cause.  We were warned!

·         arriving here on Monday at the worksite, there was a little one about  a year or so and after seeing me, she stuck her hand out and rubbed the top of  my hand. Likely trying to see if she could rub the light part off to maybe get to a darker skin underneath?  Yes, we certainly stand out here....

·         we are all wearing shorts and often, when you kneel down, you have dirt on your knees...happened e few times now when kids are around, they see your knees and then carefully brush the dirt off them

·         the kids here love holding hands, so you try to take them in a free hand but if kids run out of hands, they travel up your arm, so that  you have one you`re holding hands with and another couple `tacked on`

  Fast facts:

·         tons of chickens everywhere and most of the walkways and paths are all very sandy, so you have chicken scratches and foot marks everywhere. random! :)

·         kids here go to school until grade 6. then they have to pay. It`s $5 a year  and the government pays room and board in high school; as you have to stay here. Many kids can`t go as they are required to work the field and tend after their siblings

·         you can`t talk on the phone and drive. fine: 1000 meticals or $30

·         Pringles are $7 here

·         Heineken beer: 70 meticals or just over $2. Wine is quite a bit more expensive...so i had some adjusting to do :)  Local beer is good but quite dark, so us `Corona girls`were struggling a bit.

·         Most vehicles here are white...sun/heat related or because cheaper?  hmmmm.

·         The ants here bite...had ants in my pants...well, an ant in my pant and it bit 4 times. littler bugger....squished him....

·         very musical people, lots of singing, dancing

·         food is great.  steak super tender,almost like a great roast, salad consists of lettuce leaves, tomatoes, onions.  lots of veggies, rice, lots of seafood...fish.

·         no one seems to ever wear sunglasses here

·         African time = patience....will learn it one day :)

Vulungu's!

The word of the day: vulungu (ve-loon-goo). All of the kids refer to us as vulungu's which means a group of white people. A mulungu is one white person. They love to call us this and it's not meant in a derogatory way at all! We arrived at the site and split up in to new groups and went off to a site we weren't at the day before. We continued to mix cement, carry bricks, lay bricks and build walls and leveling the floor inside the house. The main structure went up quickly at each site and we finished most of the outer walls by the end of day two on all 3 houses. The kids weren't at all shy and spent the whole day hanging out, holding our hands, and wanting their pictures taken. They hear a click and come running- 30 at a time and as soon as you take it, you have to show them and they laugh and giggle every single time! You can't but laugh and smile with them- their laugh is infectious and genuine every time.

At about 4pm we headed back to the hotel for some supper and a few drinks! Everything is great in Moz! :)

Day one of the build!

After a quick breakfast we climbed in to the van for our "20 min." drive to the work site. 50 minutes later, we arrived! :) Apparently, Magaia and Djassi are on African time! When we got there we split up in to 3 groups and headed off to three different sites (they were still pretty close to one another but not right next door). We dug trenches, spread gravel, mixed cement (masa), lugged cement blocks from the pile to the home, and started building walls with the help of a few local skilled workers and our site supervisors- Pedro, Sergio, and Lucas. The weather was warm and sunny with a nice little breeze. Good thing too- being a human cement mixer is HARD work!

Like a lot of builds, there were lots of kids around but they kept their distance for a couple hours and just stared at us. One of the team members commented that they were probably thinking that we glowed in the dark! We started taking photos of the site and before too long, the kids warmed up to us. Ever since they have been everywhere we are! It's amazing to see how self sufficient the kids are- 5 years olds carrying their baby siblings on their backs for hours, pounding corn in to maize, doing laundry, making fire with sticks and helping their mothers carry 30 litres of water in a jug on their head!!! The neck muscles they have are incredible! We could hardly lift the jug with our arms!

We got lots done by the end of the first day and we plowed through our supper. After we ate we walked across the street to the ocean. The surf is crazy here- there are massive waves all the time crashing up against the shore. You can't swim there because there is a sudden drop off and violent current. We stayed on the beach and just stared up at the sky. Night time in Africa is unlike any other place I've ever seen- the stars are incredibly bright and light up the entire sky! You can see many of the constellations and even a good chunk of the milky way as clear as day! We headed to bed shortly afterwards, tired and sore! The team is great and everyone gets along fabulously! On to day 2!

We're in Moz!!

The Paris crew, plus Andrea, Cecile and Alex were almost the last to arrive at the Moz airport. We got in around 3pm and met up with a bunch of the other team members: Sam, Sarah, Joceyln, Kelsey, Carin, Sue, Steve, Dan and Jen. Nada was going to meet us at the hotel as she was already in Moz doing some scuba diving and Angela was scheduled to come in the next day due to a flight cancellation. We threw our bags in to one van and then piled in to the other for our 3.5hr drive to Xai Xai. It was warm, the sky is the bluest, clearest blue you've ever seen, there were people everywhere walking barefoot through the sandy streets and every 5-10 minutes we passed a group of kids playing soccer! This is Africa!

After the long drive, we finally arrived at our hotel: Complexio Turistico Halley (the only hotel in Xai Xai!) It certainly isn't the 4 Seasons but there is electricity, running water (sometimes...) and pretty decent food and apparently it is THE place to be on a Friday night! We checked in, had dinner (complete with French fries!) and had a meeting where we met Magaia and Djassi (our Habitat reps here in Moz). Everyone was pretty tired after that so we packed it in and got some sleep for day one of the build!