Quelimane - The City of Bikes

A typical Mozambican bus stop full of vendors

My last first trimester of teaching in Mozambique is over!  Only two trimesters left to go in the school year before I head home in November.  Excluding the first week of the remaining trimesters when students don’t show up, plus holidays and provincial exams, I only have 16 weeks left of teaching for the entire school year!  Trust me, it’s as crazy to me as it might sound to you.  I can’t believe how much faster time is passing this year than last year!  I remember being so thankful last year that I had made it through that first trimester that just never seemed to end.  Around this time last year, my terrible reaction to the malaria prophylaxis and the accompanying physical manifestations the anxiety caused were just beginning.  April and May were not good months for me.  But this year, things couldn’t be more different.

                                                      

During the school holiday, a huge group of volunteers from all over the country had planned to meet at Vilankulos.  Unfortunately, just before we were planning to begin our long travel to get down there, there was some political unrest in sites along the national highway, creating unsafe travel situations in that part of the country.  Peace Corps issued a travel restriction, prohibiting volunteers from travelling on that part of the highway, making it impossible for us to get to Vilankulos.  A group of 8 of us here in the North created a new plan to go to the city of Quelimane, located in Zambezia province along the Zambezi River.

Looking over the Zambezi River - Back (from left): Tony,
Sara, Adam, Sam, Derek, Erik. Front: Patrick, Adrienne

Last week, we all hopped on an 8 hour bus ride and spent the week relaxing in a new city, eating out at new restaurants and spending time with some Americans, escaping our normal lives for a bit.  An American guy who works in Quelimane and is friends with many Peace Corps volunteers, very generously opened his house to us while he was travelling.

One day, the group of us decided to head to Zalala Beach located about 40km outside of Quelimane city.  After a 30 minute chapa ride in the back of a very over-packed and bumpy truck, the driver stopped, no beach was in site.  We were soon informed that the road the rest of the way was closed, something which none of us were aware of beforehand.  We were told we would have to take a bike taxi the rest of the way, a twenty minute ride.

Bike Taxi to Zalala Beach

Bike taxis are extremely common in Quelimane.  Walking the streets can be somewhat dangerous or stressful as you must always be on the lookout not just for cars but also for passing cyclists.  For just 5meticais, you can get on the back of one of these bike taxis, sitting atop a seat just above the back tire, and the cyclist will take you anywhere in the city.

None of us were super thrilled, however, about this totally unexpected twenty minute ride on the back of a bicycle to head to this beach where the Zambezi River dumped into the ocean meaning swimming was probably not a good idea.  We had all come this far though, so we could only continue forward. 

It turned out to be kind of fun actually.  The ride was beautiful, going through rice fields filled with lily pad pools, all around us flat land spotted with the occasional house situated amongst a grouping of palm trees.  Chatting with my bike driver, I was shocked to find out he makes the trip at least 5 times every day, sometimes upwards of 7 or 8 times a day!

We reached the beach, not the prettiest beach in Mozambique, but certainly an interesting one.  Just past a line of densely packed pine trees, the sand began, sparkling due to its high content of metal deposits.  We walked along the shoreline for a bit, reaching a group of people selling fish and then headed to a restaurant to re-
hydrate and eat some lunch before heading back.

Now, back in Murrupula, the second trimester is beginning.  My computer students will learn how to use Microsoft Word this trimester, granted the electricity cooperates and I can actually use the computers to teach regularly.  In a few weeks, Adam and I are headed to meet with his brother and sister-in-law in Cape Town and Zanzibar, a trip I am so excited about!  In the meantime, I’m still keeping busy with my REDES girls group and English Club.  I am hoping to start a science club soon and am continuing organizing things as they continue to make bricks for the library.  With April coming to a close, I only have a short 6-7 months left!  As I prioritize my to do list, balancing travelling with actually working, recognizing my limits and realizing that time certainly does fly and there is always more you can or could have done, I hope to focus on strengthening not only the projects I have already started, but most importantly, continuing to strengthen the relationships I have made.