Pass the Piri Piri, Please!: Sun, Sand, and Hot Showers

I had been looking forward to the break between first and second trimester pretty much since the moment I was dropped off at site. All through training we had been warned that the first three or four months at site were among the hardest of our two year service. Making it to the Reconnect Conference after the first trimester of teaching is a kind of rite of passage for Peace Corps volunteers. At the Reconnect Conference, everyone from your region (my region includes the four northernmost provinces of Mozambique) comes together to share stories about their integration into their communities, their living conditions, schools, and secondary projects.

Before Reconnect, however, is the unofficial “Pre-Connect.” The conference didn’t actually start until midweek so many volunteers take the opportunity to visit other volunteers beforehand. Will, Rafael, Mireya, and I decided to visit Anneke and Mafe in Angoche. Wow. Angoche is Beautiful with a capital B. It used to be a hot vacation spot in the colonial times (which were still only in the 70’s but whatever) but the road from the main city, Nampula, was never paved so getting to this quiet coastal city can be painful, figureatively and literally. Your tailbone might never be the same again after that chapa ride but it was so worth it! The beaches were completely empty and there were some pretty awesome waves. Not to mention awesome seafood! Crabs, shrimp, squid, you name it. One thing I learned from handling so much seafood at once is that it is all GROSS to prepare. Picking crabs, deveining shrimp, gutting squid (including the ink sac…) gets really really really messy. Again, totally worth the pain.


Praia Nova, Angoche. Left to right: Jay, Mafe, Casey, Grisha, Rafael, Kevin, Will, Me, Anneke

From Angoche, we travelled together to Nampula for the Reconnect Conference. Reverse culture shock: Bacon for breakfast, hot showers, a swimming pool, and air conditioning????? I have a pretty cushy site, but I was still a bit overwhelmed by the little first world oasis. More important than that though, was the company. I hadn’t seen the majority of the other volunteers since early December and it was great to “Reconnect” with everyone. Some of our volunteers are doing some amazing things like starting a preschool, teaching to kids sitting on the floor, teaching 100 kids, pushing chapas out of the mud during rainy season, and so many other adventures that really put my service in perspective. We got to trade advice on what we found worked and didn’t work in the classroom and many of us got the much needed emotional support to pick us up out of that first-three-month rut. Speaking of which, congratulations, Will, for being voted in as one of our new Peer Support Network volunteers!

Reconnect was a very busy three days, filled with great ideas, delicious food, and good company but it was only three days and was over before I knew it. That was fine by me, we had planned one last adventure for this first school break: Ibo Island. So back north to Cabo Delgado we went. We made record time with a 6 hour chapa ride up a dirt road from Pemba and an hour long boat trip out to the island. If Angoche was Beautiful with a capital B, then Ibo was BEAUTIFUL. We stayed in lodge owned by a local Mozambican woman who had built two bungalos and a few extra rooms on her property. Between five of us, we split the two bungalos and spent about… drum roll…. $10 a night. The “Dona” (Boss/Owner) was an amazing cook! I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten better these past two weeks than I have my entire life. The last night’s dinner was the best but we couldn’t for the life of us get her to tell us what it was. All we know was that it was a “big fish.” Please, if you ever want to go to Ibo, get her contact information from me.

Ibo used to be another hotspot for the very rich wich gives it a very unique look. Imagine Mozambican houses next to ruins of big fancy Portuguese buildings and barefoot children chasing you up the stairs of an old Portuguese fort. Here’s the unfortunate deal with the beaches, though: Many people on Ibos don’t have bathrooms or even outdoor latrines. So where do they go? On the beach during low tide… Tide rolls in, washes everything away and the cycle starts all over again. So, if you’re looking for easy access to great beaches, Ibo may not be the place for you. That doesn’t mean there aren’t amazing beaches! Ibo is a part of a large archipelago connected by mangroves. We hired a sailboat to take us around the last day we were in Ibo and just a ways off shore, the water is crystal clear and the sand is white, just like you’d see in a post card. I have to say, Ibo goes straight to the top of my list of favorite places