I have been too quiet and I regret this as so much has been happening since I last posted. I am still not in the habit of blogging and I have been travelling a lot making it more of a challenge. Instead of dwelling on the silence I will try to share a bit of what has been filling my days of late. A week ago I boarded a plane from Nairobi, heading to Southern Africa for a true break- no laptops, no cell phone and no promise of email- just what I needed!
On the 7th I landed in South Africa long enough to marvel at all the options for shopping and food- and I never even left the airport! A few hours later I was off to Maputo, Mozambique where I met up with my good friend Carmen. She has been living in Zambia for the past year and has now been travelling around Southern Africa- most recently Lesotho (a place that has now been clearly added to my places to visit).
She met me at the airport and we spent the next day and a half checking out the capital city- we caught a tuk-tuk (little 3-wheel motorized vehicle) and saw some of the major sites plus we stumbled upon a rare find-a fantastic international photo exhibit.
Early, seriously- EARLY, 4:30am we were in a taxi to the bus station where we boarded a bus to Tofo, a lovely white sandy beach - the only down side it was 7 hours away. The time passed pretty fast but complications came in the last 30 minutes as most of the passengers had already disembarked and we were the remaining passengers. The driver did what any good businessman would do, he dropped us off (short of our paid destination point) and turned that bus around. We eventually found another smaller bus to take us within 2 km of our beach lodge but it was full of drama which I won't go into here. We walked to our beach lodge where our chalet was waiting and it all was worth it when we saw the beach. Ah, the beach....the beach was amazing and we were just a few hundred meters from it.
The next day was blustery and pouring with rain so we stayed in. All was well as we met some new Swiss friends- Diego and Martin. We spent the day playing games, chatting about all sorts of things and just enjoying the storm as it passed. That afternoon it cleared up so we headed to the market and found some fresh veg and prawns and they cooked us a lovely Thai meal in our kitchen!
The next 2 days the weather was fantastic and so we did an Ocean Safari (just like a Kenya safari where you are looking for the creatures but no guarantees and instead of a 4x4 van we were in a pontoon speed boat). It was amazing- we swam with whale sharks (if you don't know you should learn- amazing) and spotted several kinds of dolphins- one with her baby! I unfortunately started feeling sea sick in the end but all turned out well. The evening was spent enjoying a delicious meal in Tofo town and crashing a birthday party where we danced the night away.
I could say so much more but know we savored the good food (I made sure to have seafood every day), enjoyed great company and found time to relax on the beach, in the hammock and in our chalet! Our final day there started again in the wee hours of the morning- yes, our alarm was set for 3:40am and off we were at 4 sharp on a bus back to Maputo and then another bus to Swaziland. More adventures to come...
On the 7th I landed in South Africa long enough to marvel at all the options for shopping and food- and I never even left the airport! A few hours later I was off to Maputo, Mozambique where I met up with my good friend Carmen. She has been living in Zambia for the past year and has now been travelling around Southern Africa- most recently Lesotho (a place that has now been clearly added to my places to visit).
She met me at the airport and we spent the next day and a half checking out the capital city- we caught a tuk-tuk (little 3-wheel motorized vehicle) and saw some of the major sites plus we stumbled upon a rare find-a fantastic international photo exhibit.
Early, seriously- EARLY, 4:30am we were in a taxi to the bus station where we boarded a bus to Tofo, a lovely white sandy beach - the only down side it was 7 hours away. The time passed pretty fast but complications came in the last 30 minutes as most of the passengers had already disembarked and we were the remaining passengers. The driver did what any good businessman would do, he dropped us off (short of our paid destination point) and turned that bus around. We eventually found another smaller bus to take us within 2 km of our beach lodge but it was full of drama which I won't go into here. We walked to our beach lodge where our chalet was waiting and it all was worth it when we saw the beach. Ah, the beach....the beach was amazing and we were just a few hundred meters from it.
The next day was blustery and pouring with rain so we stayed in. All was well as we met some new Swiss friends- Diego and Martin. We spent the day playing games, chatting about all sorts of things and just enjoying the storm as it passed. That afternoon it cleared up so we headed to the market and found some fresh veg and prawns and they cooked us a lovely Thai meal in our kitchen!
The next 2 days the weather was fantastic and so we did an Ocean Safari (just like a Kenya safari where you are looking for the creatures but no guarantees and instead of a 4x4 van we were in a pontoon speed boat). It was amazing- we swam with whale sharks (if you don't know you should learn- amazing) and spotted several kinds of dolphins- one with her baby! I unfortunately started feeling sea sick in the end but all turned out well. The evening was spent enjoying a delicious meal in Tofo town and crashing a birthday party where we danced the night away.I could say so much more but know we savored the good food (I made sure to have seafood every day), enjoyed great company and found time to relax on the beach, in the hammock and in our chalet! Our final day there started again in the wee hours of the morning- yes, our alarm was set for 3:40am and off we were at 4 sharp on a bus back to Maputo and then another bus to Swaziland. More adventures to come...
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