Out of Africa

So that's it, I'm back home. It still feels pretty strange, to be back. In a way, not too much has changed here. Except there are leaves on the ground and it's cold. But I've changed! I've seen so much! I'm not quite sure why, but this return seems more difficult than others have been. I think it's partly because I'm missing an anchor, someone who was traveling with me and who's come back with me, to share common experiences. Also, a month is just long enough to start really appreciating and enjoying the trip, but too short to feel ready to go home.

Le voyage s'est bien passé. Pour les 10h20 de vol par-dessus l'Afrique et vers Paris, c'était un vol de nuit, ce qui m'a permi de dormir, surtout que j'avais toute une rangée de sièges pour moi-même. Mais malgré une nuit de sommeil et un vol relativement direct, j'étais complètement déboussolée en arrivant à Montréal hier après-midi. Et encore plus dans le bus vers Ottawa. Je regardais les couleurs automnales sans trop comprendre où j'étais ni comment j'y étais arrivée. Heureusement, Nico et ses parents étaient à la gare pour me recueillir.

There was a little bit of stress arriving in Montreal. Our flight was a little late, and then it took forever for my suitcase to appear. Then, I had to declare the biltong (a kind of South African meat jerky) I'd brought back, because I'm an honest kinda gal, and it turns out that it wasn't allowed in the country! Arg. All this time lost meant that I was almost late for my shuttle bus to Ottawa. Well, almost late for the time I thought it was supposed to come. The bus itself was actually late, so it all worked out.

So here I am. Not quite back, not quite gone. Today will be a day of making myself at home, taking care of little things, and hopefully readjusting to a "normal" life. Oh, and uploading pictures!

Final days in Africa

This is it. Tomorrow will be my last day in Africa. I can't believe how much I've seen and done this past month. In many ways, I'm a lot more aware of the biodiversity of this planet, and its interconnectedness. As well as our impact on all this.

Nous avons quitte Pemba hier, apres une tres belle semaine et demie. Pour notre dernier soir, nous sommes alle a un "full moon party", mais rien a voir avec ceux de la Thailande. Plutot un groupe d'amis qui se rencontrent sur la plage a la pleine lune, avec de la musique. Mais quel paysage magique! La lune eclairait parfaitement la plage, a maree tres basse. Des silhouettes de rochers parsemaient le paysage, vraiment magique comme soiree.

We left Sarah with a few tears in our eyes. Another 5 months, at least, before we see her again! But I'm very happy we got to visit her and spend so much time at her temporary home.

Today, we went to visit the Cradle of Humankind, just outside of Joburg. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the earliest specimens of Austalopithecus africanus were found. Really interesting. We went down in a huge cave, with impressive rock formations and a very good guide. We were accompanying a school group who was very well behaved. When the guide said "Good afternoon, how are you?" They all replied as one "Fine thank you, and how are you, sir?" Impressive!

Nous n'avons pas encore decide ce que nous ferions demain, mais demain soir, je prends l'avoir pour Paris, puis pour Montreal, et j'arrive a Ottawa mercredi soir. J'ai hate d'etre de retour a Ottawa, il y a de belles choses qui m'y attendent, mais en meme temps, je ne veux pas vraiment partir! Je n'arrive pas a croire que le voyage se termine deja...

When I get back home, I'll upload pictures and put them up here, with captions, so you can have a better idea of what I've seen and done this past month.

I can't believe it's October already! And I've only got a few days left in Mozambique!
I've certainly been enjoying my time here. Let me try to give you a glimpse of all we've seen and done here. Despite what some people told us, there is a lot to see and do in Pemba, if you're the kind of traveler who likes to wander around and discover the people, as well as the sites.

First, Rheal and I decided we wanted to discover another kind of fauna and flora. We've discovered it in Kruger Park, now we wanted to see what's hiding under the Indian Ocean. We went for an introductory dive, exploring the corals off the coast of Pemba, going down to about 12 meters under sea level, spending about 45 minutes under water. It was wonderful! We had a really good instructor, who made us feel safe even though we'd never done anything like this. I did have a few moments of wondering what I was doing, but all in all, it was a really good experience. I think it could become very relaxing, once you get used to it. And of course, the fish are beautiful.

Je vais peut-etre retourner pour une deuxieme plongee, mais ce n'est pas encore certain, vu qu'il y a quand meme beaucoup a faire et de moins en moins de temps! On quitte Pemba dimanche, deja! Et puis, c'est vraiment epuisant de faire de la plongee sous-marine. Je ne sais pas si c'est la respiration, ou les mouvements auxquels on n'est pas habitues, ou la pression, ou le poids, mais Rheal et moi avons fait une petite sieste apres notre plongee. C'est quand meme une experience que j'aimerais bien repeter, ici ou ailleurs.

Yesterday, we took a tour of a bairro, a poorer neighbourhood of Pemba. Our guide, Maida, was extremely knowledgeable and friendly, and took us to see many trades people. I was amazed at how friendly the people here are. Everyone (almost) smiled and waved at us, said hello, seemed happy to see us. The children, especially. We were followed by a group of curious children, who posed for us whenever we took out our camera and burst out laughing when we showed them the results. They were also laughing at the strange tourists we were, trying to talk to them in Portuguese. It's always fun when the staring is reciprocal.

Nous avons aussi suivi une visite d'un lac a l'exterieur de Pemba, ou les pecheurs, dans leurs petites pirogues, semblaient chanter aux poissons! Dans les villages qu'on a traversés, les gens nous faisaient bonjour de la main, heureux de nous voir. Notre guide nous a conduits a la ferme d'un de ses amis, qui a un immense terrain, des pompes d'eau et un tracteur! On n'aura pas vu beaucoup de fermes comme ca ici.

Today, we're going to meet up with Sarah for lunch, and then explore the old city. There's always something to see over here. And then, I'll probably take a little dip in the ocean, to cool off!
Pictures will have to wait, but rest assured that as soon as I can (maybe when I'm back in Ottawa) I'll put up lots of pictures. And even more on Facebook, for those of you who are connected.

Pemba

A quick post from Pemba, Sarah's home for eight months.
We arrived in Pemba yesterday, and it's a lot hotter here, up in the North! It's a nice little town, but we're staying outside the town, on the strip by the beach, about 1,5 hrs walk from the city. It's a nice walk, looking at the fishermen in their boats, saying hi to the people walking up and down the road. I'll post some pictures next time. Be prepared to be jealous, the Indian Ocean is really beautiful!

Demain soir, nous allons souper avec Sarah dans un resto qu'elle aime bien, et ensuite, elle et moi allons danser dans la disco Wimbi! Parait que la musique est affreuse, mais ce sera drole.

I have to say, in Maputo's defense, that as we were leaving the city to go to the airport, we passed through some streets that weren't as decrepit as the ones we'd seen in the city centre. The houses and apartment buildings were in better shape. Not a rich neighbourhood, but a comfortable one. And then we went around the corner and there were the shacks, behind cement walls. So much contrast from one place to the other.

Ce que j'aime le plus du Mozambique, c'est les gens. Ils sont souvent tres souriants, heureux de nous voir. Heureux surtout quand on fait l'effort de parler le peu de Portugais qu'on parle. Bom dia! Boa tarde! Ils nous repondent avec le sourire. L'autre jour, on avait besoin d'un taxi et comme il pleuvait, on s'est refugie dans une station essence. Quand on a demande ou trouver un taxi, ils en ont appele un pour nous, nous ont dit de nous asseoir, pas de probleme, gros sourires. Du bon service, des gens gentils. C'est agreable. Faudrait que j'apprenne un peu plus de Portugais pour converser avec eux.

Maputo, deuxieme essai

The other day, I thought I'd accidentally deleted my blog, then undeleted it, then thought I'd lost everything and wrote two new entries, but it turns out that for some reason, another blog was created, where I posted the two new entries. So here's the link for the pictures:
http://zelafrique.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-potos-with-captions.html?showComment=1253796115407#c3735475096513405672

And here's the message I meant to write on this blog. Confusing, I know, but if you haven't read this blog entry yet, now you can:



Maputo is a pretty strange and crazy place. It used to be a beautiful Portuguese colony, once upon a time. You still see signs of this here and there. But now, it's pretty dirty. And falling apart at the seams. People are very nice, they all smile and respond when I greet them on the street. It seems that the Mozambican are very nice people, very proud of their appearance and their cars (big, new cars everywhere, always someone washing their car) but not of their city. A man told us yesterday that Maputo is not the real Mozambique. I'll tell you more about that once we've seen Pemba, in the North.
By the way, while we were standing at a corner, trying to figure out where to go, a Mozambican took a picture of us on his iPhone. We all laughed a lot at this. The tourists have become the attraction! We do look pretty funny.....

La circulation ici est completement folle! Je croyais que c'etait grave au Vietnam ou en Thailande, mais ce n'est rien du tout! Ici, les autos ont toujours priorite, et si tu ne t'enleves pas du chemin, ils pourraient bien te passer dessus! Ils ne ralentissent meme pas! Hier, Rheal a du courir pour ne pas se faire frapper par un mini-bus qui n'avait pas mis son clignotant pour avertir qu'il allait tourner. On ne prend pas de chances, et on regarde toujours partout en traversant. Ils viennent de tous bord, tous cotes. Il faut aussi regarder ou on marche, pour ne pas tomber dans un trou au beau milieu du trottoir. On pense que ce sont des bouches d'egouts dont le couvercle de metal a ete vole pour le faire fondre.

I don't have time to write more, but will hopefully be able to write once we're in Pemba. It will be nice to stay in the same place for a while and take it easy on the beach. Maybe I'll even go scuba diving!

Mozambique!

Finalement, un peu plus de temps a l'Internet, moins cher et plus rapide. Mais il ne m'en reste pas tant que ca, alors  je vais ecrire une entree rapide. Et esperer avoir du temps plus tard aussi.

We left South Africa yesterday, by bus. The Greyhound bus isn't the most comfortable, though it's better than many buses I've been on before. We had to cross the border on foot, which I've never done! Quite an experience. First, a line-up to get out of the country. No problem. Then, we walk up the road, lined with barbed wire, beside the cars, up to an imaginary line where two guards stop us and ask to see our passports. We show them, and keep walking. Good thing it wasn't too hot. Then, we get to another building, with another line up (by the way, there's no one to tell you where to go, you have to guess and hope the people in front of you, who were in your bus, know what they're doing.) Here, we have to pay the 3US$ fee to enter the country (!) and then we get our passport checked and stamped. The customs officer didn't seem to care wether I looked like my picture or wether my visa was good. He looked pretty bored.
And we made it! The bus didn't leave without us, all our luggage was there and intact when we got to Maputo (the capital).

Le Mozambique est tres different de l'Afrique du Sud. Plus pauvre, moins industrialise, on dirait. Alors qu'en Afrique du Sud (ce que j'en ai vu), les routes etaient belles, les villes propres et modernes, la ville de Maputo ressemble beaucoup plus a ce a quoi je suis habituee quand je voyage. Des trottoirs pleins de trous, en ruine, des maisons coloniales delabrees, des dechets sur la rue. Par contre, contrairement a l'Asie, c'est moins agressif. En descendant du bus, il y avait plein de chauffeurs de taxi qui nous offraient nos services, mais des qu'on disait non, ils nous laissaient tranquilles. Ca fait du bien! Par contre, hier soir, Rheal a montre un peu trop d'interet par rapport a une peinture, et quand il est parti sans acheter, le vendeur l'a suivi autour du coin!

It's very useful to have Sarah with us as an interpreter, since few people speak English here. But I think that with my Spanish, I'll be able to get around. I understand most of what's said when I know the context, so I hope people will be able to understand my garbled mix of Portuguese and Spanish!

I hope to have time to write more soon, this Internet Cafe is relatively close to our hotel, but it'll depend on what we decide to do while we're here.

Keep those comments coming, I like to read you.

N'hesitez pas a m'ecrire!

Pictures!

I wasn't able to add captions. Next time. This time, you'll have to guess! ;)