site visit

so last weekend we all went on site visits, which is a chance to visit a current PCV living in country and working in our field, to see how they live and work, and of course to experience a different part of the country and more of the awesome public transportation system. itºs also a nice break in the middle of training.

so i went with one other health trainee to vilankulos, a small city on the coast at the north of inhambane province. we had to leave namaacha at 2:30am in order to catch a bus (machibombo) from maputo. i had thought a bus would be better than a chapa. it sounds better, right? well i guess it is in some ways, you get more choice of who you sit by and arenºt quite as squished in, and the seats are taller so you can lean your head back (at least if youºre short like me you can) but thatºs about where the benefits end. the seats were hard, there was even less leg room than on a chapa, and the aisles were stuff with standing people and luggage so it was still hot and squishy and hard to get out. also it was raining and my window was leaking on me a bit. but i was with a bunch of friends going to the same area, and it was fine. our driver seemed to be in a hurry and was ignoring peopleºs requests to stop and pee (it was an 11 hour trip, so stops were definitely needed), and the most memorable moment of the trip up was when a woman screamed at the driver for about 10 minutes about how everyone had to pee, how it was a human right and a biological necessity, how we were paying customers, and that there were women, children, and foreigners (!) on the bus and they all had to pee! it was kind of tense, but also hilarious, and effective! the driver stopped soon after and about 90% of the passengers got off to pee on the side of the road. the word for pee in portuguese is xi-xi ("shee-shee"), and this happened when we were just past the city of xai-xai ("shy-shy), so we dubbed this the xai-xia xi-xi incident!

despite discomforts and shouting incidents, the trip was great to be able to see different parts of mozambique. the scenery change considerably, from mountains and red dirt around maputo, to flat and gray, to lush green. in inhambane province there were palm trees everywhere, as well as mangos, and the dirt turned to sand. we passed through a couple of dencent sized towns/cities (xai-xia, mexixe), drove by some beautiful coastal views around the city of inhambane, went through a lot of rural villages, and passed about a million goats. i mused out loud that the goats could probably take over the country if they wanted. my seat-mate will told me i needed to drink more water (we were all limiting ourselves due to the infrequent bathroom breaks).

we got to vilankulos a little after 5 pm. my two pcv hosts were really nice, they are both just about the complete their two years of service so they had a lot of experience to share, and two of the people from my health group will be replacing them so everything about their site was especially important to notice. vilankulos is a city, small enough to walk around, but big enough to have lots of ammenities, like hotels, restaurants, and well-stocked grocery stores. itºs right on the beach so itºs also quite touristy. there are lots of foreigners visiting, and expats working for ngos and escaping. between the size of the city and the tourist factor, i feel like it would be hard to integrate into the town and make friends because it would be hard to not be seen as a tourist. the two pcvs i visited seemed to like it fine, they have made friends (both mozambican and other foreigners) and had a good time, but salvador, where i lived in brazil, was also very touristy, and despite having had an amazing experience there, i know that i would not prefer to have that experience again. however, if i got that site, or one like it, i know iºd be fine. after all, being able to go to the beach and buy nutella whenever i wanted wouldnºt be all bad!

so both the volunteers i visited work for CARE, an international NGO. they have a really nice office, lots of resources, itºs pretty much the top of the heap in terms of moz health placements. one of them worked "mainstreaming" HIV, adding it into the program for a variety of income generating projects. she did a fair amount of field work, visiting groups in various parts of the province. the other worked with OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) programs doing a lot of monitoring and evaluating. she didnºt do much field work. as much as the office setup was impressive and the jobs really interesting and well-defined, i donºt think the job would be my top choice either. thereºs still a lot we donºt know about possible job placements (like everything) but i would prefer a job where i get to do more hands on work with people, and that has less of an office focus. for instance these girls worked 8-5 five days a week, but a lot of health PCVs work for organizations that operate only a few hours a day or a few days a week in an office setting, and do more field/community work in the other time.

so i still donºt know where iºm going, but i filled out a survey about my preferences for all kinds of site placement variables, and next monday i have an interview with the health area coordinator, so things are moving along! iºm really so excited just to know, so that i can stop imagining and wondering and start thinking concretely about what the next two years will be about!

ok, so, as you the reader may have gathered, travel here is interesting to say the least. and my trip back was no exception. instead of the long bus we came back in two days by chapa. day one i took a chapa from vilankulos to mexixe. on this chapa i was sitting on the crack between seats for half the ride and over a large metal bar for the other half so my butt was killing me by the end. in mexixe we switched chapas. less than an hour into this chapa ride the driver and the cobrador (money taker) started arguing with a few of the passengers. it was in the local language so i didnºt understand anything except the phrase ten meticais (like 40 cents) repeated over and over, so apparently some confusion over payment. finally the chapa stopped, and they kept arguing, and drew a crowd. then they got out and went behind the chapa and started to fight! it didnºt amount to much, no blood was shed or anything, but it was pretty wild. so we spent the night in xai-xai (a town larger than vilankulos but not touristy, nice, tho i didnºt see much of it), and the next day caught a chapa back to maputo. the chapa we caught was probably the nicest one in the country: brand new comfortable seats, and a dvd player! they were showing a south african movie called mr. bones (pretty ridiculous, look it up on imdb), and instead of playing the sound there was brian adams hits blasting on the radio. all things considered, it was great. but just as i was settling in for an unbelievably comfy chapa ride, we pulled over and our driver started talking to another chapa driver. eventually they started telling us to get out, and we didnºt understand why, but we went to the other chapa, and who should be there but 7 other fellow trainees on their way home....i was actualy pretty unhappy about being thrown into a huge group against my will, and the new chapa was seriously less comfortable than the one iºd been forced to leave, but oh well. the rest of the trip was uneventful. but i think thatºs eventful enough! public transportation here is so funny, i simultaneously love and loathe. the vehicles are the farthest thing from comfortable, theyºre hot, smelly, awkward, and of questionable safety, but theyºre endlessly entertaining, and such a great way to witness so much life....

one other anecdote, then iºm off. last night it POURED for real for the first time since iºve been here - which is awesome for them cuz they really need the rain, although i bring several pounds of red mud with me every time i come home. but i woke up at about 11:30 last night and the rain was pounding so hard on my tin roof, i donºt know if the noise woke me up or the resulting desire to pee. anyway, i laid there for over an hour listening to the rain and thunder and seeing my room light up with lightening, and the sound was so loud i could feel it, like when youºre at a concert near the speakers, my whole body was almost shaking. it was pretty awesome.

and lastly, i would like to say a big thank you to all those of you who sent me mail! i got a postcard, a five-part letter, and a package today, and it made me so so happy, so thanks! and to let you all know, timing wise, letters seem to take a little over two weeks, packages 3-5 and counting....but never lose hope!