july 21st, 2006

Seriously. Posting every single day. Never happening again. This can be exhausting! I enjoy doing the reflection, but finding time to type daily is not easy with three small children. I keep telling myself, "do tomorrow's entry NOW so you have a day off". Yeah. Hasn't happened yet. Oh well. Almost there...

July 21st, 2006
"Before heading to Rio Savane, we made a quick stop to trade out the Landrover for a truck. Erik and Stacy put a mattress in the back for us to lounge on along the way. Abelio drove with Linda riding shotgun and Stacy, Erik, and I in the back. In Cuca's truck was Jenna, Jessica, Julie, Nikki, Eric, and Aaron. We headed off for an hour long drive. The main dirt highway began right near our house. At first, it appeared as a regular alley. Soon the alley had an appearance of a dirt street or road. Once we crossed the highway, the dirt road went through a very busy market where every head was turned on our account. The market area died off and became more of a community village. After a bit of time, the houses died away and we were driving through the open savanna. The grass lands were gorgeous; randomly dotted here and there with termite mounds housed in lush vegetation. Along the path, men pushed bicycles overloaded with sticks or coal. Women gazed at us under their balanced tubs, holding a child with their free arm. Soon, all people became scarce as well. It was strange thinking that I was in the back of a truck in the heart of Mozambique's grasslands; it is just something that is hard to comprehend. Stacy, Erik, and I had fun entertaining ourselves by singing crazy/random songs. All of a sudden, as we were about to hit a towering forest, Abelio gave us a shout as he came to a dead halt. There, to our left, were several baboons. The instant I realized what they were, they made their was to the trees for shelter. Luckily, I caught a few shots before they were gone... As we took off down the path, I kept my eyes open for more baboons. Nada. Stacy, Erik, and I began our singing again - singing the entire remainder of the way to Rio Savane."The first thing we did at Rio Savane "resort" was order food - knowing it would take at least 2 hours. Once the order was in, we walked down the path to the beach. The Indian Ocean is gorgeous! This beach was great because we could actually take off our shoes and walk bare foot in the sand... When the tide started coming in, I would balance on one foot to avoid the water. I had fun jumping around on one foot, but after a while, it got lonely. I soon became frustrated because the other girls were out with Cuca, swimming and splashing and having all sorts of fun... Right in the middle of my pity party, Eric... asked me how I was doing. I asked him how he would be if he had to stand on the shore and watch as all of his friends had fun in the ocean. I think my point was clearly made.
"Linda asked me to braid her hair for her, so I did. As I braided, we went further into discussion on the topic. When I finished, she saw that I was dead set on swimming in the Indian Ocean, so she helped me wrap and protect my foot as much as possible. Once we were finished, I bolted down to the water with Eric. It didn't take long for me to be fully submerged and treading with the rest of the group. I was so happy. I think the group was pretty excited and glad, too. The seven of us swam and body surfed and dove under waves for about an hour before going back to the beach. By the time we were out of the water, everyone else was ready to go eat, so we walked back over the concrete path to the restaurant. We ordered drinks as we were seated - I got Schwepps Maracujá and an ananis Fanta. The food took about 45 minutes, so we were sipping soda for a long time before getting our food. I had chicken with coconut rice. The chicken was good, but the coconut rice was great! I was disappointed that the coconut rice tasted nothing like coconut. The food was very filling.
"We went back over to the ocean, but I decided to stay dry. Erik ran back down to the beach to build a second sand castle (the first was created between the point of me getting out of the water and our group going to eat. We got as far as barricades before the tide came in and crushed our efforts with its force. Two teenagers from Maputo helped us build trenches). This time, Erik had no help, but that did not slow him down. Stacy and I stayed at the top of the bank, laughing at Erik and talking about life.
Photo courtesy: Stacy G.
"The four of us [Cuca, Jenna, Eric, and I] walked on for a bit. We stopped when we found a good sized crab. We tried to corner it and pick it up, but everyone was too afraid of being pinched. The boys retrieved sticks to poke, prod, and probe the poor little crab. The crab was getting away, so I threw dirt on him until he was buried. This was useful because with the crab under a small pile of sand, we could catch it. Eric was the brave one. He missed the first few times, so we had to keep piling sand on the crab. Eventually, Eric's fingers emerged with the crab. I took a picture while the others gawked over the little guy. When they put him down, he was placed on his back, in hopes that he wouldn't be able to flip himself over. We were wrong."We walked down the river's shore to where our boat was docked and got in. As I was getting "comfortable", a very very VERY attractive guy put his boogie board in the boat and hopped in with an older man. I just stared at the attractive guy on our journey across the river. I even snuck a picture at the end of the trip! The tide had come in, so when we docked at the river, we had to jump out into the ankle-deep water and make our way through the muck and mud. Once back at the trucks, we got our mattress out of Cuca's truck and loaded up into the back of our truck. The ride home wasn't nearly as fun as the ride to Rio Savane. One major difference, the passing air felt cold! The sun was fading in the sky, so that didn't help much. Also, our energy had been wasted on the beach, so it was a calmer ride."The shower felt wonderful after having been in the ocean all morning. I actually stood this time since I had already swam with an open wound. Because of this, I had to have Linda clean and dress the wound. It killed when she put an antiseptic wipe on it to kill any germs! We just left the wound open in the end so that it would scab over."

First. HORRIBLE spelling and grammar. I apologize. I tend to be self-conscious about my writing. So reading that hurt my brain. Second. I am a nerd. Sometimes my details are too... embellished. If I were writing a story, that would be one thing. But this is a journal. I do not know why I feel the need to decorate my entries with fluff. Rio Savane was a nice break. But comparing the photos with the entry kind of saddens me. I don't think I enjoyed the trip quite as much as the entry makes it sound. I am pretty sure I was feeling lonely and left out. Majorly.