Taking it to Tete

Peace Corps pre-service training in Mozambique is ten weeks long. It can get pretty monotonous, with lectures and lessons day in, day out, starting to get fed up with the constraints of host family life, and easy to forget why we're actually here. So, for week 6, as sort of a mid-term break, we got to go on site visits! Each of us trainees, typically in pairs, got to visit a current Peace Corps volunteer's site in Mozambique for about three days, to see a bit of what daily life is actually like.

By happy coincidence (or possibly by someone on the Peace Corps staff who likes name-puns a little too much... ;) ), I got to visit the village of Mavudzi-Ponte in the province of Tete, where volunteers Helen and Laura live. I'd been following Helen's blog for the past half-year, so upon finding out that Mavudzi was actually, seriously, the site I was going to get to visit, I'll admit I freaked out a little. Just a little.

Oh and also, because Moz is such a huge country, me and the five other trainees visiting Tete province got to take a plane there. And let me just say that LAM, Mozambique's airline, has infinitely better airplane food and service than any average American flight.

Namaacha to Tete (though we flew out of Maputo)

To Tete we go!

LAM-WICH FOR THE WIN and also an orange-muffin. All for just a two-hour flight.

First views of the mountains in Tete

After arriving at the airport (to like 100 degree weather- Tete is infamous for being Mozambique's hottest province), we went to an air-conditioned café in the capital Tete City for lunch, where we met a group of about ten other volunteers from the area, from both health and education sectors. Annie (my travel buddy who I would be site-visiting with) and I then left with Helen and Laura to get a ride on an open-backed truck to Mavudzi, only 45 minutes from Tete City.

When we arrived in the quiet town of Mavudzi-Ponte and came to Helen and Laura's abode on the secondary school teachers' complex, there was immediately a stream of toddlers and kids streaming through the house, and other teachers stopping by to say hi. They were all very friendly and welcoming. Well, except for the one little boy who literally screamed in terror at the sight of Annie and me and ran for his mother, who laughed and patted him reassuringly. "But he doesn't do that around me anymore!" Laura exclaimed, "I thought he'd gotten used to white people!" But the sudden appearance of two MORE new white faces must have just been too much ;)

Arrived in Mavudzi-Ponte!

The teacher's complex, with long buildings divided into housing sections

Most importantly though, we made mac n' cheese for dinner. With REAL CHEESE. After five weeks of xima, rice, bread, bony fish, and a distinct LACK of real cheese, this meal was amazing beyond words :)

REAL CHEESE

Annie, Helen, and Laura with our mac n' cheese dinner

It also quickly became apparent that Laura and Helen had essentially received their mini-me's as site visitors. Both Laura and Annie went to school in Colorado, had lived in Denmark, along with other similar interests. And Helen and I had the obvious name thing (and we both go by Helena in Portuguese here), have vaguely similar features (in Mozambique, two people with blond hair and glasses are pretty much considered to look the same) and both of us are double-citizens of a German-speaking country. So needless to say, we all had plenty to talk about!

The next morning, Annie and I got the full tour of town. Helen and Laura showed us the secondary school where they both teach English, and introduced us to the director. Then, on one end of the school building we got to see the sweet map mural they painted with a group of students. It was part of a health awareness project- the map shows the percentage of HIV prevalence in each country.

Laura and Helen with their badass map

After seeing the school, we continued towards the health clinic. And on the way their were THESE AWESOME ORANGE TREES.

ORANGE TREE

At the clinic, which Laura knew pretty well since she used to volunteer there, we got to see all the different parts of the clinic, from the maternity ward to the lab where they carry out the HIV tests. On this particular day there were a lot of people there to get prophylaxis medicine for something called elephantiasis, which is when a person's limbs literally swell to insanely gigantic proportions. 

On the way to the clinic

After the clinic, we went walked back along the road to check out Mavudzi's little market, and stop at the barraca for a cold drink because, as we later learned, it was in fact 110 degrees Fahrenheit that day. I have never appreciated a cold refresco so much in my life. 

At the barraca, taking a break from our walk

Back at the house, Annie and I spent the afternoon laying on the floor underneath two fans because it was too hot to think about doing anything else, and Helen and Laura alternated between doing the same, and going to school to proctor final exams. The next morning, the wonderful food parade continued as we had pancakes for breakfast!

Just look at them stacked pancakes

Then, since this second day was a little cooler out, we went on a hike by the river.

Walking through a neighborhood of houses to get to the river

It was the end of the dry season, so the river (on the left) was pretty low at the moment.

View of the mountains from the river

It also turned out that Mavudzi is home to an EPICALLY giant baobab tree (think Rafiki's tree from the Lion King), which we also saw on our hike. SEE THE AWESOME:

Walking towards the baobab

CRAZY HUGE TREE with me for scale

Seriously though

That night, we were also treated to a spectacular sunset, as viewed from Helen and Laura's front door.

Sun sinking into the mountains

On our third and final morning in Mavudzi, we left to spend the day in Tete City, to tour a bit and do some shopping before leaving for our flight back to Maputo early the next morning. Since space at the hotel was tight, we actually stayed with a couple of Laura and Helen's expat friends, a couple from Zimbabwe. They graciously invited us for dinner, and we had a good time chatting and hearing their stories of how they came to Tete after having to leave their farm back home. They were great hosts!

At dinner with Helen and Laura's friends

Finally, the next morning it was time to head out. Good times were had by all, but us trainees still had the second half of training in Namaacha to get through. Tete was a great place, I hope I get to visit again to see more of it someday!

One last view of Tete

Heading to the airport on a tuk-tuk; a tiny three-wheeled taxi common to some cities in Moz