Photos

I am tired of typing, and don't want all of you to have to read so much - so I will let the photos speak for themselves in this one... with a few necessary captions here and there. All of these photos are from Beira - a more developed city. You'll see a produce in a market place, apartments, kids playing in the pool beneath our hotel room, the view from our hotel room and more. It's 6:15 in the evening here, everything gets dark pretty quickly (around 5:30) around here. I just spent the last 20 minutes catching frogs with the village kids, waiting for my photos to download. I cannot

believe the size of the frogs here, they barely fit in my hand. And

they eat soo many bugs. All the bugs are on a grand scale here, including the spiders unfortunately...

First Evening...

Once in Beira, we checked into our hotel, Hotel de Mozambique, where we stayed for 1 night. Beira is a more urban town than Sena, but the poverty level is just as earth shattering. Dogs and people roam the streets, and driving is absolutely INSANE. No street names, no lanes, and everyone speeds.

We walked through one of the city markets one evening, and I carried my camera with me. That, combined with the fact that i was a "mizungo" made me the 'talk of the town,' if you will. Everyone was staring at me... which can get to you after awhile. I stuck out like a sore thumb haha. But a smile and a wave typically got a friendly reaction out of everyone. Once the locals saw my camera, everyone of them wanted me to take their photo.

Beira itself is a very pretty place - and if you can get past the different urban life, and the poverty... and the bugs, you'll be fine. We ate dinner at a place by the name of "Clube de Nautico"(right on the Indian Ocean), which was absolutely phenomenal. I ordered the grilled tiger prawns with curry and rice (Tiffany DeVries, if you are reading, you would have been a very happy camper) and it was amazing.

Beira

The drive from the airport to Beira was very eye opening. Even stepping through Immigration to obtain our Visas was intimidating. We spoke only English, and the Authorities only Portuguese. Luckily, Ryan Rushing, an MTI employee was there to guide us through using his broken Portuguese. We had some issues with Immigration; David was bringing a whole suitcase full of vitamins for MTI (which in my opinion looked very similar to smuggling drugs :) and the police at the border interrogated Ryan, David, and dad for a good 20 minutes. I have never felt so out of my element, sitting there in the Customs building surrounded by luggage and about 25 Africans who spoke no English and have probably never seen a 18 year old white kid ("Mizungo") in their entire lives.

Anyway, we got through with some serious convincing, and began the drive to Beira. The living conditions here are astounding. The level of poverty is unlike anything I have ever been exposed. People are crammed into these little mud huts right alongside the road. Maybe 1 in 10 people have a pair of shoes, and even then, these shoes would not even be fit for a thrift store in America. The seating in vehicles is less about following laws and more about see

ing how many people you can cram into a confined space (typically about 15 to a 7 seater van).

Sorry for writing such novels, but there is so much that we've experienced, and now that I have internet in Sena, I wanna be able to share our last few days with you.

Arrival

Internet Access! Finally. I'm sure some of you have been waiting.... there's so much to share that has gone on the last 3 days so I will do my best to update in a few short posts.

We have now been in the country of Africa since Tuesday morning. Our 15 hour (felt like I was on a spaceship for days) flight from JFK to Johannesburg landed at 8:30 am... and the first thing our flight attendant says is, "That was an excellent landing in zero visibility." Very reassuring.

David van Vuuren picked us up from the airport, and an hour later we caught another 2 hour flight to Beira. It was quite a shock stepping off the plane into 85 degree heat with 70+ % humidity wearing a beanie, longsleeves, and sweats. Finally, Ryan from MTI (Medical Teams International) picked us up from the airport in Beira and drove us to our hotel. After 48 straight hours of traveling in the same clothes it felt great to take a cold shower (our only option) and relax.

Photos to come

Before we lose Internet Access here...

I thought while we wait for our plane to board (4 hour layover) I would share my weekend activities with you...

My family and I left Thursday evening headed to the bay area for my Grandpa's wedding.

His wife

passed away 3 years ago, and we are so happy for him that the Lord saved Caryl for him. The ceremony was great. I left the wedding reception early to catch a flight out of San Francisco to make it back to Santa Barbara in time for prom. Then, after getting no sleep and being at Zodo's 'till the wee hours of the morning, we left for Africa the following evening. No problem. All in a days work

New York - JFK

We're almost out of the States! Flew out on a red-eye last night, arrived in NY at 6:30am (mind you 3:30 am our time)...Had some ridiculous boarding pass/baggage issues with United personnel back in LA, but it's in the past and we're on our way...

Trying to keep myself entertained in the airport. It's 4 am Pacific Time

Dad staring out onto the wet tarmac at a rainy JFK

Preparation

So obviously when traveling to Africa, or anywhere out of the country for that matter, you need to get your shots... Which was great fun. 7 in the right and left arm one day, followed by a series of 3 more, the last of which is scheduled to happen at 2 o clock today. We were immunized against just about everything including typhoid, rabies, H1N1, yellow fever, polio, Hep A and B, malaria and a few others... which is all very reassuring. Now instead of dying if I get bit by a rabid dog, I can last for up to 72 hours without treatment! Or something along those lines...

Mozambique the country

Our helpful little mirror reminder to take our typhoid pills...