I got more stories, sorry it has been been a while since I have written, but it has been busy busy in Africa. I be back by the 19th of this month for about 2 weeks then I am off to Mexico for a shoot with 3ABN then back to school. Many of you know this has been a big strugle trying to figure out were to go to school this next year. I am excited to have decided on Pacific Union Collage in CA. It is in the Heart of Napa Valley, should be lots of fun and a new experience. I am going to miss Mozambique and a new adventure every day. It crazy that I am used to seeing grass huts and homeless people every day and don’t think twice any more. I am told I will have reverse culture shock.
Story 1: A few weeks ago my Company sent me into the bush to video tape the guy who looks for the most remote churches in Mozambique and documents them with a GPS. You see this kinda stuff on dateline with Katie Curik but I much better looking. A.K.A. the worlds coolest road trip ever. THe experience started with me flying about half way up the country to a place called, Chimoio. This is the first plane I have ever been able to shoot video of take off, landing, and out on the tarmac. After meeting the guy Elmer we started out on our adventure looking for land. It consisted of off roading for hours on end. Down two tracks and small paths. For food we would buy bread and bananas off the side of the road. It is about the cheapest way to get food. The Fast Facts about the churches is most of them are made out of mud bricks, Keneesue a bamboo like reed, or my favorite just a bunch of logs under a tree. Some times we would come upon the churches that were under a tree and find 20 members waiting for us there.
One night we were camping in the deep bush, the kinda place with no bathroom no power nothing. We were camping next to one of the church member houses, the only one in the village that had brick instead of grass reeds. We had been listening to music all day. all of a sudden in the darkness I hear “la da da daa da.” It was our translator sing the course to Bubbly Tows by Jack Jonsion. I found this funny so I started to teach the local kids the words to the song. Then I remembered we had it on the iPod in the truck, so I went, started the truck and played the song. It was one of the coolest things ever, a bunch of bush kids singing to Jack Jonsion around our truck. The next morning I woke up to the sounds of “La da da daa da”. This is the only place I have ever had a shower with a bucket of hot water and a goat starts to walk in, talk about no privacy.
Follow Elmer to the dot on what his job is I decided to take my camera into a “Shop Rite” which is a Walmart want to be. After shooting for about 10 min 6 guards come out of no were and escort us in to the back of the store, made me set the camera down on a table. Then told Elmer to have me delete it, Elmer started to argue with the guys but I looked at Elmer and said “it is ok I will delete it” right at the sec we booth new what we were thinking. I hit the play button made sure they could see the video for a few seconds, then started to hit as many menu buttons as possible that came up in English, then hit the stop button and said all done. Elmer told the guard and they believed us and let me go. Jokes is on them I still have all the footage.
Camping in the bush was a new experience for me, as it is for any one. For food we ate beens and rice or bread and cheese we would pick up on the side of the road. Showers were a bucket of water heated over a fire and you would scoop water over your self with a cup. Using the bathroom was usually a hole in the ground or just wonder into the bush and do it were ever. The first night we stayed with some locals in there house. I nearly got eaten alive with all the bugs. After that we stayed in tents that be had brought.
The trip home was a adventure in it self, we were going to take a 17 hour bus ride from Beira to Maputo to save on fuel. Elemer was going to take a week off and I was going back to work in the city. We were told the bus left at 4:30. We work up at 4, quickly grabbing our stuff Elmer drove like a mad man to catch the bus, upon arriving there we discovered the bus didn’t leave until 5:30. Once the bus took off we started the movie “Noplian Dionmight” about half way through the movie we realized we had only gone 3 city block, The bus had a broken transmission. Back into the truck and the road trip continued. As we drove the 17 hours in 12 hours back from Beria to Maputo, I had to be back the next morning for a church dedication. This is the part of my adventures were I found how dangerous driving is in Mozambique, Driving along I would feel Elmer swerve and see we just misted a truck stopped in the middle of the road with no lights on or the worst was when we would swerving for people, we even hit a dog. We also saw over turned semi, and bus which had driven off the road, all in that one trip.
I had the opportunity of going to the Kruger Park it was cool. I got to see some amazing animals including 1 of 300 Cheetahs in a park the size of a small country.
Road trips are something worth living, This last weekend we decided to take one to Prictiora, South Africa for a weekend. Our fun started when trying to cross the boarder Friday night. After pulling into South Africa and getting my passport stamped they stopped Marlon, one of our guys from Venezuela and told him he needed a new visa and that he could not enter the country, After telling us that the passport agent went back to text messaging, so we moved Marlon down to the next agent to see if they would not notice his expired pass port. While we waited for poor Marlon we looked at my Mexican’s passport only to find his was expired as well but the guy had missed it. After what seemed like a life time Marlon came back with a big NO GO. Hopping back in our van to turn around and go back into Mozambique we started to drive and realized all the boarder guards were busy checking truckers loads out. So my trusty Mexican drove the van right past all the guards and right into South Africa. Now I can say I was part of illegally smuggling some one into a country. The hi-light of the weekend was going shopping at a real mall. Seeing western culture is always a plus when your working in a 3rd world country. Coming back was the most fun part, When they denied our friend a stamp to South Africa they took our temporary vehicle registration. The idea is you hand it to the gaurd on your way back across the boarder. We had picked up a blank one and when the gaurd pulled us over and asked us for it I tryed handing him a blank one, that worked for about two seconds before he realized it was blank. Then he started to hassle me. So I pulled the dumb act, saying I had no idea, and this was my first boarder crossing by myself bla bla bla and after a while of hasseling he bought it all and let us across. I have found I have a morbibed sense of humor and adventure for this crazy fun stuff.
The other day I got to drive a x army truck around our shop a few times. It was the sweetest thing ever . Feeling the raw power under you as the thing just inched along. If any one wants to send me some diesel money for Christmas and a big truck I would be grateful. Nothing more thow I don’t want to become materialistic. I have been doing some driving while over hear, it has been fun trying to get used to the other side of the road and how crazy they are. You can drive were ever you want. The other day I was going down a dirt road that had been flooded in spots by rain. I was worried it was going to come in the truck because it was high. Lots of fun.
Well drilling is one big project Maranatha has been working on since I have been hear, I am proud to say that our first well was put into use this last Friday. The man incharge of this has been dreaming of drilling wells for these people for the last 30 years. To see the joy on his face was the most amazing thing ever. Most people had told me not to drink the water in Mozambique but this was one time I could not resist. I drank a bunch of it and it was good.
Friday after noon we watched the opening to the Olympics at a up-class international bar down town Maputo. As the screen flashed George Bushes over sized face on the screen the hole bar started to boo and scream, I didn’t think this would be a great time to bring out my passport. The best part was watching the Mozambquein athletes come out and every one screaming for joy, including me. It was cool to know I was part of this.