It’s nearly July, technically over half way through 2020, and it hardly feels real. The last time I updated this blog was just under two years ago - crazy to think about. This post is to assure my few readers that I am still here! Here, at the moment, is Vilankulo, Mozambique. I have been here, on and off, since I first arrived fresh out of university to volunteer with Mozambique Horse Safaris in October 2017, nearly three years ago. Vilankulo could hardly be more different from Edinburgh, but I have loved living in both places.
Here’s a quick update: After my three months of volunteering back in 2017, I went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to celebrate Christmas with my cousins. From there, I went on to volunteer at another horse safari, Ride Zimbabwe, near Bulawayo in, obviously, Zimbabwe. I was supposed to go back home (home? Not really California, I hadn’t lived there for five years, and not really Canada as, even though my family is there, I actually can’t stay longer than three months due to visa restrictions). I was between places, and between times in my life. It was an odd limbo, transitioning from a life of school, of being told generally what to do in order to succeed, how to structure my days and spend my time, to an open world of possibility. I, as I believe many people in the same situation do, found that vast, undefined, and unplanned future both thrilling and terrifying. You see, the problem with being so lucky in my life that the world is open to me is that there are such a wealth of options as to be completely overwhelming. So, after spending three months in Mozambique and loving them all, I decided to stay. Another reason behind that decision was that I had started going out with J, the son of Mozambique Horse Safaris owners.
So, here I am still, 2.5 years later. In between then and now, I have been to Zimbabwe quite a few times to visit my cousins there, worked with Pat and Mandy at Mozambique Horse Safaris, been a backup guide for J’s company Vilanculos Canoe Safaris, become a Business Manager for My Guide Mozambique, and worked as Marketing Manager of BCSS on one of the islands in the Bazaruto Archipelago here. Now, as Mozambique enters our fourth month of closed borders and closed tourism due to CoronaVirus, all of us working in the industry are at a bit of a loss of what to do. My jobs became redundant in May, when it became clear that the tourist season was not going to start, so I have begun teaching ESL online. I’ve been doing yoga, making coconut oil shampoo bars with Mandy, and riding horses in order to fill my time. Although financially it is a disaster, in terms of quality of living, this lockdown has not been too bad for those of us here. We stay in our neighborhoods, wear masks to go out, wash our hands all the time, and carry on.
Riding Bazooka of Mozambique Horse Safaris.
Making shampoo bars with coconut oil.
Practicing with my camera from cousin John - a Fork Tailed Drongo in the tree outside our house.