Mozambique! By Planes, Greyhounds, Chicken Buses, Taxis, and a Bakkie

Amazing, Beautiful, Paradise, Timeless, Disorienting, Incredible, Overwhelming. These are but a few of the words that I would use to describe Mozambique and my trip in general. I'd like to get some of the superlatives out of the way now, since my posts will lose a bit of meaning if I keep using them. That is my warning.

Living the Life

So, yes, I'm back and in one piece. It has been a long two weeks, but it also went very quickly and I'm already missing the carefree life that you'll find up in the Inhambane province. I've been working through the trip in my head for the last few days, and trying to figure out how to blog about this. The odd thing is that this trip will undoubtedly be one of the defining moments of my abroad experience, yet is the only time that I stopped blogging. Despite this, I'd like to convey some of the experience, both to remember it myself and to give you guys and idea of what happened and where I am now. My trip feels much different than it did two weeks ago, that's for sure.

That being said, I'm just going to assume you guys are interested in hearing about it. I'm fully aware that much of it is personal and won't translate well on a blog, and I don't want to bore you, so I'll try my hardest to use photos and keep things interesting. I've been a bit stressed thinking about it the last few weeks, sitting in bed in my hut near the beach thinking. "How do I relay this week to people?"

I have some ideas on how to do it though, and will, over the next week or so, be doing five blog posts that will cover the trip.

Some highlights will include:

• My visit to Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, filled with military police that carry AK-47s and want to arrest you if you don't have your passport or a bribe.
• Some stunning photos of the beaches of Mozambique's Indian Ocean coast.
• My first deep dives, which made for some incredible sights, including a manta ray the size of a car.
• I swam with a whale shark, and know what it feels like to be hit with its entire body when he doesn't want you around.
• I also know what it feels like to have jellyfish attack your entire face.

I don't want to give too much away, though! Just know that there will be some exciting posts coming. I just need to get some photos from other people and put panoramas together.