Puddle Jumping =)

Sometimes I just laugh… it keeps getting hotter. Yesterday Felipe was supposed to meet us. Nunu and I were sitting on the porch waiting for him and even there I was just dripping sweat. Nunu called Felipe to find out where he was… in Ponta! He forgot he had a meeting today.

This leaves us in a pickle.

We really wanted to go to Pemba on Monday morning. Now I don’t know if we can do this. He says he can come tomorrow. I’m not even sure what to do now. 

Nunu and I talk about some of the questions that I have for Felipe and Nunu calls him back to discuss. They talk about what we need to build and the cost. We are talking about building a fence around the property and possibly a small 1 or 2 room house.

Felipe gives Nunu some numbers of what he thinks things will cost, including transportation. The prices sound high to me, but who knows. This is where things get so hard. I know the cost of things in the states, I know how to price things. Things in America have price tags, but when you go to the market here you have to ask how much everything costs and hope the price is the same when you go back again.

Nothing is easy in Mozambique. Nothing.

It’s so hot. My brain is so fried from trying to figure all this stuff out.

I ask Nunu what we can do that involves air-conditioning. We decide to go to a movie, but it doesn’t start for 2 hours. So we go to the Nautilus, my favorite restaurant in town… it’s only my favorite because it’s food is priced well, it has air-conditioning and the cheapest bottle of cold coke in town =)

There isn’t central air here, or at least I haven’t seen any. Most places either have wall units (much different from a window unit), that sit high on a wall. Or these 7 foot towers that blow AC into a room like a fan. When we walk in, I wonder around a bit trying to find the coldest spot… I find a seat that I can feel the cold air blowing. I sit. I drink my coke. I’m no longer sweating. I’m happy.

About 30 minutes before the movie starts, I look outside. I notice the branches on the trees shaking and the leaves all being pushed sideways from the wind. It’s also getting dark out, but I can’t tell if it’s a storm or just the sun setting. I say to Nunu that we should probably pay and go, but within 2 minutes the rain start.

The Nautilus is a corner building with big picture windows. It’s like watching this storm on a huge wrap around flat screen. The rain is blowing side ways. Once again calling this rain doesn’t seem right. It’s pouring. People are running around outside trying to get where they are going. Umbrellas are useless. Water is coming in under the door.

Nunu tells me that we can’t go to the movie, because when it rains like this the scapas stop running and he needs to get home before that happens. I think for a second. We could get a taxi, but it’s raining so hard we would be soaked before we even made it to the curb. I decide to save the money and enjoy the cool rain. We ask for a plastic bag and I tightly wrap all of our valuables (camera, phones, wallets, passports & money) and stick them in my purse. One thing I will never understand is that if money is wet, no one will accept it.

As suspected, after being outside for about 10 seconds, I’m completely soaked to the bone. But it feels SOOOOOOO good. The air has cooled off like 20 degrees. The wet wind feels so good.

I’m smiling so big, my cheeks hurt. I feel like a little kid. It hasn’t even been raining for 5 minutes and the street are full of water. I’m tempted to start jumping in puddles, but who knows what is in those puddles… so for now I resist.

I feel like I’m in a movie. No one is out here. I want to stand in the middle of the street with my arms open wide taking it all in… so I do it. The rain lets up as we get about 3 blocks from the Casa and so I take my camera out.

I can only resist a puddle for so long!

Never in my life have I appreciated a rainstorm so much. It’s not exactly swimming in the ocean, but it served the same purpose… it was the most refreshing rainstorm. Grateful doesn’t even describe how I feel… I feel blessed by this storm.

One really quick side note… Michael met a man at church today whose ministry (S#*t Business International, no joke this is his organization name) is going around explaining to people about fecal contamination. He shows them how to properly dig a latrine and explains how fecal matter can be tracked around and how it can easily it can get into the water. Interesting. I’m glad someone feels called to teach about that.