A Return

So I find myself in Pretoria again. It's like my other blog posts:

"I have returned to Zanzibar!"
"I am back in Nkhata Bay and working at Butterfly"

Now I am back in Pretoria, staying (for free?) at home. Here is the story:

I was planning on going to Maputo (again; do you see a pattern forming) to practice me some Capoeira Angola and to be taught some lessons in Argentinian tango, with an Afro theme. I would have had to have taken a bus to the Malawi/Mozambique border, then a chappa (minibus taxi) from the border to the first border town. Then I would have had to spend the night and catch a VERY early bus trip from Tete (said town) to Chimoio (horrible dusty bowl) and then spend the night. And then take a chappa to the Inchope junction and catch the bus on its route from Beira to Vilanculo (hopefully getting there in time!). Spend the night in Vilanculo (or three because I would be exhausted). Then catch the chappa from Vilanculo to Inhambane and maybe I would have been able (if I left early enough) to get the chappa from Inhambane to Maputo. Or I would have stayed the night in Inhambane and left for Maputo the next morning.

And suddenly the last thing I wanted was to have to make that tiring journey. Plus I hurt my hand and my back playing Capoeira the one day and the picking up and loading and unloading of my backpack was causing me body pains!

So I decided to catch the Lilongwe (Malawi) - Johannesburg Bus which would have taken from 6am one day to 4pm the next. Then I would have waited until 10pm that night to catch the over night Johannesburg-Maputo bus, arriving 3 days later as opposed to over a week.

I was still in Nkhata Bay when the response to a spur-of-the-moment email to a previous possible employee came through - get back to South Africa by the 7th of February and I can head up a project they are doing. 3-5 months. Perfect, I took it.

And that is how I found myself in Midrand on the 1st of February, with my backpack and hand luggage basket calling my baba (swahili for father) with a "Hi dad, I am back in South Africa, Midrand in fact. You think you could come by on your way home from work to pick me up?"

Now I am working 5 days, 8 hours and I am happy in knowing that I am working my way back to Stone Town.