Two Melo Velos

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Tale of Two Melo Velos Epilogue

As our year off is drawing to a close, there has been plenty of time to reflect on the past year. What an adventure!

I am having a hard time putting how I feel about the year into one short blog post. Every time that I think about it, I lose myself in thought. Our time had a nice ebb and flow to it: chilling on the beaches of Brazil; the intensity of packing and pedalling our days through New Zealand; the surge of craziness that is South East Asia; and the family fun and adventure of Africa. Monica and I spent many an evening reminiscing and our unanimous conclusion is that we wouldn't have changed a thing.

Looking back on the goals I had for the year, I am pretty pleased with how things turned out:

Spent quality time with family (and more to come when I get to Ontario)
Learned a new language (although my Portuguese is now very rusty)
Fulfilled a long standing dream to kitesurf the coast of Brazil
Had plenty of adventure to write home about
Used some of my professional experience to give back to Africa (see first Internet Cafe in Mwinilunga and computer lab at Ikelenge High School)

We also had a planned to raise the equivalent of 10,000 GBP for the North West Zambia Development Trust through blogging our adventures. While we didn't quite reach that goal, we are so grateful to those who were able to contribute, and believe very strongly in the future of that community. We learned a lot about the challenges of rural communities and were also inspired to see rural communities like Macha taking an active role in establishing a promising future for themselves built around technology.

There were some wonderful people that we met along the way, our memories of those shared times will stick with us for a lifetime. What also made this adventure extra special were our friends who made the effort to join us in parts of our travels - Travis, Dave, Sharon, Kristina, Bridget and John: It wouldn't have been as much fun without you and we have some great memories to share!

When I look back over the past year, there is one period that keeps coming to the top of the pile as a favourite. The freshness of a new culture; the tough riding; the communication frustration; and the sheer beauty of our first week of riding through the North West of Vietnam (here and here) stretched me in so many emotional directions that I often catch myself drifting back to that time with a broad grin on my face. That feeling of complete fulfilment in reliving that moment is hard to beat.

As with any good tale, it must come to an end. We both feel so much fulfilment over an amazing year that, while a little sad to be drawing to a close, we are more pumped up about the possibilities on the horizon for us.

Presently, Monica is on her way back to Ontario to spend some time with her family. It was a tearful goodbye at the Harare Airport and also a bit sad that we didn't end our adventure together, but after talking through the dangers of cycling through Angola, we both decided that it would be better for the Two Melo Velos to take a small hiatus.

We wanted to thank everyone for being such faithful followers of our blog. It has been great to have all the comments, and to know that people all over the world have taken such an interest in our lives. We have spent many hours dreaming up our next adventure, but it is great to know that with big dreams that with a little will and determination almost anything is possible. Stay tuned ...

First family photo with Nazya!

Nonni meets TP

Monica and her ride at the Harare Airport

The Two Melo Velos say goodbye :(

Edit:

I am currently spending my last few days in Harare with my family, including my Nonni, who hasn't been back to Africa since her retirement from mission work in 1988. She is a real trooper, having survived the Murphy's Law of trips over from Canada, and really enjoying seeing her great grandkids for the first time!

With some luck, and some financial encouragement, I should have a visa for Angola by next week. Why would anyone want to cycle through a country that has been ravaged by civil war until 2005 and is heavily laden with landmines?

It is reported to be one of the most beautiful countries in Africa
It happens to be where my great grandfather Tom Rea landed in 1911, and walked for 3 months to get to the area in Zambia where my Dad still lives today. My cousin Dan and I decided it would be a great adventure to retrace his footsteps 100 years later (although more sensibly on a bicycle).

If all goes well, Dan and I should be in Angola in 10 days starting on our epic ride. Dan will be added as a guest blogger, and we are going to try and keep everyone updated as we go. He purchased a Bamboo Zambike, so should make for an interesting ride. Watch this space for an update from us soon!

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Road Tripping through Zim

The last few weeks have just flown by in a whirlwind of family and fun. We left Livingston for a bit of a road trip through Zimbabwe. We stayed in national parks and our first stop was an area called the Matopos, which is a beautiful place containing huge rock formations.

Pete describing something big...maybe the rocks?

Just a note about the weather...it was cold and wet! Just like a Vancouver winter, but colder and without central heating. I never thought that I would have to wear my toque in Africa, but sure enough I did along with almost all of my clothing!

We went on a game drive one afternoon and came across a giraffe, literally next to the road and just a few feet from our car. Let me tell you, we were just as surprised as the giraffe and after a moment of shock and awe, the giraffe sprinted away. We did follow it into the bush for a bit, but couldn't get close enough for a picture.

From the Matopos, we made out way to the Great Zimbabwean ruins. We lucked out and managed to score a day of sunshine to explore the ruins. The ruins are really old, dating somewhere between the 12th and 15th century, and are pretty remarkable to look at.

Back in the olden days, rocks would be dropped from above if you didn't answer the questions correctly.

Jake, plotting his attack!

What goes up, must come down

We had a fantastic guide who was knowledgeable and very funny, cracking jokes left-right and center. Due to his constant smile, I was a bit surprised when he shared his life story. His dad was part of the opposing party in Zimbabwe which isn't the safest party to belong to. At some point in time, some guys came up to his family house and locked up his father, mother and eldest brother. The house was set on fire and his family perished inside. After escaping to South Africa for a time, our guide came back to Zim and looks after his younger siblings on a very small salary. He has a degree in anthropology, but isn't able to find work in his field. After completing a two year course in tourism he is able to work at the ruins. As there are more guides to visitors, he gets in a tour about once a week. Despite all of his hardships and all that he has seen and experienced, he is such an optimistic and happy guy. It's people like this that are true heroes and they really put things into perspective.

After a week of road tripping, we made our way to lake Kariba to spend a week on a sailboat. The weather was wonderful and we were able to fully relax and settle into the sailing life.

Living the life

Just to prove that we did sail :)

The first night on the boat, there were hippos close by. The second night, there were elephants. The third night crocodiles (mind you, the crocs were probably around the first and second nights as well).

Waterbuck with Hippo in the front

To take a bath, you would let down the net in the back and then sort of jump into the net to get wet, come back out to soap up and then back in to rinse off. Now, rumor has it that Lake Kariba is full of crocodiles and I was pretty scared of jumping into this flimsy net. After seeing everyone else go in, I did manage to get in there to take the quickest baths ever! I should explain our reasoning for bathing in crocodile infested waters. We would only bath in the middle of the lake, far away from any islands. For right or wrong, we figured that if a croc was making a crossing they would be pretty tired out and not want to attack. I suppose the other side of the argument, would be that they would be deathly hungry and looking for anything to eat...but lets stick to the first assumption as it's not as scary.

Dan, taking a bath

To sleep at night, you pretty much rig up a mosquito net to cover the boat and then sleep on the deck under the net. We were doing this while the full moon was happening and it was magical. The only scary part was having to go to the bathroom at night wondering about the crocs. Luckily, no one stumbled upon one at night. I must have had my croc blinders on as I didn't really see any at all, despite other people on the boats seeing them.

Stunning sunsets

Beautiful sunrise

Almost all of the crew
(Missing Mary, who for some reason is out of the picture...Sorry Mary!)

After spending a wonderful week relaxing on the lake, we made our way back to Harare just for the night before flying into Durban for Kerry (Pete's cousin) and Lido's wedding. It was my first time to Durban and it was great to be so close to the ocean again. The wedding took place in the Midlands, which is a really pretty area just an hour or two outside of Durban. Pete and I haven't gotten dressed up in a very long time. After a haircut (for Pete) and some frantic dress shopping for me, we cleaned up enough to look presentable.

The lovely couple

The cousins

The three Rea boys

We are now back in Harare spending some time with Pete's mom (Sherrie), sister (Sonya) and super cute niece (Nazya).

We are here in Zim for the next little bit and can't wait for Pete's younger sister (Arminda) and her son Timothe to arrive from Reunion as well as Pete's grandmother (Mary) to arrive from Canada. We wish them all safe travels!