Homesick

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10/08/10

Our plan to stay in Ponta for 2 nights changed when we saw the campsite. It was as basic as the one in Sodwana, but we were paying double for it. The whole town was rapidly filling up with 4x4's full of large loud S.A's drinking, playing loud music and towing their boats or jet-skis around. It was the long weekend in S.A and the campsite was becoming full with teams of guys who constructed house size tents. It seems that being a S.A white male means at some point in your life you need to take a part share in a tent so huge and complex that it probably contains a separate dressing room with wardrobes. Camping like this appears to involve a disproportionate amount of standing around and drinking beer. These guys weren't as bad as the ones who thought it'd be fun to race jet-skis up and down the bay at 3.00 in the morning.

The only way in and out of Ponta without your own transport is on a local chappa. These dilapidated minibuses leave from the market as and when they get full. In typical African style 'full' means rammed. We were completely daunted by the task of getting our 70kg of luggage a kilometre along a deep sand track and somehow onto one of these buses that seem to swarm with over eager locals well practised in the art of elbowing their way to the front. The thought of this soon made us change our plans again. Instead we arrange a much more pricey lift with the colourful guy who gave us a lift from the border. He said it'd be no problem for us to squeeze in with some other guests for the 2 hour journey to Maputo, the capital city.

While in Ponta we had our biggest change of plans yet, and decided we wanted to fly home 3 weeks early. Trying to arrange this was impossible. No internet in the whole place and 3 phones from 3 countries failed to get us in contact with the outside world. This only added to my frustration and depression. In 8 years of travelling I’ve never been homesick. Now, when all the amazing sights are starting to blend into one and go unappreciated , all I want to do is go home early. Feel quite pathetic, but now for the first time I can empathise with those I’ve previously mocked for feeling homesick on holiday.