That's Unconditional

"I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby—I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to—I just don’t care."

from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Getting started in Guinea-Bissau

Two weeks have passed since I arrived in Guinea Bissau and teamed up with my new colleagues in the capital, Bissau. It's very calm and convenient town by the Atlantic Ocean. The sad thing: all around is mangrove and no beach in less than a two hours drive from Bissau.

Bissau downtown life. PRIVATE PICTURE

I'm living in a house with two other "Brazilians". Really cool cookies! They are "Brazilians" the same way I am. One a Brazilian-Spaniard, the other one Brazilian-Irish, and me, a Brazilian-Something. Maybe this is the reason why we get along so well with each other.

Roofs of Bissau. PRIVATE PICTURE.

The work has been very busy and exciting so far. We got a great team of international and local logistic people with a great task: renovate the pediatric station in an public hospital. We are pushing on with all the energy and seeing things getting done very fast.

Bissau downtown life. PRIVATE PICTURE.

Sometimes I get confronted, like many times before during my time in Kenya, with the reality of one of the poorest countries in the world. The events happening in the pediatric station of a hospital in such a country touches one's heart deeply and, every now and then, we have to get back to each other and look for comfort in the fact, that the work were doing is changing this scenario.

In a hidden yard downtown in Bissau. PICTURE PRIVATE.

Culturally, I getting to experience the local music, tasting loads of seafood and enjoying the good mood of the Guineans.

The very same hidden yard. PRIVATE PICTURE.

It's such a great surprise to get to know that the Creole, the most frequently spoken local "language", actually is a funny distorted way to speak the colonial Portuguese. The Guinean did so with the language so the colonial lords couldn't understand them.

It's feels great be back in the real world. To do something one loves. Share life with likeminded. To travel and seek for awe.
Cheers mates!

That's for free

"Right now my life consists of a constant celebration of freedom."- M.C.

    Hiking on the Mount Elgon, Kenya. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

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Along the way on Luhya land

Some of you may have asked what have happening since there has been a while since my last post. No worries! Mácio Simyiu Mzungu is alive, safe and sound and keeps "along the way."

So, here I am back reporting a little about what happened during the last few weeks after a lot of traveling, exploring and photographing. 

Stone pickers in the Kibisi river. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

Whether in the cabin of a lorry loaded with stones, on the carrier of a pikipiki (Kiswahili for motorbike taxi) or squeezed in a matatu (Kiswahili for small bus) I've been roaming around the western region of Kenya visiting a number of cities and villages.

From the shores of the Victoria lake, through the stony landscapes by the river Kibisi, up to Kipsikrok at 2600 m height on the Mount Kenya I've been diving deep into the Kenyan countryside, into the local traditions, getting to know the people and learning what to live in those vicinities is about.

Around here one doesn't have to cover long distances to experience the extreme differences on the scenario, people and traditions. During a short excursion to the land of the Sabaot on the Mount Elgon I've visited their bamboo and mud houses, a perfect combination of the locally available resources and climate adapted constructions. In Kisumu, at the Victoria lake, I tasted the clay stones eaten by the Luo people as a source of iron. Yes! They eat earth! In Chwele, the place I currently call home, I started greeting the locals in their local language, Kibukusu, a language I first got to know it existed two years, ago. 

Meanwhile I also got used to the variety of the Kenyan cuisine. I became a huge fan of Ugali, a kind of porridge or polenta prepared with maize flour and considered the Kenyan national dish. There is also Gidheri, originally a Kikuyu meal, an simple mixture of boiled beans and maize. But my favorite till now is Pilau, brought to the East African coast by the Arabs, it consists of rice prepared with meat and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. That's tasty!

I can not try to describe my hosts without mentioning their hospitality. I was received Chwele, land of the Bukusu, with open arms and after a short while accepted as one of the them. They expressed their wish to have me as a member of their community by giving me a seasonal name as all other members of this community have. So, lately I've been called by the name Simyiu, which in Kibukusu means "drought" and is related to the fact that I was born during the drought period.

As a proud new member of this community it's my duty to know it, its traditions, its people, language and its environment. As if my inherent curiosity wasn't enough! Here I am now, exploring villages and cities, mountains and rivers, getting to know the different tribes and sub-tribes, languages and dialects and contributing for the development of it through my volunteering work (stuff for a future post ;)).

To dive in this new and fascinating world with its contrast-full nuances has been overwhelming. It's been inspiring to see this people tackling everyday life with determination and simplicity on these scarce neighborhoods. Fact is, this immersion is kinda pushing through a sobering process after so many years living in European standards and showing me how life in most, emphasis in "most", countries in the world really looks like. This feels like stepping the ground bare feet again after a long time.

'm learning the lessons and welcoming all the changes inspired by this unique experience. This is how it's supposed to be when you're "along the way" and the main reason why I decided to be on it.

For the great moments I've had and for those still to come for they are worth living.

Bying it on!

Cheers everyone!

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