Part IV: Blank/Thiel Christmas Vacation 2009

Finally…Part IV. After a whirlwind tour of South Africa and Mozambique we returned to Swaziland on Monday, December 28^th to explore our home country for a few days before Biss and Josh returned to the States on the 31^st. As we were driving into Mbabane, we were speculating about whether or not our house had been robbed as it is a not-so-uncommon occurrence for expats to return from vacation to find that there has been a break-in while they were away. Fortunately, this is not foreshadowing, but we did have a nice little treat awaiting us upon our return…our water heater burst! Or, as they say in these parts, our ‘geyser’ burst. So the story goes, on Christmas Day our guard saw water rushing from underneath our front door into our driveway. He alerted our American neighbors of the issue and since they had a spare key to our place, Karen and Randy came over and shut-off the water (as there was a waterfall cascading down our staircase). Then, they proceeded to phone our landlord who came by on December 26^th to survey the damage. Since we had switched over our cell phones to a Mozambiquan SIM card we didn’t receive any of the messages about the flood (thankfully, because there would have been nothing that we could’ve done)! Although many steps had been taken prior to our return, we were still taken aback by the state our home when we returned from Mozambique. Fortunately, we had a few more days of vacation left to take our mind off of the 4x8 foot hole in the ceiling of our master bedroom!

Miraculously, on Monday the water heater was replaced. On Tuesday the ceiling was torn down and re-dry walled. On Wednesday the drywall was re-plastered and on Thursday it was painted. So, as you can see, by Friday morning there was no physical evidence of the broken water heater, damage, or flood. Except of course for the smell. It was ripe. Four inches of water covering 20 year old carpets that have NEVER been vacuumed (only swept) makes for stinky times. But, the silver lining is that our faux, blue leopard threads are going to be replaced the 2^nd week in February…Hooray!

What happened? Sad...

All of our furniture from the family room was pushed into the dining room to allow the carpet to dry out

Anything that was wet upstairs was thrown in the tub

Anything that was on the floor that wasn't wet was thrown on the guest bed

So, back to Part IV of our vacation…on Tuesday, Doug went back to work at the clinic and Biss and Josh and I went to Milwane for a mountain biking safari. We had a perfect day and there is just something to be said for riding your bike around with wild animals. It’s fun. We also went for a special, traditional Swazi meal at a restaurant called, Edalaleni. It was very tasty, but we all got diarrhea which was not fun. Alas. On Wednesday we ventured down to Pine Valley and climbed Sibebe Rock and then went to Swazi Candles for a non-diarrhea inducing meal (too much information?) and lots and lots of souvenirs. Our last adventure landed us in Manzini at the market in search of a traditional Swazi shield to add another traditional weapon to Josh’s collection.

Driving into Milwane

Wildebeast

Warthog family

Josh on mountain biking safari

Paisley, Biss and zebra friends

Close-up

Biss and Josh

Fighting impala

On departure day, we couldn’t let the adventures die and of course there had to be a little excitement. When we got to the airport for their 11:00am flight, we learned that the flight had been delayed until 3:00pm. We checked-in their bags and retrieved their boarding passes and opted for brunch at Guava Gallery and a little more souvenir shopping. It was great to steal a little extra time with them, and they weren’t going to miss their connection in Johannesburg, so really, all was well. Enroute back to the airport we even stopped to do a quick group grocery shop so that I wouldn’t have to run the errand by myself (as everyone who has to run errands knows it is more fun if there are others along for the chore). On our way from the grocery store to the airport is when the adventure really kicked in because the King had announced a national holiday for Incwala. Since the King was on his way to the traditional celebration, all of the roads in the area had been closed and gun clad military men were lining the streets. The street to the airport, that is. We went in circles trying to find an alternative route but kept being met with roadblocks (literally), so let’s just say it was really, really close. Note to self: don’t go to the grocery store on the way to the airport…you just never know. Three cheers for the best vacation and visit, ever. Who’s next?