"Obrigado!"

well, things (redarding internet connectivity the next day) didn't go as planned. but really, what ever does right? I took a walk down the beach after my snorkeling adventure with whale sharks, manta rays and the coral reef to hit up the internet with a cold cerveza (beer...duh!) but apparently they didn't feel very internet-ey and decided not to open for the day. to bad things can't be like that in the US. "oh gosh, what a beautiful day. lets go outside instead!" hah. oh well.

so...yeah. my 'ocean safrai' wet swimmingly...we hopped in the speedboat, donned snorkeling gear and bumped our way through the ocean looking for sharks. as soon as we were over some we would plop back into the water and well...swim with them. the water wasn't very deep, maybe 10 meters, and the sharks were just as long. it was an incredible experience to be able to swim so close to a shark that I could potentially give a few good kicks with my fins and be able to touch it. the same goes with the rays and all the colorful fish in the reef. I had an incredible time and couldn't imagine a better way to spend my day. =D
that night, after dinner, we all headed down the beach and to Dino's (a local bar) for a group party. we drank a lot, danced a lot and had an incredible time. everyone called it a night except for Thomas and I (a really cool guy from the Netherlands)...we decided to take a late swim in the ocean. it was beautiful with the full moon, rolling waves, palm trees and grass huts in the distance. this place is the type of paradice that only exists in the early stages of tourism. no hotels, sand/dirt roads, no one speaks english (portugese is the national language. luckily it's close to spanish, right?), all the accomidations are open air and made of straw and thatched palm leaves, we sleep under mosquito nets and food is all local grown. this is the type of place that a resort could only dream to replicate and that 'classy travelers' wouldn't appreciate. this place is authemtic, this place is breathtaking, this place has my heart.

the next day was all about relaxing on the beach, swimming and having fun. for a while a few people from the group sat around under giant palm-leaf umbrellas with some young local boys who made us bracelets, anklets and necklaces (for 'best price, best brice. cheap. buy more.' haha. it was an amazing time and I'm now adorned with loads of hand made africal jewelry and quite a bit poorer. it was nice to be able to design all my own jewelry and watch them make it tough. the air had an amazing vibe and I smile every time i look at my wrists and ankles. =D I hope they don't all fall off!

I forgot to bring my journal to the internet spot (it' not really a cafe...just two computers in a hut hidden away down a dirt road in Swaziland) so I'll update my thoughts, reflections and diary stuff later on. it's also a bit spendy here so I'd love to save some moolah and go somewhere cheaper. it's like 45 emalangeni a half hour.

plus it's starting to get dark and it's a bit of a walk back down the dirt road to get back to my hut for the night. there's a LOT of animals out here...and it's not really safe to walk around at night.

so...I entered the Kingdon Of Swaziland today with the group. it's beautiful but it's also primitive and has the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the entire world. literally half the people here are infected with HIV and the average life span is 33 years. at the border crossing they practically beg you to take free condoms and there are anti aids posters everywhere. people still live in villages because about 2/3 of parents die while th children are still too young to take care of hemselves so the commuity raises them. the people here are said to still be very in touch with their heritage and customs, I'll find out more tomorrow on my Swazi Village Tour.
We're all currently staying in traditional beehive huts made of mud, straw and grasses. they're AMAZING! I've taken a ton of pictures but have no way of loading them online. my awesome Eagle Creek converter fried itself the first time I even plugged it in so I have no way of charging my poor dead laptop. I'll probably end up buying a new one so I can still write in countries where the keyboard won't be in english characters. anyways...yeah. beehive huts. check out the website of the national park where I'm staying www.biggameparks.org the park is called Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and there are animals EVERYWHERE. we had warthogs crawling under our chairs at lunch trying to get food, there are zebra walking around everywhere and we've seen some stray buffalo etc. maybe you can catch a picture of the huts on the website as well as some of these animals.

I feel like this entry was a bit piecy, and for that I apologize. my mind isn't really here on the computer...it's with the zebra out the window, the sunset that will soon fall on these hills and the idea of taking a cool shower after a hot 9 hour ride in the overland truck today. I'll put more effort into the next one. =D

thanks to everyone who sent me emails and love this past week. it totally made my day to read it all. I love you guys. <3

oh, and 'obrigado' is portugese for 'thank you'. it's the one word I've managed to master these last 5 days. luckily it's something nice. haha.

I'll try and get back on here asap!