More on the Delta Safari

After the excitement of the morning boat rides we headed back to camp for brunch. For some reason, the guides were very firm about the fact that the meal was "brunch" and not "lunch" even though it was noon time. After brunch I attempted another "bush shower" and had the misfortune to share it with biting ants and millipedes. Ugh! After this tramatic experience, and in the intense heat of midday, I took a nap. Napping in tents in the African bush in summer time is a somewhat uncomfortable affair, but I was too tired to care much.

Around 4 we had a quick tea and then set off for the evening game drive. We saw plenty of zebras, wildebeest (plus calfs!), butt-pecking birds on the zebras, and impala. The most interesting site was a dead water buffalo, which had expired within the hour of some sort of illness. None of the Kalahari predators had found it yet, so it was still perfectly intact. We decided to come back later and see what the progress was. Sunset was absolutely magnificent! The Okavango Delta and the Kalahari must be some of the most beautiful places on earth. Sunsets in Wisconsin certainly feel lacking since they don't include heards of zebra and impala, along with peppy little jackals scooting around the scrub.

Dinner that night was another culinary masterpiece (considering it was made in the bush- it was roast chicken and mashed potatoes with chocolate covered crepes for dessert) and afterwards Amanda and I retired to our tent. We ended up playing the one word story game for a while. A storm was rolling in and through the mesh window of our tent we could see lightning in the clouds. Luckily it didn't rain that night.

Dustland Fairy Tale: The Okavango Delta Trip

On Saturday we left UB at 6 am for the airport. It was brutally early for us, and when our 7.30 flight was delayed, it did not make for a very auspicious start to the trip. When we landed in Maun the cloudy and cool weather in Gabs was replaced by real African weather, which is hot and suffocating. Luckily the flight had been only about an hour and they served us a nice breakfast croissant sandwhich for breakfast. Our safari company, called Naga Safaris, was waiting to pick us up in three large, open-sided vehicles. We stopped for supplies and then got on the road for several hours. At one point we passed the Veterinary Fence, which is a huge fence separating wildlife from domestic livestock (don't get me started on this damn fence business). Our guide, Dennis, informed us that now we were in wild animal territory and to keep our eyes peeled. Sure enough we saw zebras, guinea fowl, and "the McDonald's of the bush", impala. We finally arrived at the Moremi Game Reserve, which is large tract of land situated in the heart of the Delta. We had a picnic lunch and then continued into the park. The drive to the campsite, which took several hours, was also a game drive. Certain places in the bush were home to what must have been millions of cicadas, because the noise they made was defeaning. We passed through Mopane forests, open grassland, elephant-decimated woodlands, and swampy streams and ponds. There were the usual suspects: wildebeest, zebras, impala, guinea fowl, impala, guinea fowl, imapa (haha, etc). No big game spotted yet...no elephants yet :( However, we did past into a narrow stretch of the road (which was just dirt and sand) and spot three adult lionesses just relaxing in the shade a few feet away. The guides stopped the trucks so we could all lean over and take pictures. Batsi and his two kids lamented the fact that they had forgotten to bring a camera. When the first truck tried to start up again it stalled and failed. The guide had to get out of the truck to take a look, which disturbingly made one of the lionesses very interested. A little too interested. It was a poor place to have a breakdown.
We did not get eaten, so when the truck started again we continued on to camp. In Moremi you are not allowed to drive off the roads/trails and you can't drive after dark. To do so risks losing your license. Guides are put through a lot of rigorous tests in order to become certified (such as facing charging elephants, rhinos, and lions among others). We made it to camp around sunset and were greeted by about fifteen cheerful green tents, each equipped with a back "room" which containted a shower and a makeshift toilet. These were attached to each tent so that no one would need to wander around the campsite at night. There are wild animals like leopards and hyenas wandering around, after all. There were two people to each tent, and both people were fitted out with a cot, a mattress, and sheets/bedding/pillow/towel. In camp there was also a large mess tent and a "kitchen" of sorts. All our food and water had to be brought with us because we were so far from anywhere. It was a good feeling. It turns out that our cook was exceptionally talented and we had gourmet meals the whole trip! However, we spent so much time waiting for each meal that we were so starved by the time it was served that we would have been happy with crusts of bread. After dinner we sat around the campfire for a little while and then wandered off to bed. Wake up time was scheduled for 5 am.
Breakfast was a lavish affair consisting of scrambled eggs, granola and yogurt, cereal, creamy milk, coffee, tea, and toast. For some reason I became completely obsessed with toast during the trip. I might still be when I get home- who knows? The sun was already up when we left for the morning game drive, but the air was lovely and cool. Batsi informed us that we were headed to one of the many tributaries of the delta for a speed boat ride. When we arrived at the dock there were two small speed boats waiting, so we divided our group in half and crammed ourselves onboard. The guides admitted that we were way over capacity. TIA! We sped off through the narrow channels and into big open pond areas. We saw a couple of elephants grazing near the water, and some big old hippos peering at us from the water. Our guide said that most of the deaths that occur in the Delta are due to hippos. It's not that hippos go around eating people, but it's that they knock boats over and people drown. With this delightful knowledge in mind we motored along passed the now menacing hippos. Our guides gave us lessons on water chestnuts, lillies, and papyrus. It was oh-so-educational. It was also extremely beautiful to see the blue water and the rich green color of the water plants after being in dusty old Gabs for so long. When we got back to the docks were told that twelve of us at a time could go for a ride in a little dugout canoe, which was poled through the water by a guide. I was in the first wave of people and I shared the canoe with Meara and Elijah. With the hippo information in our minds, the rickety canoe was a little nervewracking at first, but we stuck to the small, shallow, reedy channels. We went to slowly and smoothly through the water, and the world was so quiet except for the sounds of the bush; it was tempting to fall asleep. Yeah, fall asleep and then fall into a channel crawling with crocodiles, snakes, hippos, and who knows what else.

November: Trips to Pretoria and Durban

Matt left at the very beginning of November. So did my last remaining will power to put effort into school. Luckily the first weekend some CIEE kids with November birthdays organized a trip to Pretoria, SA, which about about half the group went on, including me. We rented a combi and squeezed in and seven hours later, voila! Pretoria! Here are some fun facts: SA has three capitals, each with a branch of government. Pretoria is the executive branch, so it's kind fo the like the Boss Man Capital. The other two are Cape Town and Bomfontein. Pretoria has a very high percentage of white people, mostly dutch, who speaks Afrikaans and English. The city has a very European air and it's sort of like not being in Africa anymore. It's nick name is the Jacaranda City because of the all the beautiful Jacaranda trees (trees with big purple flowers). Thanks for that update Wikipedia! Anyway, we stayed at a hostel whose name I can't remember. It wasn't as nice as Pretoria Backpackers, but we did get the back house, which had exactly twelve bunks beds for exactly twelve of us! It also had a kitchen, a living room with a pool table, a TV room, a small separate bedroom, and two bathrooms. Our combi driver stayed in the little bedroom. We picked up some booze to get the party going and ordered some pizzas. After a while, even though it was raining, we headed out to the main attraction of the trip: Hatfield Square. You may remember me posting about Hatfield Square during the Mozambique trip when we went there. Basically, it's a square of bars and clubs where you drink. Yep, so that's what we did. We also ate McDonald's, which was conveniently located righ across the street.


In the morning us girls were up bright and early and ready to go while the boys sat in bed and complained about things. We left them behind and got more McDonald's- this was to be a recurrent theme in the trip. When we got back the boys were up but this time complaining about being hungry. We all piled into the combi and the girls got out at a tattoo and piercing shop while the boys continued on in search of food. Two people wanted nipple piercings (nasty!) so we waited while they got their appointment, prepped, and finally did the piercing. While we were waiting around Hannah, the birthday girl, decided to get a small tattoo on her wrist that she had been thinking about. It was a spur of the moment decision, but an old idea. All in all it was very exciting and the tattoo lady was really cool. She and her husband owned and worked in the shop and lived in the house behind it. They let us use their bathroom in the house and we discovered a mama cat with three tiny kittens!


After the tattoo and piercing excitement we met up with the boys again and decided to do some sight seeing in the town. We drove to the parliament buildings, which are situated on a hill over looking the city. It was a great view. It was also a great place for a nap and we all ended up lying on the grass in the sunshine and dozing off. Eventually we woke up from hunger, left, and hit up a local Spar for supplies. A weird possibly homeless guy chased our van around for a while. That night we cooked a huge amount of pasta and played Drunk Jenga befor heading out. There were some terrible dares including table spoons of salt and mustard on toes. I try not to think about it too much. Anyway, this night went much the same way as the first: Hatfield Square, then McDonald's. The difference was that on the first night we won a bottle of champagne for dancing and singing the loudest to The Spice Girls and Journey, and the second night we did not.


Morning was rough, but we pulled together and got more McDonald's. I was one of the very few people in good shape, so I was chipper and having a good time. We decided to stop at a muge and famous mall on our way out of town. It was about five stories high with aviaries full of birds, koi ponds, big plastic balls for kids to sit in, and too many expensive stores. I wanted to check out the Swatch shop, but all the crabby hung over people wanted to leave, so we got some food and then headed out. It was a long drive back to Gabs, and as Meara said, "We may have marched to Pretoria...but now we're crawling away." Oh yeah, we ate McDonald's five times that weekend.





Durban:


The next weekend my friend Lily got some people together to head down to the coastal city of Durban, SA, reputed to be on the coolest cities in Southern Africa. I would have to agree; the city is a colorful mixture of Indian, African, and Afrikaans culture situated right on the beautiful Indian Ocean. It has big markets with weird things and crafts, exciting bars and restaurants, a healthy beach culture, and a big aquarium called uShaka Marine World. The city also offers things like going out on the boats which check the shark nets around the beaches every day to see which sharks have been stuck. Then the tourists get to see the sharks dissected for information on their diets and so forth. I myself didn't partake in this, but I was fascinated by the idea. I do like sharks, after all. Lily, myself, a CIEE guy named Tim, and a PhD student named Jenny all crammed into a car and drove the twelve hours from Gabs to Durban. Around about dark it started to storm and driving conditions got sketchy. Still, we made it to our hostel in one piece. The guy who runs is it named Elmer and he is very much an authority on all things Durban. He pulled out a city map and immediately drew out places to eat, places to drink, places to be entertained, and places not to walk at night. He only gave us a minimal hard time about breaking the 8.30 bedtime rule (we arrived at 10.30). After putting our stuff down in the comfortable and colorful rooms we headed out to Florida Rd, the main fine dining destination. We ended up eating at a swanky Italian place where they had REAL BEER. It was brewed in Germany and bottled in SA.
The next day we set out for some hard core exploration. Lily had spent a semester in Durban previously (during the world cup!) so she knew her way around. She took us to the markets so that we could buy crafts and see all the beheaded animals. No joke- I must have seen fifty goat heads and ten cow heads. The cow heads were absolutely enormous. After the craft markets we went to the Zulu Healing markets where there was everything from bark and soil, to herbs, to various partially dissected animals. To get away from the smell we left the marketplace and wandered into the largest temple in the Southern hemisphere, where a jolly and helpful man gave us a tour and told us many interesting tidbits. I don't remember too much, unfortunately, because I was so hungry and so tired at this point it was a fight not to doze off and make a fool of myself. I do remember koi in the ablution fountain. When we did eventually get lunch it was on the advice of two Indian ladies at a pharmacy/shoe repair shop who told us about a "divine" Indian restaurant at a place called the Warehouse. We went there and their speciality was also a Durban speciality known as bunny chow. This does not involve actual rabbits! It is a loaf of bread- quarter, half, or whole- hollowed out and filled with curry. The food was indeed divine.
After lunch we went to a place known at the BAT center which, despite popular belief, actually has nothing to do with bats. It is an art center located right in Durban harbour. It was pretty quiet when we got there, but we were all glad to get out of the wind and rain. There was a studio full of works in progess so we checked that out and met a local artist there. He was chatty and friendly and told us that he was a musician and that one of his bands was playing that night at a rasta bar called Cool Runnings. It was immediately and unanimously decided that we should go. So, several hours and a change of clothes later, we did arrive. Our BAT friend turned out to be a hired percussionist for the band and we had a great time sipping our drinks from the bar and listening to the reggae. In the alley out back there was a huge mural covering two buildings which had been painted specifically for Cool Runnings. Apparently their mascot was a little black and white cat named Spliff. I later learned that Spliff is an actual cat owned by the owner, and that once at a kitten he got lost. The owner put an ad with a reward in the newspaper and sure enough he got Spliff back. Finally, a cat story with a happy ending from Africa!
The next day we went to the beach (the overcast sky did absolutely nothing to deter us) and set up base camp at a bar restaurant with a view of the ocean and a live performance by none other than our favorite reggae band from the night before. It wasn't long before I was able to get back in the ocean and swim again! The air was cool but the water was warm. We made trips between the beach, the restuarant, and uShaka Marine World all day. At the aquarium they had an area where you could walk into a fake old ship and see down into the shark tank without actually having to pay to go into the building.
Lily and Jenny left to follow the rastafarians, which left Tim, Chris, and I. We wanted to get sushi and fried rice and unfortunately we had a hanger-on from the restaurant. At first we were too polite to leave him, but after an extremely irritating and uncomfortable meal we had no qualms about waiting till he was in the bathroom and then running away as fast as possible. It was full on raining at this point so we took shelter in a hotel lobby until we could get a cab back to the hotel.
The next day was Chris's birthday and we decided to get breakfast at a cafe and at a tasty little bakery called Bread Ahead before heading to the Botanical Gardens. We spent all day wandering around the ponds, trees, flowers, birds, and themed gardens. It was very peaceful and relaxing and we only left when they closed the park and made us get out. We headed back to the beach after that for drinks and seafood. Lily and Chris wanted to go out on the town, so we did, and it was cool to experience that part of Durban as well as the touristy beach areas.
The next day were planned to pack up the car early and get going in order to make it across the border before it closed. Lily had a final at 8 am on the following day, so we couldn't risk getting detained in SA. Elmer had noticed that the car had a small oil leak, so in the process of backing it up to check on it Tim noticed that tires were so badly worn in front that they were literally one thin layer away from blowing. He deduced that the alignment must be off and that it was shredding the tires. With this dires news were headed to a body shop. It took about two hours for Jenny to pick out new tires, have them put on, and get the alignment fixed. We were behind schedule and grumpy. Still, we got on the road and hauled ass. Sometime after dark we were driving on a road which passes along a game park and all of a sudden we kept seeing giant kudu lurking next to the road, threatening to cross, be hit, and annihilate the car. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened, and luckily still we made it to the border with an hour to spare before closing.
We wandered back into Vegas and dispersed. It's always hard to come back to Gabs after an exciting trip.

The End of Matt's Epic Visit

I forgot to write this in an earlier post: One night while Matt was visiting and we were hanging out at Innisfree we heard mob noises. Really loud mob noises. And we thought it was the end of the world and that we were all going to get slaughtered. Actually, what it was, was that some thieves had broken in Vegas dorms at UB and stolen a laptop. The girl who ownered the laptop saw the thief and shouted after him, thus alerting the rest of the student body. People here hate thieves, and so they went after him so beat the shit out of him and teach him a lesson. The thief got in his car and drive to one of the gates, but it was locked. The mob was catching up with him and, fearing for his life, the security guards gave him sanctuary in their office. The mob was MAD when they were denied their prey, so they threw rocks and then moved on to lighting his car on fire. The police were called and they failed to disperse the mob, so then a special services team was called. They shot rubber bullets and this failed. Finally, tear gas was able to clear up the angry students and the thief was hauled off to jail. End of story.

Back to Matt's visit: We booked a night drive and a stay in one of the chalet's at Mokolodi. The night drive was refreshing and relaxing; it was not as cold as when I went with Mom back in September. We didn't see a whole lot, but what we did see made us happy. This included a black house cat (feral, no doub) streaking off into the bushes. Our guide dropped us off at the chalet around 9 pm when it was quite dark. Our place was called 'Hartbeest' and included a main room with sleeping room for three, a bathroom with a shower, and a fully equipped kitchen. Outside was a porch and braai area. We knew we were somewhere near the water hole, and we could hear something splashing around, but we had no idea how near or which water hole it was. You see, one of them contains crocodiles and hippos and one doesn't. Matt immediately set about gathering sticks and grasses to make a fire. It was a little nervewracking to watch him disapear into the dark. There are leopards wandering around, after all. We had a nice, if short lived, fire. Then we went inside and watched Jurassic Park until we fell asleep. It had been a long day. At one point I woke up and went to get some water from the bathroom and discovered a frog! I got so excited I dragged Matt out of bed to see and he did, but didn't seem at all excited about it. In the morning I learned that he was asleep the whole time it was happening, haha. Anyway, we both woke up early in the morning in order to enjoy the African sunrise. We had asked the game drivers to pick us up at 8 am so that I could get to campus and make a poster presentation for my archeology class. With this in mine we set off to enjoy our short time in the great outdoors to the fullest. The water hole (the one without crocodiles and hippos) was RIGHT IN FRONT OF US and we saw some hornbills, some catfish, and some warthogs right off the bat. The water was low, so we walked around it a bit. It was getting on 8, but no one had appeared to pick us up. Meanwhile the wildlife started to get more interesting. Impala came and went and a giraffe lumbered in the distance. Still no vehicle. Matt began to wander around with my cell phone looking for reception. Zebras and wildebeest appeared! Kudu! Dung beetles! I was simultaneously upset to miss my project, which was 40% of my grade, but also excited to see so many animals. Finally we managed to get enough reception to send a help! message to Batsi. Then the giraffe showed up. It was thirsty. We totally watched it awkwardly bend down to drink, just like on National Geographic, awwwwyyeeeaaahhhh. Then a truck finally did arrive (an hour late) and we headed back to civilization. Matt and I spent a pleasant morning and afternoon together and then he caught his plane home.

More on Matt's Visit

While Matt was here we decided that it would be cool to go down to Durban in South Africa. Durban is a modern mixture of Indian, Islamic, African, and Western culture all mixed into a cool ocean side city. Unfortunately, it turns out that the Intercape Bus has possibly the most poorly planned route schedule for any bus anywhere. Flying proved much too expensive, so we insteaded decided to cool our heels (actually, to sweat profusely) in Gabs. One of the two weeks Matt was here sported the highest temperatures I've experienced yet. Luckily his hotel room was airconditioned and there was a pool. We spent some good time there, while he worked on Anitigone, and I languished in the cold water. We also enjoyed evenings out at Linga Longa where we sat at the bar for hours and drank Windhoek and had rambling conversations about everything. I think it might have been here that the subject of getting a giant rabbit came up....


Unfortunately it was also in Botswana that we learned that our little 8 month old kitten, Luis, had died. Matt found out Luis was terminally ill from the vet about two weeks before. He had Rodrigo, our other cat, taken to live with his parents temporarily because Luis was contagious. While he was in Africa, Matt's parents doted on Luis as often as possible and made sure to check that he was eating, drink, etc. One morning they came to check on him and found Luis curled up near the couch. He apparently died in his sleep.


Since we didn't go to Durban, we had ample free time to do other things, like go on game drives at Mokolodi. We signed up for a morning drive on a Tuesday. I had never been there so early in the day and it was lovely and cool in the morning. Right off the bat we saw some giraffes grazing near the trail. They seemed not only extraordinarily tall, but also completely unphased by our presence. After that we didn't see too much for a while apart from impala and warthogs. About half way through the drive Matt spotted zebras! There were two and they were attempting to hide behind some thin trees. Zebras are shy and they didn't stick around too long to see what the noisy vehicle was up to. It was my first time seeing zebras in Africa- thanks Matt! It turns out that our driver on that trip was a woman who spent a year working in Florida at the Animal Kingdom in Disney World. She was pretty talkative once she found out we were from the States.


Besides going on the early morning game drive we also attempted to show up for a day of volunteering. I wanted to give Matt a chance to feed Letoatsi, the cheetah, and possibly the hyenas too. We took a sweaty ride to the bus rank...and then couldn't find a bus to Remotswa. Or we did eventually, rather, but after waiting around for about 45 minutes in the extreme heat we scraped the idea. Instead, we booked a night time drive and a night's stay in one of the chalet's by the water hole.


In the mean time Matt's time at Innisfree had come to an end and we reluctantly moved his stuff to my dorm room (which has no air conditioning and no fan). We actually walked with all Matt's luggage from the hotel to UB because the last taxi driver we had had charged a rediculous fee and we were quite fed up with greedy grasping taxi drivers. Even though my room was quite hot in the summer weather, it was so nice just to have Matt around for a change. The room seemed much nicer.


I took Matt on some field trips with the rest of the CIEE group. Batsi didn't mind having an extra person around and the trips were totally free for Matt- win! The first weekend we went to SOS, the local orphanage CIEE volunteers at. Matt spent a couple of hours having kids climb all over him and demand spinny rides. There are adorable photos up on facebook in the album titled 'Mattswana'. The weekend after SOS we went to see a traditional healer (what most people think of as a witch doctor) and learned about the trade. We also got to see the healer's...workshop? It was a tiny little room with a broken couch and mysterious smelly objects. On the door was a sign which read, 'This premesis protected by a ghost'. So yeah, be warned. After that enlightening experience Batsi had the combi drivers take us to the much-hidden location for No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The set was abandoned and pretty decrepit, but the sign for the agency still hung bright and colorful as ever. We all explored the actual building and took a look around at the rest of the shops on set. About a third of our group was excited (myself included) and the rest just wanted to leave. After No.1 Ladies Batsi had us taken over to the Gaborone Game Reserve for a drive and a braai. It was my first time being there and I was not terribly impressed. First of all, you must have your own vehicle, so you pay an entrace fee. Then you drive around and see nothing but a few gazelle and ostriches, lots of construction and trash, and nothing else. The braai area was full of people cooking and drinking; despite the generally crappiness of the rest of the park, this area was pleasant. Batsi and his friend were on braai duty and he had brought some food from a caterer and (ta da!) beers and ciders. Yay Batsi! It was a wonderful feast, which included macaroni and cheese!, and which was monitored closely by a gang of monkeys. These little buggers actaully stole meat off the braai! They also moved in to steal from people's plates and hovered in the tree above our table. It was all fun and games until one dropped a digusting load of monkey poop onto Zach's steak. Photos on facebook. I spent a lot of that time on Monkey Patrol, chasing them away. But they allllwwwaaaayyyss come back.

This Time for Africa

Thanks for the title, Shakira. I decided to do a little post about actual Africa, not just a list of my daily activities. When I think of Botswana, this is what comes to mind:


Smell: Dust, sweat, animals, meaty- gameyness, cement, wood, car exhaust, Russian roles cooking in the sun.


Sound: Babble, shrieks, cars, cow bells, goats, wind, birds.


Sight: Dust, dark-skinned people, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, birds, cars, slippers, yellow berries, cow dung, street vendors.


Touch: Dust, sweat, stone, wood, fur, grease.


Places: UB, Riverwalk, Mochudi, dusty roads, Mokolodi.

In addition, here is a link to the Shakira video Waka Waka (This Time for Africa). When I first saw this video back in the States I thought, 'Damn, Shakira is hot, but I'm sure everybody in Africa thinks this song/video is dumb.' Here's the thing- they don't! South Africans especially love it. Having been privileged enough to travel to South Africa a few times it captures the vibe pretty well. I saw one of the FIFA World Cup stadiums in Durban. It was pretty fantastic. Anyway, watch the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0

Matt's Visit

The time after Mozambique was pretty dull and stressful. There was a lot of work, which in Botswana involves running a constant wild goose chase. Thankfully, Matt arrived in the afternoon in mid October. He was dressed in a sweatshirt, jeans, and jacket; I quickly warned him of the 90+ (that's in the 30's celsius, folks) heat. We sat around, got a taxi, and headed to Innisfree Apartments. There there was air conditioning! A pool! A most importantly, Matt. For some lucky reason the jet lag hadn't him yet and he said he felt up to dinner and drinks, so we struck out for Riverwalk where we got dinner at Linga Longa. It's a good place for food and has a pleasant pub-like atmosphere by the bar. This is where Matt discovered Windhoek, a Namibian beer found all over Southern Africa. We talked over drinks for a long time before Matt finally began to feel the effects of travelling thousands of miles across two continents and the Atlantic Ocean. We headed back to Innisfree for sleeping. The end of the day one.

Mozambique: Finishing Things Up

That whale shark trip was the highlight of my experience on Mozambique, but I continued to have a good time the rest of Thursday anyway. After lunch we decided to laze around in true spring break fashion on the beach. We went back to that dive shop with the restaurant and laid out on the deck chairs. The boys went back in the water. Since Liquid Adventures didn't offer any sweet t-shirts to commemorate our experience I wondered into the dive shop to see what they had to offer. They had sweet t-shirt, alright, and I'm sure I pissed off the guy at the counter by asking to see every shirt they had and then flip flopping between which ones I wanted to buy. In the end I bought two; one for me and one for a friend. I also got some exciting post cards (which I have since sent out and since been recieved). Once I had my pile of goodys I went to pay, but of course the power was out and I was paying with a card, so I went outside where the other girls were laying in the sun to sit tight and wait for power. I didn't feel like having the life sucked out of me by the sun so I wrote some post cards I bought with cash then and there on the beach. Then I sat in the shade and drew in the sand. Then I watched a guy attempt to windsurf. Then the power was back and I bought my swag- hooray!


That night for dinner we walked down to the market end of the beach and ate dinner at a bar/restaurant called Dino's. It had fabulous food and a fabulous atmosphere, so after dinner we sat in the sand outside and enjoyed some rum while playing the improv one word story game. After that, Dino's was beginning to buzz with other foreigners. The Australians we had met earlier in the week were there, along with some Aouth African teenagers, and a few locals. It was the kind of place where you can take off your shoes and leave them in a corner while you dance. We all had a blast and by the end of the night I was one of the last ones standing, so I helped shepard people home. Zach and I ended up getting a ride in a truck half way down the beach with the Australians while everyone else walked. Suckers. We enjoyed the stars and lay i the sand for a while before heading in. The night sky in Moambique is brilliant, the air was warm, and the waves were making a comforting racket.


The next day was rough for some people, but nevertheless we packed up and left early to get on the road back to Maputo. It was a long ride and we had an extra passenger; a Canadian named Shaun we met in Tofo was looking for a ride to South Africa so we told him he could ride with us. He stayed with us in Maputo when we stopped for another night. We went back to the fish market since it had been so tasty the first time. The second time around we were more prepared and when the same guy who ripped us off the first time approached us and tried to get us to use his kitchen we took satisfaction in telling him to bugger off. We chose a different place and sat down for another tasty seafood feast. Once again, by the time we were done eating we were the only people there. The market was dark and deserted and in the parking lot our combi was all alone. Just before crossing the street someone- maybe Chris- noticed some suspicious characters hanging around the combi. The rest of us scoffed and boldy headed across to the vehicle. There the guys swarmed us and attempted to get in the combi with us, but I didn't feel like dealing with their shit, so I pushed passed and blocked the door so that they couldn't get in. Everyone else got in the combi pretty fast and we secured the windows and told Lesh to drive. He wasn't and we were getting increasingly worried because the thugs weren't leaving. Drive! Drive! We shouted. Lesh explained that the thugs were demanding money and threatening to break off the rearview mirrors if we left without paying. They said we had hired them to watch the car- a lie of course. We told Lesh to just back up real fast and it's their freaking fault if they get run over. Lesh did, no one got run over, and we escaped with just one of the thugs slamming the window with his open palm. TIA.


The next day we left early (after a stop for breakfast at a delicious little bakery!) and drove for about seven hours to South Africa and to Pretoria, where we were spending the night. It was a hot and cramped ride so we were all thankful to be out of the combi and at our hostel, which was called Pretoria Backpackers. No sooner had we gone to the reception desk then Shaun had disapeared. He had said he needed to go to Johannesburg to meet a friend, so we assumed that's where he went but he didn't say anything and we haven't heard from him since. Did we sacre him away? Probably. His loss, because Pretoria Backpackers was a luxurious place with a jungle courtyard, complete with Greek statues and a koi pond, and the inside was cozy, lavish, and spacious. We three girls got our own room with real beds and a TV! The boys had to share a dormitory. There were ample bathrooms- with hot water!- and a kitchen and dining area. A hallway leading to the front desk area had book cases stacked with Coast to Coast Backpacker's Guides to South Africa. There were three different editions and they were all up for grabs. We later found out that Lesh took bags and bags full, ostensibly to sell to costumers of his travel agency. Maybe he just though they were funny, though, which they are. We took time to shower and recouperate before getting dolled up and heading out on the town. A storm was blowing in and as we stepped out of the cabs at Hatfield Square the rain started coming down in sheets. The boys scampered for Subway and McDonald's while we three girls went to a Spur in search of nachos. It was a companionable dinner. The boys found us after a while, reporting that they had had three different dinners at three different fast food places. Ah, South Africa! McDonald's, how sweet thou art! It was time to head into Hatfield Square itself, which is actually a square of bars and nightclubs. This particular rainy night it was full of high schoolers since the college students were all away on spring break. We didn't care though. We had a great time making the most of our brief trip to Pretoria. Later, when the rain was still pouring, we made a run to McDoanld's and had a kingly feast. Then it was back to Pretoria Backpackers where we all passed out pretty quickly. In the morning I woke up the delightful sound of a summer thunderstorm outside while wallowing in my cozy bed inside. Everyone else slowly came around too and we dutifully packed up our things, wishing we had more time to spend in Pretoria. It was mutually agreed that McDonald's would be our last stop in town before heading out to Gabs. Most of us got a Micky D's breakfast because they absolutely refused to sell us any lunch items. Howevere, while Zach was ordering the magical changing-of-the-menu occurred so he went ahead and bought six sandwhiches and a medium fry. I don't know how that turned out for him, but probably not well. We got back in the combi, booted Diannah out at the trains tation so that she could go to Joburg to be with her boytoy, and then headed back to Mos Eisley (Gaborone). There was a brief amount of excitement when we crossed the border and there was a rain/hail storm, but outside of ten minutes that passed. Then we were back at UB and everyone was a little depressed. Ah well, all's well that ends well.

Mozambique, The Whale Shark Adventure

On Thursday we all got up bright and early (Matt got up extra early for his dive- he saw giant manta rays!) to walk over to Liquid Adventures for our Sea Safari. We got there, signed some release forms and paid them, then we suited up in wet suit shirts, snorkel gear, and flippers. This was definitely one of those times when I missed my friends from back home because only they could have appreciated the true awkwardness of me in snorkel gear. Especially the fins- oh those fins! Well, I'll get to how that ended up. There were about 20 people total signed up for the morning Sea Safari and we were from all over the world! It was quite a mix of people in Tofo that day. The Liquid Adventures dive leader and skipper took us down to the beach where a big rubber boat was waiting for us. They explained that we each had to grab on to a line of rope hanging off the side and run into the ocean with it. Then, when he shouted, the ladies would all attempt to jump in (you must understand that our head were roughly even with the sides of the giant rubber contraption. This was not going to be easy or in any way graceful), and then the men would continue to haul further into the waves. Fianlly, upon command, they would all jump into the boat as well. When this was finally accomplished the skipper fired up the motor and we zoomed at top speed into deep waters. Each wave we hit made us fly into the air and everyone was holding tight to the boat with their feet strapped in, praying not to be the idiot who flew out of the boat and got eaten by a dolphin. When we were a ways out the skipper stopped the motor and our dive leader explained the rules. "No touching the wildlife. If you need to touch something, touch us. We may not see anything, but keep your eyes peeled for black shadows in the water because that's a whale shark. No touching! If all else fails we will go to the coral reef and see fish. No touching! By the way, look over there at those leaping dolphins and that humpback whale." After these first sightings we didn't see anything for a while and I settled in to at least enjoy the thrilling boat ride. So when the skipper stopped the boat and the dive leader pointed at nothing and said, "Put your masks on and dive in," I dutifully followed instruction by expected to see nothing. I fell backwards over the boat and struggled for a second to right myself in the water. Then I looked down and four feet below me was a gigantic eight meter long whale shark, cooly cruising by. I had to swim sideways to avoid being smacked by his tail, which rose up in the water to where I was awkwardly hovering. Then he was passed me, and I went to the surface again. I just couldn't get the mask and the fins to work as they should, so I scrambeled, with much help, back onto the boat to collect myself. Nothing could have prepared me to see such a gargantuan animal to close and in such and alien setting. The water was just blue and dark, and then out of the shadows emerges a whale shark! I was ready for more, so the boat scooted forward to pick up more people and drop others off. This time when I jumped in I was expecting to see the whale shark, but when it swam out from under the boat and underneath me again I was still in a state of shock. This time I tore after it and kept pace for a while, breathing through the snorkel apparatus. The whale shark seemed not disturbed in the least to have a pack of tiny splashing people following it, and he kept close to the surface. I was so engrossed in watching him that I didn't realize how tired I was getting. It's not particularly easy to breath through a snorkel so when I surface I spat it out and took huge gulps of air. The boat was some ways off so I waved to it. They didn't see me. I shouted, but they were too far to hear me. I started to swim towards it but I was so tired and the blasted fins were dragging me down. I started swallowing water and I waved and shouted more and I panicked more. I considered kicking the fins off in order to stay on the surface because now I was sinking more and more often. Finally the boat noticed me and they zoomed over. I was too tired to haul myself up so I just threw my hands in the air and my friend Chris was able to pull me into the boat. I lay in a heap in the bottom for a while, recovering. It didn't take long for me to perk up and get ready for another round. This time I took the fins off and waited for the whale shark to swim right under the boat before jumping on top of it. It was just as glorious before and I felt so free without the fins! I only stayed long enough to watch it swim under me and away before going back into the boat.
Not long after this the dive leader announced that it was time to scoop everyone up from the water and head in to shore. We drove back at top speed and I thought I would fall off for sure. We stopped briefly at one point to watch a humpback whale. Getting into shore was pretty exciting; we continue to drive at top speed and we literally smashed into the beach, jarring everybody considerably. Then we all hopped out and helped pull the boat further up the beach where a broken down old pick up truck came to haul it the rest of the way. While I was walking up the beach to change out of my borrowed gear I noticed that the bracelet Emily had given me as a farewell gift was gone from my wrist. I had been wearing it day and night since she gave it to me in July, but I guess smacking repeatedly into the ocean had finally done it in. Now it was either resting on the bottom of the Indian Ocean or in the belly of a whale shark. It seems like a fine resting place for such a fine piece of accoutrement.
After deposting our gear and picking up our stuff we went back to Bamboozi for a hearty lunch. It had been a big morning.

Mozambique, Time Spent in Tofo

The rest of the week was spent in Tofo, and I'm so glad it was. The next morning after our arrival I got up early, dressed, and walked down to the beach. It was low tide and all the sharp, jagged, and vicious rocks not far from where we were innocently swimming were exposed. Fortunately this made for exciting rock pools and communities of sea critters in the rock pools. I combed the area for shells and ran into Matt and Chris, who had discovered an abundance of star fish. We also found various colorful little fish and a tiny sea urchin- Phin's ocean relative! It was an excellent way to start the day. We had been out maybe half an hour when we spotted a man jogging up the beach toward us. It turned out to be none other than Lesh, our missing combi driver! We were glad to see him because we had no way to contact him and we had no idea where he and his lady Tulu were staying. We rendezvou'd with him and brought him back to Mango to see our place. Meanwhile, we worked to drag everyone else out of bed and get them going. At long last we set off down the beach to walk into the Tofo marketplace for supplies (this usually means booze. Sometimes food.) As I mentioned it is a good 20 minute half out walk along a beautiful beach, so of course we stopped, stripped down into our suites, and went for a swim. It was beach time; no hurries, no worries. After our swim in the warm Indian Ocean we headed to a dive shop which boasted a little restuarant and the most delicious pineapple smoothies. Snacks are important when one spends all one's time battling waves. Lesh had gone on ahead at this point and promised to meet us in the marketplace with the combi so that we could drive out to the nearest ATM for much needed cash and supplies. As we walked I developed the most vicious rash from my swim shorts and by the time we got into the market place I was quite unhappy. There a South African by the name of Leray spotted us. "You look hung over," he said. "Not really," we said. "Come with me for a drink," he said. "Okay."
So that was how we met the infamous Leray, who led us into a little whole-in-the-wall shack which sold kebabs, rice, and booze. He made a concoction of the most disgusting "cherry" soda ever and some kind of cheap Mozambiquan brandy. Then he told us a little about himself. Turns out Leray is a soldier in the South African army and had been stationed in Tofo, doing absolutely nothing, for about two years. He lived a big party house and drank all the time, as well as many other illegal activities. He also kept repeating that he was supposed to go back to Joburg that very day and was just waiting for a very important phone call. He bought us several rounds of drinks and lunch. I don't think he actually paid for anything...
After lunch he told us about a cool little island "only 4 kilometers away". "Okay," we said. Lesh had finally been located, so we all hoped in the combi and drove out of town to the ATM. Of course, my card was not accepted there. In the only ATM for miles. TIA. Anyways, by this time my rash was rediculously painful and the "island" turned out to be much farther than 4 kilometers. Then it wasn't an island. It was a beautiful beach, mostly free of other people, and with a pleasant tiki hut bar. I wasn't having a great time...that is until some beach vendors found us with backpacks full of colorful cloth pants. Diana and I each bough a pair and I gratefully changed into these. Sweet relief! I also bought a prech cowrie shell bracelet which I have been wearing ever since that day. We stayed on the beach for about an hour or two and then headed back to Tofo. Leray, even though he was still supposed to be appearing in Joburg that day, decided he would come with us back to Mango. We hung around the market place for a little while and bought some trinkets and then started walking back down to the beach towards Mango, but somewhere a long the way we lost Leray. Oh well. We never did see him again.
That night was rather quiet since the day had been so eventful. We cooked some dinner with the supplies we had bought (this time meaning actual food) and went to bed. In the morning we woke up early, as per usual, and headed out to the beach. We were beginning to look like a more ragtag bunch by this time. Salty hair, sun burn, shell bracelets, and sandy. Excellent. We walked to a placed called Bamboozi, which was one of the establishments built high up on a dune and accessable via a steep and rickety wooden staircase. There we booked and ocean safari on Thursday for everyone (yay snorkeling!) and some scuba dives for Matt, who happens to be certified. You may have run across 'the big 5' before in terms of land animals (lions, water buffalo, elephants, rhinos, and leopards/cheetahs) but apparently there is also a big 5 of ocean life, all to be found in the Indian Ocean. I think it includes manta rays, wale sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, and humpback whales. Even though the establishment was Bamboozi, the actual company we booked through was called Liquid Adventures and offered just about every water activity you could think of.
After booking we went to the Bamboozi restaurant for breakfast. The place had a beautiful ocean view and was made in the tikki hut style- great beacha atmosphere. Several resident dogs and a 'weather coconut' were also in attendance. After breakfast it was time for more swimming of course! Diana, Jamie, and I decided to relax in the sun for a bit too while the boys went around being rambunctious and doing something or other. It was only for a short time, but I recieved the nastiest, worst, baddest sunburn on my poor leg I have ever had or seen someone else have. It is now November and it is still not fully healed. But that's beside the point, after laying out for a bit we went back for more swimming! Then it was lunch time and we all had worked up quite an appetite so we went back to the dive shop for smoothies. No pineapple this time, but we got apple instead and still enjoyed it greatly. We also tried to order sandwhiches, but the power was out, as it so frequently was, so we had to tweak our order a little bit more. In the end we were fed and watered and it was all delicious. AWA. P.s. That means Africa Wins Again.
After lunch Diana, Chris, and I headed back to Mango to get ready for a horseback riding adventure. I changed into my awesome beach pants, as did Diana, and we walked back up the beach to Bamboozi, climbed the dune, and walked a little ways into the palm forest and village to get to the horse place. On the way the tide was coming in fast and strong. It was already to the point where big waves were crashing against the dune and buffeting us as we walked. We saw a man ahead of us stumble and fall. A receding wave started to pull him out and he stuck his arm out to us for help. Chris grabbed it, but the man remained on the ground. He had a big glass Coke bottle full of liquor in one hand, but this and one of his sandals were washed away. He kept asking Chris not to let him go. "If you let go we're goners,". In his case, he was right. The tide would wash him away and swallow him up without a trace. Standing and sober, we were not in danger. The three of us managed to pull him along to Bamboozi where we deposited him on dry sand and told Jamie and Zach to watch him to make sure he didn't dorwn. Then it was time for horse back riding, and we were already running late, so we wasted no time moving along. There were four beautiful horses waiting for us. Diana had never been so close to a horse before and she was pretty ecstatic. Chris and I, who have been, were excited too, but were a little more composed about it. Our guide was a small man who was very energetic. He introduced our horses to us: mine was named Brownie, Diana's was Wolfie, and Chris's was named something terrible girly like 'Wind Dancer' or something. The ride was pretty exciting and it felt good to be on a horse again. We rode through the dunes and took a rather terrifying plummet down to the beach where the tide coming in bothered the horses not at all. A group of beach dogs barking did, however, and Diana's horse got spooked. We rode the horses back into the dunes and saw some fantastic views of palm forests, mountains, and the beach from a high vantage points. We rode through little villages and along fields. The sun was setting and everything was very beautiful. In the end we were all very sore and a little bit sunburned, but it was so very worth it.
When we were done riding we had a dilemma on our hands; where were we supposed to meet the others? On the far end of the beach at Dino's? At the very far and opposite end at Mango eating an expensive meal? Somewhere in the middle? We ended up walking up and down the beach, becoming exhausted, and arriving at Mango to find out that our friends had made dinner reservations for everyone and a gourmet meal was being prepared for us. Win! It was one of the tastiest dinners I've had in a long long time. Drinks at Bamboozi followed and then another gorgeous day in Tofo was over.

Mozambique, More on Mango

The first night I was on couch duty and it turned out to be quite nice compared to my wooden plank of a bed at UB. That, combined with the fact that I got privacy and didn't get as eaten up as the others by mosquitoes, meant that I was happy with the couches. As I said earlier we rushed out to the beach. In order to do this we had to walk up a rickety set of wooden stairs surrounded by thick jungle scrub and onto the top of a dune, where the reception/bar/restaurant was located. This was a wide open wooden and cement structure with a palm thatched roof and comfortable chouches and chairs overlooking the fantastic view of the ocean. Two or three resident dogs lazed around alternating between the sun and sand and the cool wooden floorboards. We hardly took note of this though as we were too busy running down the steep slope of the dune to the water. The waves were strong here too, but not as strong as they were in Xai Xai. We had just as much fun though, and this time no one got injured. The boys went quite far out, and I went further into the water than before. It didn't get deep exactly, but rather there were trenches in the sand and the heaving of the waves was constantly changing the depth. As we were to find out later, at low tide, it's very lucky the boys didn't go any further than they did because this part of the beach was lined with razor sharp rocks. After swimming we explored the beach for a while. It was hard packed (at that time) white sand with huge dunes outlining the whole shore. Resorts, restaurants, and dive shops were all built on top of the dunes and some of them had tall rickety stairs that you had to climb to get to them which seemed somewhat less than sturdy at times. The market we passed through when we arrived was about a 20 minute walk along the beach. There were exciting shells and bit of washed up ocean life all over the beach (which I never got tired of investigating. Cuddle fish bones are fun!) We opted not to eat the gourmet dinner at Mango that night, but instead headed back to our chalet to fix our own dinner and commence drinking. The drinking jenga came out and we played for a long time because, despite the inebriation, we were getting good at it. Diana is a fighter when she gets drunk and she picked a fight with Matt and started wailing on him.

We had decided on bed rotation, since there was one big comfy bed in one room, two single beds in the other, and two couches. I was on couch patrol that night, which was fine with me. Since on the bathroom wall actually reached the thatched ceiling all the rooms were basically connected so that our conversations carried on long after everyone had actually gone to bed. It was a good start to our time at Mango.

Mozambique, the Tofo Chapter

That night in Xai Xai at Casa Ericka was a crazy night. We played Drunk Jenga, which is just regular jenga with drinking games written on each piece. When a player succesfully pulls and places the piece the game on it must be played. We added a few of our own to spice it up, including some improv games.
The next day was a little slow going, but we left Xai Xai and drove another five or six hours up the coast to Tofo. Once again the ocean disapeared and we drove through miles of hilly countryside filled with palm trees and villages. Towards the far end of the trip we were running low on gas and filling stations were hard to find. Each one we did locate only had diesel and we began to panic. All of the girls were pretty much planning on cheering on the guys as they pushed the combi the final miles to Tofo beach. Finally, oh finally, just outside Tofo, we found a filling stations with gasoline. It was also the only ATM for several towns, and la ti da, it did not accept my debit card. TIA.
When we pulled into Tofo we drove through a small and very colorful beachside marketplace. There were bunches of small stands with tin roofs selling food, booze, soda, trinkets, and freshly cooked meat. We decided to stock up on booze and chasers while we waited for Mike (a mysterious guy from Mango Beach, our resort) to come and find us and take us to the resort in his 4WD vehicle. There was no way the combi was going to make it through the deep sand roads. A few yards out from the marketplace was the main beach area and it was crowded with both locals and tourists. The sand was white, the Indian Ocean was warm, and the palm trees were gorgeous. We knew we had come to the right place. Mike did show up in good time and he turned out to be an eye-patch wearing German with blond cornrows ending in a tight braid. He had copious amounts of beaded bracelets on his thick arms and an even thicket German accent. I immediately wanted my picture taken with him, perhaps posing with the thumbs up. Or better yet, myself doing a handstand on his shoulders while he swallowed fire and dolphins jumped in the background. *Sigh*
Mike loaded us and all of our baggage into the back of his pickup truck and we started the bouncy ride to Mango. The road was deep sand and lined with tall palm trees. We left the busy marketplace and beach behind and drove into a palm forest. There were groups of houses and cheerful kids waving at us. There were also goats. All in all, the view from the back of the truck was great, so we figured the view from our oceanside resort could only get better. We were right.
Mango Beach was, again, the furthest resort down the beach, and consisted of a dozen or more little houses with plam thatched roofs, cement floors, and electricity from 5 pm to 10 pm. In our little house there were two couch beds in a living room, two larger bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a porch. Each bed had its own mosquito netting. It was the perfect sized place for six foreign exchange students spending a week on the beach. We dropped our stuff off and changed into our swim suits, ready to charge the beach again.

Mozambique, The Third

After we left Maputo we drove to the coast, heading up to a place called Xai Xai (Shy-Shy). The drive took about five or six hours and we passed through countryside with villages built into hills, plam trees with slots cut into them for climbing, and lots of extremely-poor looking towns. We stopped at a grocery store on the way to stock up on food and had to search around for a while to find what we needed, or even what we recognized. People, let me tell you know, stop your whining about the poor quality of food available in the US. Yes, we're no Tuscany bistro, but we're also not Mozambique, so shut up and be happy about US grocery stores.

Anyway, we drove for a long time and saw no ocean. Apparently we were getting close to Xai Xai, and there were mountainous dunes everywhere. We always thought the ocean would be over the next dune...but it wasn't. It was over the next dune and through the town. Our trusty combi navigated down some steep sandy hills and at last we could see the Indian Ocean, flanked by huts and resorts and colorful looking people. Needless to say we all had our noses pressed up against the windows. We drove for a while longer along a sand road. There was thick scrub on either side of us, so we really couldn't see where we were going. We eventually began to lose hope that the combi would A) make it through the sand and B) find Casa Ericka, our resort. Turns out Casa Ericka was the furthest resort down the beach. It did not disappoint. The resort was a series of little housed built high up on wooden stilts rising out of a jungle. A wide strip of white sand beach lead to the ocean, which was pounded by powerful waves. Friendly beach dogs came and greeted us, along with the obligatory merchants who crowded around trying to sell us things. Compared to the merchants elsewhere, who surrounded the bus the moment it stopped, we were able to ditch these guys pretty quickly. We got our room key from the bar/reception area and climbed a steep sandy hill to our "house". A little dachshund followed us and appeared to be not at all phased by the climb. Inside, we had a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and three bedrooms. There was also a wraparound deck overlooking the ocean and the surrounding jungle. In short, it was perfect. After we dropped our stuff off the first order of business was changing into our swim suites and high tailing it for the beach. The boys jumped head first into the waves, which were strong enough to grab you and throw you around like a rag doll. Diana and I hung back a little and chased the waves as they went out and ran from them as they came in. I had a good time standing out as far as I dared and seeing how much wave power I could stand up in. At one point Diana made the poor choice of starting a water fight and we became to engrossed that we didn't notice the gigantic wave speeding toward us until it was too late. It was like one of those cartoons where Coyote doesn't see the oncoming train until a second before it hits him and his eyes getting really big and his mouth drops open. Well that's what happened, and the wave ripped our feet out from under us and spun us completely upside down before dragging us along with it up the beach. We were covered in sea water and sand and a little smashed up, but it was thrilling none the less. The boys, who had witnessed the whole thing, thought it was quite hilarious. Later on, a big wave caught them up and Zach ended up colliding painfully with Diana's shin. After that, it was time to call it an evening and go up to the bar for some dinner.

Mozambique The Sequel (2)

The fish market in Maputo is where all the fresh catches are brought, including some live crustaceans. It is an area with dirt ground a tin roof and rows and rows of tables with the fresh catches. The ground is puddled with...blood...and...stuff....and scales, and there are rats. Still, for fish lovers this is the place to be. Through the fish market it an open area of restaurants, each with a kitchen waiting for people to take their freshly bought fish for preparation. We didn't exactly know how the system works, so we foolishly listened to the pushiest merchant/kitchen guy who took us to his kitchen. Other kitchen people came over and tried to take us to their places and pretty soon a fight broke out, threatening violence. In order to avoid bloodshed we quickly sat down at a table. Matt went and picked out two kinds of fish I'd never heard of and we ordered some plates of rice to go with it, having been assured that the rice was complimentary with the fish. We also ordered some drinks and tried to be patient but we were all pretty hungry. After being in a dry desert country seafood sounded like ambrosia and honey. Food of the gods, in other words. At one point Matt and Chris went to go inquire about how our food was coming along and we were invited to venture into the back of the restaurant (I use that term very loosely) and see the chef preparing the fish. It was very dark and sooty, with a huge barrel full of scales and guts, and our fish was being seared over and open fire. It was all very impressive.

When we finally got our food it was magnificent, and the rice was extremely tasty to match. We stuffed ourselves on fresh fish. After the meal things got complicated. The bill. It sucked. They tried to double charge us for our drinks and then they wanted to charge us for six plates of rice (there were three) even though we had been assured the rice was complimentary. I was not going to stand for this shit, so we got into a shouting match about it. Eventually the price was lowered to two plates of rice (or was it three?) and then the cost of fish preparation. It definitely left a sour taste in our mouths and was a sobering reminder that we were white tourists to be taken advantage of, not hungry restaurant goers in search of a good meal. TIA.

Going back through the now darkened and empty market place we saw some BIG rats. It was scary.

After dinner we decided to check out one of the local bars. It was a sports bar and looked more upscale and therefore less creepy. There were flatscreen TV's broadcasting the rugby world cup everywhere, so the boys were happy. We did some shots, including one called 'Pixie Dust' which involved tequila and absinthe. After the bar we went back and crashed into our beds at the Base. The next day we left in the morning for Xai Xai and Casa Ericka!

Mozambique Numero Uno

On Friday Mumsy left to go back home (a lot of flying involved) and I left for Mozambique. However, on Thursday night I left my purse with my waller, phone, and keys in the back of my friend Diana's car and I didn't realize it until I was standing in front of my door. Well luckily I had left a spare key with my friend Alexis, so I was able to get into my room. Once in I pulled my closet key out of it's hiding place and was able to access that stuff. Then, I completely panicked. I had no way to reach Diana and she had all my stuff. How could I go to Mozambique without my wallet? I barely slept and I just fussed and worried myself into a heap. By morning I remembered that Diana had once written down her phone number in my notebook, so I borrowed my friend Brooke's phone and called her. Diana dropped off my purse, and life continued. We had agreed to meet in the courtyard at 10 am, which was also the time the combi we hired was supposed to arrive. Because this is Africa, he arrived at 11.30 and had no directions or clear idea of our trip. He also had his girlfriend. Lesh and Tulu were their names, and despite a rocky start, they turned out to be pretty cool. It was a vacation for them too, and they were clearly in vacation mode. With the help of GPS we got under way and withint a half hour had arrived at the Botswana/South Africa border. Crossing was a pain in the neck, but we all got more stamps in our passports at least. Driving through South Africa was stunning- rolling hills and mountains, little towns nestled here and there, big cities, flat expanse of bush, and nice paved roads. It took us all day to drive through SA and we began to get worried that the border between SA and Mozambique would be closed before we got there. Because we started late we were more than a little irked with Lesh. As it turns out the Mozambique border is open 24/7 for the month of September only, so even though we arrrived around 11.30 we got through. As we were driving through the big gates there were security guards doing vehicle checks. We saw some guy open up the back of a van filled to bursting with supplies (there were a lot of vehicles like this) and hop in. The guard didn't notice him. TIA. We drove some more and finally arrived in Maputo around 2 am. The place we stayed at was called Base Backpackers and was a cozy little hostel. It had a small TV room, four dormitories, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a balcony, and a basement. We all trudged into the dormitory we were sharing and fell into bed immediately. Because there was no bedding provided other than sheets and a gross pillow, I was very glad of the sleeping bag mumsy had kindly bought for me before I left.
In the morning we discoverd a frenchman and bedbugs.

The whole next day we explored the city of Maputo. It is the capital of Moz, and located in the south of the coastal country. It is an exciting mixture of artsy, poor, high end, tropics, and Africa. Quite a change from dusty little Gabs! The people speak Portuguese and it is a lot more European than Gabs. However, no one in Mozambique knew what or where Botswana was...eventually Lesh ended up telling them it was in the States and people would nod and go along with it. Now the thing you need to know about Maputo (and Mozambique in general) is that the cops are very corrupt and will charge you for anything just so they can get a bribe. Lesh had to bribe his way out of a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt; he had been wearing it, and only took it off when the cops pulled us over and told him to. We were warned to always carry our passports with us, or run the risk of being thrown in jail.
Aside from all this, Maputo was gorgeous! We wandered around town, marveled at the site of a body of water, and explore the weekend craft market. Craft markets in Moz are much different than Bots (of course) and so all the items for sale were new and exciting. The merchants were pretty crazy though. We couldn't stand still without being surrounded by people insisting we buy things from them. Two or three of the merchants were so persitant that they followed us out of the market and down the street. We managed to shake off one who was selling a ugly wooden mobile, but another, with batique cloth, followed us all around the city! It was so rediculous! He only stopped when the cops pulled him over. We really hope they didn't end up beating him...
We ate lunch at cool little cafe overlooking some tennis courts in the park. We found it by following a colorful mosaic on a cement retaining wall. It was a good find. After lunch some of us had money problems to sort out. Only two of the six of us had remembered to call our banks and tell them we were travelling. No one would exchange pula for medicaish (the local currency) and so were stuck. Luckily one of us, Matt, had some US dollars to change, so he bought us time at an internet cafe where we used my unlimited skype calling to reach our banks and our families. It was a hassle, and took hours, but eventually it all got sorted out. With money in hand we got ready for dinner at the famous fish market. That, however, you will have to read about in my next post because I am running out of quota time for my blog. Until next time!

The Rest of Mom's Visit to Bots

It was still pretty early and we didn't want to end the day there, so after a refresher at UB we called a cab to take us to Riverwalk. Our plan was to get there, eat some Debonairs, and then catch an 8.15 movie, but apparently our cab driver had no idea where Vegas dorms are, so he was 40 minutes late. His name is Brenda and he is smarmy. We really don't like him. Anyway, when we got to Riverwalk it was getting close to movie time but we thought that we just might make ordering food, gobbling it up, and getting in. Well, food took longer and since we had ordered a large pizza it wasn't exactly like trying to sneak in a can of soda or a bag of chips. The lady at Debonairs helpfully sped up our order when we told her our dilemma. The fact of the matter was, though, that we would either have to sit down and eat and miss some of the movie, or find a way of sneaking a large pizza into the movie theatre. All three of us were game for the latter. Debonairs lady brought us a paper bag and helped us fold our piping hot and fresh pizza in two and stuff it in. In effect, we had created a big pizza sandwich, all of which was oozing greasy, cheesy goodness into Mom's new purse. We made it in though, and sat down and ate our pizza sandwich in the dark while enjoying our movie.

On Monday I went to my morning class, ARC, and then head right back to Innisfree. I had booked a safari trip at Mokolodi for mom and I in the afternoon and I wanted to make sure that we would get there on time. Batsi had said the best way to get there without having to walk to mile to the gate was via taxi, so we called our favorite driver. Mokolodi is a bit of a drive outside of the main city of Gabs, but the drive is very scenic. One can get a good sense of the Botswana countryside, which is all bush. After we arrived we only had to wait around for a short while until our vehicle and our guide arrived. There was just one other person on our safari tour, a Canadian businessman named Neil. It was a little odd to be riding as a tourist in the place I logged so many leaf raking hours. We saw a lot of great critters! Giraffes (they were very shy), antelope, wildebeest, a monitor lizard, ostriches, kudu, warthogs, Letoatsi my cheetah friend, and some of the stars of Mokolodi, a white rhino and her two month old calf. They came pretty close to the vehicle and we managed to get great photos. While we were watching the rhinos our guide parked the vehicle and passed out bags of chips and drinks. Mom and I both discovered the deliciousness that is Appletizer, otherwise known as sparkling apple juice. Yum! Still, after the excitement of the game drive and the heat of the day we decided to have another tasty meal...somehow the single bag of chips just didn't cut it. I had been talking up Equatorial Cafe so much so Mom suggested we go there. We did and shared a meal so that we would conveniently have room for the delicious ice cream over at Milky Lane. Good planning on our part, I say. After dinner we wanted to continue our night, but since we had just seen a movie the night before and there really wasn't anything to do at night in Gabs besides drink we decided to go back to UB and watch a movie in my room. I put on 'Death at a Funeral' because it's a classic and Mumsy hadn't seen it before. After the movie we said goodnight and so ended another exciting day in Africa.

On Tuesday morning I got a ride over to Innisfree from my friend Diana and she suggested that Mom and I check out Botswana Craft. It sounded like a great idea so we called a cab (Brenda, the smarmy one. Our usual guy wasn't working) and headed over. Botswana Craft is a building full of handmade crafts from all over Botswana. There is everything from San/Bushman jewelry made from ostrich egg shell beads, to wooden animal carvings, to biltong (which is basically beef jerkey), to postcards, to the beautiful handwoven baskets that are so famous around here. We took our time browsing and soon each of us had accumulated quite the pile. I found a lot of gifts for friends and family, as well as some pretty things for myself. Mom was really fascinated by the baskets and we looked through what felt like hundreds of them trying to find the prettiest pattern and the best weave. They came in all sizes, a range of shapes, and used beautiful earth tones. It turns out that in order to gather the ingredients needed for basketry the women make a three day trek into the wilderness and often come face to face with dangerous animals. In one instance, while crossing a rive with a group of women, one of them was bitten by a crocodile. Everyone fled except her sister who had the presence of mind to beat the croc on the head with an axe until it released her.

After made our numerous purchases were had worked up quite an appetite so we went to the little tea garden which adjoined the store for lunch and some cool drinks. The food and the service were excellent, and it was extremely pleasant to sit and catch a breeze and look at the gardens. Incidentally, it was the same place I had been to for a concert months before. We called our cab and went back to Innisfree after lunch and I, being a genious with a mind like a steel trap, left my phone in the back of the car. I discovered this when Mom and I wanted to order Debonairs for supper. Fortunately the front desk was able to call the driver and arrange for him to drop it off. We were also able to use the room phone to order a pizza. So I got my phone (Brenda, the smarmy, wheedled and tried to get more money out of us), we ate our food, and then we went back to Mokolodi for a night time game drive. We had had such a fantastic time on the day drive that we wanted to experience the other end of the spectrum too. This time it was just us and we were drastically under dressed for the chilly night. Our guide drove us slowly along and we were surprised to come upong a large male kudu right on the trail fairly early on. He was unconcerned about our vehicle and took him time ambling away. After that we didn't see much except for some thick knee birds, a couple of night jars, and some hares. We came across antelope and hartbeest eventually, and even saw a small herd of eland! Eland are rare in Mokolodi. Letoatsi was hiding for the night, but one of the resident hyenas was napping near the fence and so we got a good look at him. Most of the time we just saw glowing green eyes peering out at us from the bush. It was cold, so so cold. Nonetheless, we had a beautiful drive and were happy to see the stars in the clear night sky. Success!

On Wednesday Mom came over in a cab to UB and hung out in my room on the computer while I did some much needed laundry and a few other tasks around campus. I bought her a papata so that she could experience the deliciousness! We decided to spend our morning and afternoon exploring the National Museum, which was conveniently located nearby. It's a free museum and has good exhibits (if a little dusty and worn) on the natural and social history of Botswana. There is a good bit on the ecology of modern Botswana as well. I have so far found two taxidermied hedgehogs there. They are Phin's cousins alright, but he is much more handsome. Outside there are a few of the round huts with thatched roofs called rondavals, well as a dried up pond. One drinking fountain completes the ensemble. We were disappointed not to be able to find the gift shop, and a little more disappointed that the art gallery was apparently closed, but we rallied gamely and walked over to Main Mall. Mother is a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies series, so I took her to one of the places often written about in the books. Mma Remostwe, the main character, likes to sit at the President Hotel and drink tea, so that is exactly what we did...except we drank Appletizer and ate sandwiches instead. There was a big read sign reading “Mma Remostsww Tea Corner”. We were very pleased. The view looked out over the hustle and bustle of Main Mall; street vendors, music, shops, and crowds. It is a good place to people watch. We left lunch and went to join the throngs and made our way through the street, stopping occasionally. We decided to go back to Game City after this excursion and once there we were both parched from waiting in the scorching sun for a cab. Mumsy suggested getting a cold drink and we spotted a cool looking coffee shop on the second floor, so we headed up. It's called Mugg & Bean and we soon discovered that both the food and drinks are especially delicious. I got a surgary iced coffee drink, something I sorely missed, and mom got a fruity drink which was very creamy and full of chunks of real fruit. So good! When we sipped the last drops from our drinks we made our way to the theatre to see “Crazy Stupid Love”...again. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I think mom did too. The movie took us right up to dinner time, so we high tailed it back to Mugg & Bean for more tasty food. On the menu we saw that they had fajitas. This sounded good to us, so we ordered some to share and some more of the fruity shake. The waitress was very pleasant and took our order for “fa-jee-tas”. TIA. Just thinking about that dinner now makes me hungry! I wonder when I can go back and get more...Too bad mom won't be there too.

On Thursday I went over to Innisfree and we decided to head back to Riverwalk and take care of a few errands. We made the rounds to Pick n' Pay, Cape Union (Mom bought me a wonderful sleeping bag!), Woolworth's, Mr. Price, and Exclusive Books. We spent a long time and a lot of money in the book store. One of the books mom bought was Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owns. I am currently reading it and loving every page. I highly recommend it if you are at all interested in the wildlife of Botswana/Africa! When we had finally exhausted the mall mom suggested oh-so-casually that we go back to Botswana Craft. Needless to say, I did not argue. We arrived happened to meet up with our favorite cabby right away (he was already at Riverwalk) and we happily made our way to Botswana Craft. I bought a pair of earrings I had been thinking about, and one or two more gifts. Mom enquired about the history and culture behind a beautiful wooden nativity she had bought there before. We again browsed the baskets, and this time we were armed with a book about them. After shopping we went back to the tea garden. Mom decided to go local and be brave and ordered oxtail soup. It was served with an enormous dumpling- larger than a baseball! We had some refreshing seasonal juice and were all in all quite pleased with ourselves. While waiting for a cab back we goofed around taking photos by the fighting zebra sculptures out front.

Back at Innisfree I collapsed face first on the bed and was asleep instantly. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was. After my little nap Mom and I made plans for our last evening together. We contacted my friend Diana to see if she wanted to have dinner with us and we agreed to meet her at an Indian restaurant at Riverwalk. Because we had some hours to kill we went back to our favorite place, the movie theatre, and saw 'Friend With Benefits' for the second time. Again, we liked it just as much the second time around. How can you go wrong with Justin Timberlake? When the movie was over we still had some time on our hands so we sat on the comfy couches outside of the theatre and chatted. Now I am all excited about the new Three Musketeers movie coming out. When we got bored of sitting we got up and very slowly took care of some window shopping. Woolworths is very entertaining for mom! Finally it was time for dinner and we went to Embassy, the Indian restaurant. The food there is always good and the menu has a lot of selection. Mom and I always decide to order several dishes and split them because it is just too hard to pick on. Plus, as Matt knows, I have abulia and can't make decisions. Diana joined us and together we ordered a magnificent feast! We also have very quality conversation and as dinner wore on I tried not to think about saying goodbye. That time came in the end, of course, and Diana helpfully gave us a ride to Innisfree. Mom and I hugged and said goodbye many times. I was annoyed that the security guard was hanging around creepily outside. When I left at last I asked him, “So, you watching me?” He said yes and started to say something else slimy, but I said, “No one cares, you're creepy,” and left. Diana gave me a ride home and that was that. Mom and I had a really fantastic week together and did so much it's all a whirlwind! I had to have her send me the notes she jotted down in her cool guinea fowl notebook just so that I could remember it all. African holidays with mom are the best!

Schoolwork and Mumsy's Visit, Part 1

Nose to the Books:

Since Mother is coming to stay on Friday for the week, and since the week after that is the trip to Mozambique I am trying to get as much work done this week as possible. I don't foresee too much time spent on homework in the future. My Arc class has an important paper coming up and Batsi dropped a 5-8 page paper full of interviews and cultural research (scary!) on us. Have I mentioned that Jerk Face McGee is a completely worthless teacher? He was spinning some more ridiculous notions about things, so I made a face. He decided to then launch into an attack on the U.S. saying things like, “Completely twisted and back handed politicians. A dirty history of shame. A scare on our country's history.” Whoa, slow down there Mr. Insecurities, aren't you the one who never stops talking about the U.S. and Britain? Give me an example of a country whose politics aren't back handed and twisted. A scar on your country's history? Hmm...if I remember correctly it's the British who used you as a protectorate, ignored you, and then threw you away because of your apparent uselessness. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, today I left campus in the morning to get some passport photos and get paperwork from the Mozambique embassy for our trip. Along the way we were walking through a field when Jamie stops and says, “Elephants.” We were all confused for half a minute before we saw them. Two circus elephants peacefully munching on some hay next to their trailer. Nearby was a trailer made up of about six cages, each with two lionesses chowing on chunks of meat. There were two white lionesses as well and they were quite a sight. Behind the lion trailer was a similar trailer but filled with tigers. Only one tiger per cage, and the reason for that was they were already snarling and lunging at each other. It was pretty terrifying. I am against circuses because of their inhumane animal practices, but I have to admit the sight of all these animals just sitting in a field (or a cage) was impressive. So now I have seen my first elephants and lions in Africa. Too bad I couldn't rescue them.

Mom's Visit- 16.9.11

Picked Mumsy up from Sir Seretse Khama airport on Friday evening. The cab I called turned out to have a pretty cool driver, so that's a number to keep. I got to the airport about an hour and a half early; partly because I was excited and partly because I wanted to be absolutely sure not to miss her arrival. I ended up reading my Henry VII library book, which was boring, for a while. Then I wandered the tiny airport. Her flight arrival time from Joburg was pushed further and further back. Eventually I ended up at the terminal bar drinking a Savanna Dry to kill time. One flight got on, but it was from Francistown. A young Irish woman came to the bar and ordered a beer, so I struck up conversation with her for lack of anything else to do. We chatted pleasantly (she is from Dublin, is working in Gabs, has been here for a year) until Mom's flight actually did arrive. Mom, as it turns out, made a friend on the plane. Her new friend is a probably-diplomat with three children- a son not much older than me, and two young daughters. She and her son are from Bots, but lived in the States for about 20 years and now they are back. Apparently the son, Femi, misses the States, and so we exchanged numbers so that we could gather our US friends and hang out in the future.

We left the airport and got a cab back to Mom's hotel, Innisfree Apartments. The room is comfortable, clean, and has a great view of the backyard full of palm trees, grass, jasmine, and a small pool. It pretty much looks like Florida. After we dropped her bags off we went right to Riverwalk for a late dinner. The only place still open was Linga Longa and we got the last food orders in before the kitchen closed. The food was good, the people were noisy, and we were tired so after dinner Mom went back to Innisfree and I went to UB.

The next day, Saturday, we got up early and I met her at the hotel to walk to Riverwalk and check out the weekend craft market. Mom bought a gorgeous hand crafted bag right away (which was to prove very useful in all our adventures) and I got some trinkets for friends and a cool cloth map of Africa in the 1590's. After that is was off to UB for Mom's first visit to my tiny (yet cozy) dorm room and some classic UB food for lunch. Mumsy took a short nap and I worked some on homework. Amanda and Megan came by briefly to introduce themselves because that's how cool they are. When we were done at UB we took another cab to Game City for dinner and a movie. Only it ended up being a movie (Crazy, Stupid, Love) and then dinner. We ate at a cool Portuguese restaurant. Who knew there was one of those in Gabs? After dinner it was back to Innisfree and UB.

Sunday I got up early again and scooped up Mom and we caught a taxi to the bus rank. Just FYI, do NOT take Smiley Cabs if you are in Gabs because they way overcharge. They suck. The cab fiasco over, we got on one of the buses to Mochudi and were pleasantly surprised when it didn't fill with people, so we were able to sit comfortably. The ride was shorter than usual and we arrived in Mochudi ahead of schedule. We got on a route 7 cab almost immediately and what with one thing and another we ended up in front of Mogorosi Shop and my host family's house an hour early. Oops. When we walked through the gate into the yard we were greeted by my host mother and sister, who were busy hurrying around and getting things ready. Mom and I made introductions and then went out back so that I could introduce her to the pups. Sepiso informed me that they had sold the larger of the two white pups to a family in Remotswe. I hope he does alright! He seems very young to leave Mama Dog, but life is tougher for a pup her than at home.

After visiting with the dogs we visited with the family. We distributed the gifts and everyone seemed pretty pleased. Granny tried on her scarf and seemed pleasantly surprised that we had brought her something. Sepiso immediately put on one of the pairs of earrings and some of the blue nail polish. Lesedi tried on his shirts and gave us hugs. Lone toted her unicorn pillow pet around, and host mom came out of the kitchen to thank us for her kitchen accoutrement. Lunch was ready about 45 minutes later and it turned out to be a pretty rich spread. My host family pulled out all the stops, including using the nicest dishes and chair covers. We ate while watching some BTV, per usual, and then I helped Sepiso to clear away the dishes. I had a bit of a Nam flashback to doing dishes all the week before by candle light. Luckily this time I didn't actually have to wash anything. After the dishes were gone and we had sat for a bit host mom brought out the crowning glory of food on Mochudi; the trifle. I was so pleased! Mom and I discussed possibly making it at Christmas time. I took photos of it, so check out those on facebook and beware of your mouth watering.

We left about half an hour after the trifle and host mom and Sepiso put us on a combi to the bus stop. Mom's first combi ride! We didn't have to wait long at the bus stop, but it was hot and there was no shade. Luckily, Mom had her trusty umbrella with her, so there was some relief. The ride back to Gabs was very hot and we were on a bus circa the 1950's. I caught a small nap until we arrived in Gabs and got out at the bus rank. It took us no time at all the catch a combi back to UB.

Mochudi Part Deux

Other Things:

I spotted the coolest pair of shoes! They are built a bit like Puma's, but the outer shell is a silky pale green with ruffles, and the shoe laces are the same green but made of velvet. They were so pretty I almost drooled! Also, this morning (Thursday) I saw a gecko come out of a crack in the wall of my house in Mochudi. Instead of creepy centipedes they have cute little geckos! My sister Sepiso said that geckos were icky and that she wouldn't be able to sleep if she saw one in her room. Oh well.

More On Mochudi:

I am back from Mochudi now and I am happy to have my own space again in my room at UB. Although right now, as usual, my roommate has a loud pack of friends taking over. I will miss the giant bathtub, candlelit baths, puppies, home cooked meals, and people who aren't noisy rude friends of my roommate.

Most of the week I feel like I spent in commute! I got up Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 5 am in order to get to the bus stop at 6.30 and class by 8 or 9 am. The buses are cramped, but in the morning it is blissful to zone out and watch the countryside go by. I got off at Main Mall, which is a very interesting place to be, and either walked or caught a combi to UB. Wednesday morning I was 10 minutes late to my PR &Advertising class, which by the way hasn't met for the past month and is now being taken over by Jerk Face McGee, and the door was locked. The other 10 or students with me all tried knocking on the door for a while. No response. We slipped a note under the door asking to please let us in. No response. Jerk Face was on a power trip again. His class, when I went again on this past Monday, was solidly two hours of worthless facts about famous people in the U.S. and poor information on the Ivy League and criticisms of WWII. So worthless.

Anyway, Thursday was my last day of class for the week, so I was quite excited to sleep in on Friday morning. For breakfast we had soft porridge, which is porridge with creamy milk and sugar mixed in. Not the dread sour porridge, which is porridge with sour milk chunks mixed together. My host mom invited me to come to a funeral with her on Friday and I agreed. Funerals here in Botswana can take all week and there are many parts. There is a lot of food, a lot of people, and a lot of socializing. On Friday we reached the home around noon and set up chairs in the shade. There we sat for approximately five hours, being fed plates of food every so often. As with everywhere in Botswana the fare was sorghum porridge/corn meal, beef liver, and sauce. There was the also the grisly equivalent of two dead cows hanging from a tree in the yard. The hides of the cows were taken out and hosed down, then rolled up and left in a heap which looked disturbingly like a sleeping animal. Here the meat is not cooked or frozen right away, but left in the tree all day. It was still there when we let around dark.

My host mom noticed how glazed over I looked (everyone was speaking in Setswana, so there was really nothing for me to do) and invited me to come help the other young women cook vast tubs of dough into papatas and fat cakes. Mmm, delicious! There were three of four HUGE metal tubs full of dough, and one team of women was in charge of shaping the dough balls. Another team, myself included, shaped the dough balls into the appropriate papata shape. Then we placed them on iron cooking “stoves”, which really looked more like woks, over hot coals and waited for them to bake. So I was busy doing that for a while, and then a large group of people left to retrieve the body (always referred to as a corpse) from the mortuary. When they returned the coffin was carried inside and everybody sang. Then we sat and several people spoke. Again, it was all in Setswana so I am not sure what they said, but it seemed very similar to a standard eulogy.

Then it was time for dinner. Then, home at last. My host mom managed to fill a Tupperware bin full of papatas and fat cakes for me; in the morning these had all been eaten before I even got to them. A bitter disappointment.

Saturday my host mom got up at 4.45 am and returned for the final part of the funeral, which was the actual burial. I was not asked to go along this time, so I was able to sleep later. I got up and had a tasty breakfast and then...sat around for a while. I asked my sister Sepiso if there was anything in Mochudi that I could sight see, or at least check out. She said no. I later found out that this was not true- some CIEE kids got to go rock climbing, swimming, attend a festival, and other no doubt fabulous activities. Instead, around noon, Sepiso took Lone and I to the shops, which turned out to be a small strip mall next to the gas station and combi stop which was a hubub for activity. There was a Spar (hooray!), some hardware stores, a Chinese clothing store, and a few other miscellaneous places. We mostly sat around while Sepiso visited with friends. Then we went grocery shopping I was happy to get my hands on my latest food obsession, yogurt.

When we got home I walked across the road to my favorite little shop, Mogorosi, and bought Lesedi, Sepiso, and myself some cold Fanta's in glass bottle. I favor grape, myself, and I bought a pineapple and an orange for the others. Then, after a lunch of chips (fries) and Fanta I decided that it was high time for a nap. The heat of the day is a good time to hide from the sun and do absolutely nothing. When I woke up I had a text saying that my friend Grant was having a bonfire and his family was cooking a braai. A braai, in case I haven't mentioned it before, is like a barbeque. It basically means, everyone come over, we have an abundance of food and chibuku! Okay, I exaggerate here, most people won't touch Chibuku with a ten foot pole. It is, after all, sorghum fermented with yeast and poured into a milk carton and sold without shame for the bargain price of P5. Yep, that's less than $1 for a whole carton. The real challenge comes when you try to choke down a whole glass. Some CIEE-ers are getting quite good at it and will finish a whole carton. It takes a lot of Chibuku to actually feel the alcoholic effects, however. There was dancing (mostly enjoyed by the little kids who were Grant's host siblings) and we even made s'mores. They were comprised of regular marshmallows, heavenly Cadbury milk chocolate, and tea biscuits, which means buttery cookies. I think these were an improvement on the usual graham crackers and Hershey's.

When it was time to go I texted Sepiso and asked how I was supposed to get home. In order to get to the bonfire in the first place I had to take a taxi to the combi pick up, and then get on a combi to the police station, and walk a short distance from there. Sepiso texted me back to call her friend Bico. I did, and he said he was already waiting for me. Alright-very-well-so, I found him sitting in a school bus, waiting to pick me up. It turns out he was very talkative and friendly and dropped me off right in front of my house, free of charge. Yay for Sepiso's connections!

Sunday morning and afternoon I helped my host mom and sister cook a big lunch and make the most delicious custard desert. It was a layer of custard, sprinkeled with a layer or crushed cookies, topped with cream, then a layer of jello, and repeated about four times. Oh yes, just think about that. I sincerely hope they make it again when mom and I go visit on Sunday.

After the big meal it was time for goodbyes (I spent a lot of time with the dogs) and then Sepiso and Lone and I got a cap to where the bus was waiting to take all the CIEE-ers back to Gabs.

So that's my story.