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!
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