Livingstone Sunday
The beds were lovely. The wake-up call invilved the TV turning on and almost giving us a heart attack, and the weather was perfect. We were so excited to have more adventures!
We started out the day with the Best Buffet Ever. Now, in Europe and all over Africa, hotels include breakfasts. They can range from a piece of hard toast and slimy jam to a hot buffet. This, however, was the best buffet either of us had ever seen! There were sausages - beef and chicken, too! There was fruit and compote and cereal and 4 types of juices, and a fried egg station and an omlette station, and a crepe (they call them omlettes) station. Oh! And beef stif fry (which tasted surprisingly good at 7:30am), and stuffed tomatoes, and potatoes...
After breakfast, we rolled ourselves back to our room, where after some missing-bathing-suit-drama (it had fallen behind the curtain) we headed back to the boiling point hike.
We stopped at the market, because, as it turns out, I had packed a sweater we had meant to give away. We went around to all of the booths, bargaining with a black-red- and orange-striped woman's sweater. In the end sister applied it's assumed value towards a wooden bowl and salad tongs, and I ended up traiding the baby-blue butterfly-appliqued cap to the mand who had admired it the day before, in exchange for some tribally-decorated salad tongs.
This time there were less baboons, and we hiked all the way to the base of the lake. We were accross the river from the falls (which I think are technically in Zimbabwe), but the churning water was fierce, and we believed what we had read about 9 milion litres of water being tossed over the falls every second! Above us was a bridge, which was used for bungy jumping Watching was dramatic enough, we didn't feel at all sorry that our trip didn't leave time for that...
We dipped our toes in the angry lake, and looked up at the walls of the canyon, and when a bunch of other hikers scrambled over the rocks (I forgot to mention that the top of the trail consists of around 300 irregular stone steps, the middle part of a middy forest path, and the bottom section of giant boulders, peppered with signs warning to 'watch for falling rocks'. As if we could protect ourself if we saw any!) we headed back to the top.
We filled our water bottles at the hotel bar and jumped into the pool, and then took a cab into Livingstone, to the bus. I had wanted to look at the Livingstone market, but when the taxi drive asked us: "Do you really need more curios" I decided that he was probably correct. That comment is another example of how culturally the Zambians differ from other Africans we had met. Anothre example is how at the front desk of the hotel, I was admiring one of the receptionist's tribal costumes. Sis said that it would probably look good on me. The receptionist looked me u pand looked me down and announced loudly: "Well, this would never fit you!"
It was a good thing we arrived at the bus so early (12:50, for a 2:30 bus) because the crowds were already gathering to board the bus. While sister went in search of ice cream, I asked the employee if I could get on first to get seats for my sister and I. He said that I could, in exchange for a cigarette. So, I dumped our bags on our seats, and bought him a cigarette (costing 100 Kwachas, or 10 cents). I was feeling pretty good about my seat-snagging, when the man suddenly became a pest. I bought a newspsper, and he grabbed it, read it, and then gave it to his friend to read. I bought sister a banana, and he grabbed it as soon as I paid and we actually had to fight for it (I won) because he said that I should have bought it for him. Then I bought a wooden monkey and he grabbed it and started trotting it accross my bosoms. Sigh. They were good seats, so I thought I would just let it go. However, when we were sitting on the bus and I had the monkey in my lap and he came a grabbed it, making sure he copped a lap-feel, sister had enough and exploded at him. What a protective sister I have :) (I figured I would just leave things, as the bus was about to leave and he was not going to be on it, and it was not big deal, just an annoyance of travelling. I hadn't counted on my sister though!! Oh, and don't stress out, mum! They are just bosoms!)
The bus ride bas was supposed to be an express and take 4.5 hours. It took over 6, and involved the blaring of "The Last Boy Scout", a really horrible movie from 1996. We arrived at the Lusaka station in the dark, and this time it was I who saved my sis and I! I asked the nice Indian boys sitting in the seat accross from us if we could share a cab with them. Well, no only did they have a hote shuttle waiting, but their hotel shuttle drove us to our hotel door. How nice! There were certainly taxis we could had taken, but the drives were advertising their services by thrusting the sharp end of a key at our faces and yelling 'Taxi! taxi!'
We were very happy to be back at the hotel, and our bags, and even my roses (from the concert) were still intact. They upgraded our room, and we ordered really awful pizza and then went to bed.
It is Monday afternoon, and I have been spending most of the day typing posts, and then lunching with my sis. Tomorrow we go back to Pretoria, and tomorrow night I leave for Canada. I can't imagine being in St. Albert right now, on this sunny day in 3rd-world Lusaka. Sis and I still have some clothes and 2 dollies to give away, and after she is done work we are going to walk around until we see someone who needs them...
We started out the day with the Best Buffet Ever. Now, in Europe and all over Africa, hotels include breakfasts. They can range from a piece of hard toast and slimy jam to a hot buffet. This, however, was the best buffet either of us had ever seen! There were sausages - beef and chicken, too! There was fruit and compote and cereal and 4 types of juices, and a fried egg station and an omlette station, and a crepe (they call them omlettes) station. Oh! And beef stif fry (which tasted surprisingly good at 7:30am), and stuffed tomatoes, and potatoes...
After breakfast, we rolled ourselves back to our room, where after some missing-bathing-suit-drama (it had fallen behind the curtain) we headed back to the boiling point hike.
We stopped at the market, because, as it turns out, I had packed a sweater we had meant to give away. We went around to all of the booths, bargaining with a black-red- and orange-striped woman's sweater. In the end sister applied it's assumed value towards a wooden bowl and salad tongs, and I ended up traiding the baby-blue butterfly-appliqued cap to the mand who had admired it the day before, in exchange for some tribally-decorated salad tongs.
This time there were less baboons, and we hiked all the way to the base of the lake. We were accross the river from the falls (which I think are technically in Zimbabwe), but the churning water was fierce, and we believed what we had read about 9 milion litres of water being tossed over the falls every second! Above us was a bridge, which was used for bungy jumping Watching was dramatic enough, we didn't feel at all sorry that our trip didn't leave time for that...
We dipped our toes in the angry lake, and looked up at the walls of the canyon, and when a bunch of other hikers scrambled over the rocks (I forgot to mention that the top of the trail consists of around 300 irregular stone steps, the middle part of a middy forest path, and the bottom section of giant boulders, peppered with signs warning to 'watch for falling rocks'. As if we could protect ourself if we saw any!) we headed back to the top.
We filled our water bottles at the hotel bar and jumped into the pool, and then took a cab into Livingstone, to the bus. I had wanted to look at the Livingstone market, but when the taxi drive asked us: "Do you really need more curios" I decided that he was probably correct. That comment is another example of how culturally the Zambians differ from other Africans we had met. Anothre example is how at the front desk of the hotel, I was admiring one of the receptionist's tribal costumes. Sis said that it would probably look good on me. The receptionist looked me u pand looked me down and announced loudly: "Well, this would never fit you!"
It was a good thing we arrived at the bus so early (12:50, for a 2:30 bus) because the crowds were already gathering to board the bus. While sister went in search of ice cream, I asked the employee if I could get on first to get seats for my sister and I. He said that I could, in exchange for a cigarette. So, I dumped our bags on our seats, and bought him a cigarette (costing 100 Kwachas, or 10 cents). I was feeling pretty good about my seat-snagging, when the man suddenly became a pest. I bought a newspsper, and he grabbed it, read it, and then gave it to his friend to read. I bought sister a banana, and he grabbed it as soon as I paid and we actually had to fight for it (I won) because he said that I should have bought it for him. Then I bought a wooden monkey and he grabbed it and started trotting it accross my bosoms. Sigh. They were good seats, so I thought I would just let it go. However, when we were sitting on the bus and I had the monkey in my lap and he came a grabbed it, making sure he copped a lap-feel, sister had enough and exploded at him. What a protective sister I have :) (I figured I would just leave things, as the bus was about to leave and he was not going to be on it, and it was not big deal, just an annoyance of travelling. I hadn't counted on my sister though!! Oh, and don't stress out, mum! They are just bosoms!)
The bus ride bas was supposed to be an express and take 4.5 hours. It took over 6, and involved the blaring of "The Last Boy Scout", a really horrible movie from 1996. We arrived at the Lusaka station in the dark, and this time it was I who saved my sis and I! I asked the nice Indian boys sitting in the seat accross from us if we could share a cab with them. Well, no only did they have a hote shuttle waiting, but their hotel shuttle drove us to our hotel door. How nice! There were certainly taxis we could had taken, but the drives were advertising their services by thrusting the sharp end of a key at our faces and yelling 'Taxi! taxi!'
We were very happy to be back at the hotel, and our bags, and even my roses (from the concert) were still intact. They upgraded our room, and we ordered really awful pizza and then went to bed.
It is Monday afternoon, and I have been spending most of the day typing posts, and then lunching with my sis. Tomorrow we go back to Pretoria, and tomorrow night I leave for Canada. I can't imagine being in St. Albert right now, on this sunny day in 3rd-world Lusaka. Sis and I still have some clothes and 2 dollies to give away, and after she is done work we are going to walk around until we see someone who needs them...
posted by Melamondiale @ 3:45 AM
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