Flying in to Livingstone, Zambia - the white is all the mist from Victoria Falls.
Mosi - the local beer.
Bridget and I before the booze/dinner cruise
From the dinner cruise
one of the little girls at the Local Cowboy School we visited in Livingstone
Spices and grains in the local market
Cooking peanut like nuts (ground nuts I think). She is wearing a chitanga (a piece of cloth tied around the waist) - something all women in the market wear. So we of course had to get them as well. The people loved that we were dressing like them and complimented us!
Victoria falls from the Zambia side - this is the side we got wet on (torrential downpour in one part!)
V - for Victoria Falls (on the Zimbabwe side)
Zimbabwe - breath taking view
Zimbabwe as well - I would have to say I might have liked this side better but I am glad I did both sides
The day started off with me waking up at 4:10 in the morning so that we could leave by 4:30 and get to the airport in time for our 6:20 flight. I am not very happy in the mornings especially at that time but I got up and was making sure I had everything, hoping that the Annies Cove people wouldn’t forget me! Shawn, Alyssa, Patrick, Sarah, Hannah, Bridget, Coleen, and I went on the trip. We all got to the airport and made it through security. So we waited and waited and finally got on the plane to head to Joburg. We sat around in that airport and waited for our plane to Livingston. We got on that plane and headed for the falls. When we got closer we looked out and could see the falls from our plane. It was an amazing view of the 7th wonder of the world! We were so excited to see them from the ground. We landed around 1:30, filled out the visa form and waited in line. We had to have US dollars to get it (which was a little strange) but Hannah, Bridget and I didn’t have dollars so we had to go exchange Kwacha (which we got out of the ATM) for dollars. We needed 80 dollars for the visa, which equaled about 400,000 Kwacha! It was so scary taking out that much money – even though it wasn’t that much. However it was pretty cool being a millionaire while I was there! We finally got it sorted out and were able to pay for the visa, which it turned out we probably could have gotten away with out paying. This was because they took all of our passports and stamped them and gave them a receipt before 3 of us had paid. Patrick told us this afterwards. But I still don’t think I would have not paid – I wouldn’t want to be stuck in Zambia jail for the rest of my life! (Although it was a gorgeous country with spectacular people!)
We made it to our hostel – Jolly Boys Backpackers – and got settled into our rooms. We paid for the room (which could have been paid in Dollars, Kwacha or Rand – mass confusion I tell you!). But I must admit I got pretty good at math and figuring out how much things would cost in all the different currencies. However, at first we were so confused by the money we would just set out what we had and le the people take what they needed. Good thing they were honest – at least we hope! We also booked and paid for a booze cruse that we would be going on that night, which we left at 3:30 for. We got down to the Zambizi River and waited for the boat to get ready for us to storm onto it. After we were all on the bartender opened the bar and it was all you can drink and then later all you can eat! Not a good idea to let college students have an all you can drink bar! They went crazy – well except for Coleen and I. I tried a sip of the local beer – Mosi – just to say I had it and to compare it to the local beer of Mozambique (which I think I liked better!) We rode on the boat and looked for animals, which we ended up seeing hippos and a crocodile. Just before the sun was about to set they served us sausage, chicken, coleslaw and a roll. It was so good and you better believe that I ate a lot – had to get my moneys worth (my mom has taught me well). Watching the sunset over the river was spectacular – so worth the 40 dollar price of admission. We were in ZAMBIA and it was amazing. I was with some of my really good friends here and we had a great time taking pictures, eating, drinking and of course there was lots of laughing. When we got off the boat we hung out in a little sand bar on the shoreline. We had the whole dance floor to ourselves. So we took advantage of it and danced for a while under the disco ball with our shoes off and feet in the sand! It was amazing – everyone was crazy and dancing and snapping pictures. I am pretty sure the few locals who were sitting at the bar were entertained! Everyone was drunk at 6 so you better believe that we had an early night. We went back to the hostel, sat around for a little while talking and people were drinking more. Then 9:30 hit and we were all in the room ready for bed.
The next morning the Chobby National Park people left around 7 to head out for their safari trip. Hannah, Coleen and I decided to hang back and see what we could do in Zambia for the day. I kind of wanted to go but I had already seen most of the animals (except for Cheetahs and Elephants, which I can see really close to P.E.) so decided I would try to find something else to do for the day. So we got up around 8, got breakfast and decided to go on a bike tour of Livingston. We left at 11, with the Local Cowboy (or so he calls himself). He was a skinny black man wearing a cowboy hat! He also brought a helper along as well to help carry things and make sure we were on the right path. We discussed where we wanted to go and decided to see the school that he started down in the small village just outside of the main town – it was pretty similar to the townships around here. So we got down to the school where we were greeted by lots of small children. One of the teachers showed us around the 4-roomed school and the kids wanted us to take their picture! Then didn’t understand that they need to stand back in order for me to get them in the frame but you better believe that after I took a picture they ran up to me so they could see it! It was such a great experience seeing the school that these kids go to and getting to ask the teachers questions.
We got back onto the bikes and headed into the township market. We were the only white people in the market, which had to be pointed out to me later. It is crazy how fast I am getting used to being the minority. When someone asked if I realized I was the only white person the whole day, I thought back no that couldn’t be because the teachers were white.. no wait they were all black.. oh there had to have been at least one.. but I don’t think there was. It just shows that people are people and it doesn’t matter what color of skin they have. God made them and loves everyone the same. I didn’t feel uncomfortable once or like everyone was staring at me.. well except for one instance. When we got to the market we started walking around the narrow isles filled with people (mostly women) and lots of fruit, vegetables, nuts, spices and even some chunks of special dirt that women eat when they are pregnant – interesting! We came up to one stand where our guide started speaking with her. As we were getting water he told us the lady had told him that we needed to be wearing chitengas (pieces of colorful cloth that the ladies would wear around their waist). Our guide, Local Cowboy, told us that the bottom half is what needs to be covered, that the top half doesn’t matter as much. However, for us in the Western world it is the opposite I feel like. As we were walking to the shop selling the chitengas, I started to notice a lot of people staring at us and they viewed us as outsiders. However, when we bought and put on our chitengas for 15,000 Kwatcha – the women in the streets all told us how wonderful we looked. They smiled at us – we had become like one of them. We walked around for a while buying produce, not that we really needed it but it was great to help out the locals. We bought tomatoes, okra, onions, and even a weird fruit that you crack open and there a little white dried up seeds that I later found out were essentially baking powder (I think). My favorite was when I went up to a young lady selling bananas. I asked her how much and she said 2,000 Kwatcha for 4 bananas. I gave her my money (which equals about 50 cents) and she had me pick out 4. Then as I was getting ready to leave she grabbed one more and shoved it in the bag. She handed me the bag and said have a nice day. I thanked her and walked away. It was amazing to see someone who has so little giving me some of what they had. I wanted to give her a hug and give her something more of mine, but instead I just accepted the kind gift and walked away. I will never forget how warm and loving the people in that small township in Livingston were. As we were getting ready to leave we stopped by one more shop and tried another local food. It was essential a doughnut – a fried ball of sweet dough. It was delicious.
We finally made it home after having to walk up the large hill to get back to the main town. It is so interesting to me how in almost every city I have been in – the rich live on the hill and the poor live below. It shows symbolism in that the rich feel as though they are above the poor. I just wonder how this all came about. Anyway we made it back home and told our two guides good-bye. It was such a wonderful experience and I felt as though the people were nicer and friendlier towards me. They didn’t seem shy or timid towards us, even though we were white. It doesn’t seem that way in South Africa. I feel as though a lot of the blacks are not as friendly towards me but I feel that comes from the Apartheid years. Don’t get me wrong it is not as though they are mean or anything – they just don’t seem as friendly and warm towards me.
The rest of the day we spent swimming and laying by the pool. It was a perfect end to a hot day riding a bike. That evening we hung out as a group and were in bed by 9:30 – man we were like old people. Haha
We woke up on Saturday fairly early to eat breakfast (I had my usual – a museli parfait – which was plain yogurt, museli (essentially granola – soooo good) bananas and honey. It was bomb. Then we got ready and jumped on a bus headed to the falls at 10:00. We got to the falls, paid to get into the park on the Zambia side and started down one of the trails. We couldn’t see much from the trail but when we could see part of the falls we were so excited. Even though we could barely see the falls we could still feel the mist and it was crazy to see the difference in the terrain between where the mist fell and where it didn’t. You better believe that one half was dead and the other was living and green! We turned around and headed back to try a different trail – this time we were headed straight into the falls. We started our hike and were staying fairly dry (which was important since we all had our cameras with us). However, then we reached a point where they were renting ponchos out for 1 dollar. I had a rain jacket so I put that over me and my book bag hoping I would stay dry – not a chance. We walked down the trail and the rain started and it got harder and harder to a point we could barely see anything. We decided to turn back and come up with a new plan. There was no way we wanted to take our cameras in fear that they might get ruined by the torrential downpour. So half of us stayed back – Colleen, Bridget, Sarah and I. The rest went in. They were so wet when they came out even though they were wearing ponchos. It was our turn. We first had to climb up a slippery ramp in the pouring rain with the falls crashing bellow us and to our right. We made it up with out slipping or dying, success! We continued our journey of getting drenched and not seeing much most of the time. However, there were a couple of points where if we waited long enough the mist from the falls would evaporate and we could see the falls. It was beautiful. We also saw some rainbows and I have to admit it was pretty fun walking out next to the falls and getting drenched. We finally made it back to the group feeling like wet puppies. My underwear was soaked but I was prepared and had brought extra shorts. Thank goodness because my biggest pet peeve is wet underwear!
We then walked up a trail to see where the falls started. We could see the large river and the water falling over the edge. We all had to get out on the rock and get our picture taken with the rushing water behind us. Mom would have been freaking out.. one wrong move and we would have been over the falls! (well maybe not but probably). Then we decided who was going to the Zimbabwe side and who wasn’t. There were 6 of us going and 2 stayed back. So Patrick, Bridget, Shawn, Alyssa, Colleen and I headed to the border. We walked and got stamped out of Zambia. Then we walked a while to get to Zimbabwe where we had to fill out paper work (like when entering any country) so that we could get our visa. We stood in a long line and when everyone was finally done we made our way across a huge bridge (which gave a us a great view of the falls) and then we hiked another mile or so up the hill to the town of Victoria Falls. Mind you it was about 1:00 in the afternoon and we were hot, wet, tired, and hungry! So our first stop was to get money out of the ATM (which gave us dollars because Zim uses US dollars!) and then we looked for food. We found a place with different fast food places. So I got a medium veggie pizza with pineapple and the works and finished it.
We then looked around the markets where I bought a couple Nyoni’s (something like that), which are little dragons that have some story behind it but they bring good luck. We headed down to the falls and paid 30 dollars to get into the Zim side. We walked into the park and started out on the trial. We immediately stopped and figured out all the money we paid to get there was worth it. We could see all of the falls and there was a double rainbow. It is hard to describe and the pictures don’t do it justice – you will all just have to make it there someday! It is truly amazing – we were there during the winter when the water is falling the most. During the summer here the water only trickles. The sound of the crashing water and the beauty of the water and mist was unreal. I loved every minute of it. We took a walk and were almost running because we were so excited to see more of the falls. We kept going to the different look out points and we would take pictures – trying to keep our cameras dry. We spent an hour and a half maybe in the park – I could have spent all day but it was going to be getting dark soon and we didn’t want to get stuck in Zim or be walking around at night. So we headed our of the park, picked up Colleen (since she didn’t go in) and this is when the money started leaving my pocket. I felt like Andrew – it was burning a hole. I walked out with a lot of souvenirs and not much money.. but it was a great day in Zimbabwe.
We made it back that night and chilled at the hostel, ordered food, and I made some of the food we had bought in Zambia. We played a game or two and were in bed around 10. We got up the next morning, packed our things and headed into the market in town to find more chitangas. A few of us decided that was how we were going to spend our remaining Kwatcha. The town didn’t have much so we decided to head into the township where we knew they would have them! We found a shop selling them for 7,500 kwatcha – which we tried to bargain down to 5,000 since we would be buying somewhere around 30 however he wouldn’t budge any lower than 7,000. It took us a while to pick out our favorites, but we finally got all that we needed and headed back to the hostel. We sat around for a while before we left for the airport, which we arrived way to early. But I guess better early then miss the plane (although I wouldn’t have minded staying in Zambia for a couple extra days! The airport was super tiny and it was funny to see how little they cared about security (or so I thought). But as we waited we sat around and played with the airport cat! (yup a cat roaming around the airport) such a funny site! Then we started boarding the plane. And when by bag went through they wanted it to go through again. So I put it back and she told me I couldn’t have the scissors that I had in there, which I have had in my bag since who knows when. So I had to dig around and find them and give them to the lady. She also made Sarah take out a metal spoon that she had in her bag. I decided that they lady just picked out thinks she needed and told us to give them to her! Haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave your comment, or question.. or just a nice thought --- right here.