Livingstone, Zambia (Victoria Falls)

(Note: Survivor Palau spoiler alert! Don't read the last section if you think Survivor is real!)

It's been a very eventful two days in the "real" Africa. I am staying within walking distance (though walking is discouraged because of muggers in the bush) from Victoria Falls. (Un)fortunately, though, I haven't even seen the falls yet because I've found some other things to do.

Day 1 in Zambia was mostly about walking the streets and getting adjusted. I've found that the first thing I do in a new country is immediately compare it to past places I've visited. In that vain, Zambia reminds me a lot of El Salvador when I visited about 5 years ago. A nice Zambian about my age on the airplane wearing a Red Sox jersey told me that Livingstone is the "Miami Beach" of Zambia. Thankfully they left out the fat guys in speedos. First impressions were: 85-90 degrees, the red dirt of the continent made up the streets. The currency is called the Kwacha which, because of inflation, totals K3500 to 1 US$. It can get very complicated without a calculator. Quick, how many dollars is K10,000?

No, seriously, can you tell me? I'm still trying to figure it out. Also, they drive on the wrong/left side of the road here, British style. You wouldn't think that would be confusing for me since I'm not driving, but it is. I keep looking the wrong way (to the left) when i want to cross the street. Plus, people pass you on the sidewalks on your right, which is also different than the States. I keep running in to people like the big arrogant American that i am. Also met a Zimbabwean refugee who's been here for 2 years. He spoke to me about his country as he was begging me for food. He described going back to Zim as like "Going from Sarajevo into a gas chamber". He was also very educated and spoke to me about America's prohibition and the Causa Nostra.

To finish off Day 1 I headed out to try some local African fare and ended up at "Da Fusion" a mixture of foods from around the world. I ordered the chicken curry and had the choice of pairing it with rice or the native Zambian side "Nshima". Similar to other African countries, Nshima is a doughey, starchey substance similar to mashed potatoes but spongier. For the other inexperienced Africans out there, you scoop the Nshima with your hand and then scoop up the other dish, in my case 2 small chunks of curried chicken and cabbage. It was actually very flavorful and the waitresses got a kick out of watching this dumb Texan try the maneuvers for the first time. Finally one of them came over to me and whispered softly in my ear "You're supposed to scoop the Nshima first and then the meat." So, blushing a little, I followed the native tradition rather than my Texan remix for the rest of the meal. Overall not a bad experience.

Day 2 found me crossing the border to Botswana to Chobe National Park to "safari" (the non-shooting animals kind). Once I put pictures up I'll say more about it, but without them it's pretty worthless. But it was awesome and filled with hippos, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, baboons, crocodiles, lizards, etc.

The fun part for me, though, was crossing the border. The border crossing is at the nexus of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers which creates the border between four countries: Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Unfortunately for political reasons (which the Botswanans blame on Mugabe) a bridge has not been built to span the rivers. So one single ferry takes one single 18-wheeler across which takes about 10 minutes. So the line of trucks waiting to cross stretches for miles and can take them up to a week. Yep, I'm in Africa.

So tomorrow I'm off to finally see Victoria Falls, or as the locals call it, "The Smoke that Thunders". I'm thinking that since David Livingstone got to name it just because he was the first European, I might go ahead and name it since i'm likely to be the first Texan to see it...or at least the first San Antonian...or at least the first person from my high school class. I'm thinking of calling it "Big Spit" or "Don't slip!" I'll keep you posted so that you can correct your maps back home.


Fun travel notes:
1) On the ferry crossing the rivers a couple of guys came up in a canoe and started unloading beer cases that were on the boat. Apparently they were trying to avoid customs. I watched them for awhile then watched other things. Suddenly everyone was screaming and running to the back of the ferry. So of course I followed, looking for a good story. When i got to the back of the boat I saw that the canoe with beer cases had cap-sized and all the beer was floating down the Zambezi to Zimbabwe. One of the canoe's competitors raced to catch up to the floating party and scooped up their rewards. Everyone on the ferry laughed about it for 5 minutes and told everyone on the shore what had happened, who then laughed about it for 10 minutes and kept spreading the story. Who needs tv?

2) On the plane trip up to Zambia I sat next to a 19 year old British girl named Tabitha who was in Zambia for a month to build mud huts in rural villages for the elderly. It turns out that she was a stunt double on the show Survivor:Palau. She called herself a 'dream-teamer'. Apparently every contestant on Survivor has a 'dream-teamer' who performs all of the stunts beforehand on a separate island to make sure they're safe. She was the 'dream-teamer' for Amanda. Basically her job was to live in a tropical island for 4 months, do fun stunts and games for the show, and sunbathe. I learned lots more about the inner workings of Survivor which I'll share with you on another date if you wish. Needless to say, i'm totally taking her story and making it my own. Good times!