Thanksgiving

I returned from Lusaka last Friday and spent the night in Serenje. Then on Saturday morning I woke up fairly early and after the morning shower ended I hitched out to Chalata and walked the 12km back to my village because I was still a little too sore to bike on the bumpy road. I was really excited to see my kitty, who was also super excited to see me. I only spent 38 hours there and most of the time I was lying down in bed with my kitty. I still wasn't strong enough to carry water or things so I couldn't stay long on my own. I left monday morning to go back to Serenje, walking 12km again, for our semi annual Provincial meetings. Everyone was there by Tuesday and we had our official meetings on Wednesday. In a way it sucks to have 26 volunteers staying together in the same small house, but it was nice to see everyone and catch up. On Thursday we just cooked and baked and finished by 7pm for our wonderful thanksgiving dinner. We had 2 turkeys (one frozen from Lusaka and another one live that had to be slaughtered and prepared,) green been casarole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn bread, apple bread, banana bread, mac and cheese, pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesecake. It was delicious and we had a lot left over. I left the next afternoon on the PC bus headed to lusaka, where I am staying with a different host family until I fly out tomorrow morning. It worked out well because there is a monthly market at the church near the pc office and it just happened to be today so I was able to go there and buy the rest of my Christmas presents. The prices were pretty high and because there were so many rich white people it was difficult to get good deals but it was still cheaper than shopping at the Joburg airport. Also, a lot of the people actually make their own things whereas the Sunday craft market is mostly imported things from Tanzania, the Congo, Zimbabwe, or South Africa. I can't think of anything else to say except that I am so excited about going to Italy in the morning!!!! (Although I do feel a little bad because except for the 38 hours I will have been out of my village for 6 weeks straight.)

counting down the days

Still in Lusaka although everyone that has been here has gone back and other people have come and even most of them have already gone back to their villages, but me, I am still here. Good news is that the chiropracter says that everything looks good, I have the strength back in my right arm which means that my collarbone is completely fine now. My nexk and back look good and even the muscle tension is getting better so really i'm just left with soreness around my sternum. Since the problems have been adequately addressed it is now just a matter of being patient and letting the rest heal on its own. It's still a little painful, but i am now only taking over the counter pain killers instead of the really strong ones and I'm able to do some stretches and work on getting my strength back. Overall I am feeling much better and I am looking forward to getting back to the village, although I will only be there for a few days before I leave for our semi anual Provincial meetings and then straight to Italy (yay!!!)

As much as I was looking forward to getting back to the village I am a little nervous and hesitant now. One reason is that I will not be there long enough to really do any work. I do need to drop of some papers and make sure that the 2 girls and mentor that were chosen to attend Camp GLOW (a camp for girls empowerment) have all the information they need so that they can get to the camp because I won't be around to help them with that. Another thing is that my host father has been calling Peace Corps to complain about me, he is mad that I have not been around. And he mentioned that when I was around I was not working in the village very often (He is right, lately I have given up on my village because they are to lazy to come to meetings or try new ag practices, and I have stared working more in nearby villages where people seem eager to learn and improve their lives.) My host father also said he was offended that I no longer eat with them (for the record I ate with them 3 times, the 3 times that they invited me, all in the first month I was at site, and I should say that one of those times I got food poisoning so I don't really care to eat with them again, but if they asked I would be polite and eat a little at least. Funny thing is they haven't invited me and it turns out even in Zambia it is not polite to show up and sit down for dinner if you were not invited or offered food. Personally, I think they want me to "eat" with them now because they sold all their maize for cash and now they have no food until their tomatoes can be sold for cash and they can buy maize back, at a higher price. Planning and budgeting is not big here they want the quick cash to get drunk immediately even if it cost more in the end. So now that they have no food, I bet they want me to show up for dinner and provide dinner for myself and their whole family, which I refuse. I hate to be unsympathetic, but I told them not to sell all their maize because then they wouldn't have food. So really it's their own fault if they are starving, and regardless, I don't get money to feed all of them in addition to myself and certainly not all the other families that would inevitably find out and start demanding food as well, even if they weren't starving.) Another issue he has is that I don't greet them enough or try to talk to them very much lately so he thinks I might be mad at him and his family (well you did eat my rabbit so I would have a pretty valid reason to be mad at you, but seeing as I'm no longer 5 years old I don't just start ignoring people if I am mad at them. In fact even after the rabbit thing I still greeted my family the same as always until I left and seeing as they don't have cell phones its not possible for me to greet them when I'm not there. It smells like a guilty concious to me. He did assure PC that he would look into the matter and find out who killed the rabbit which is what he told me almost a month ago!)Sorry for the rambling and tangents, but needless to say, I'm a little annoyed about this whole thing. And my host father has made it sound like the whole village is mad/disappointed in me and they don't really want me around anymore, even though they are mad that I am not around? I guess I will know more after I go back, but part of me is dreading going back and having to deal with this conflict and in another language at that. Anyway thats pretty much what has been going on with me. I have an 8:00 appointment tomorrow and then I should be able to leave and go back to Serenje, where all my stuff is. Then Sat morning I plan to make my way back to the village (even though I'm supposed to stay at the house and rest.)

This morning I listened to one of my favorite Starting Line songs "counting down the days til California comes." Although, this whole time I have been counting down the days until I could go back to my village, I'm suddenly not so excited about that (I am still super excited to see my kitty and I hope she doesn't get too lonely and run away because that would make me really sad) and I am definitely dreading provincials when all of us volunteers will be stuck together in the relatively small house. Instead I am now counting down the days until Italy (yay again!) 10 days until I am on my way!!! (For those of you that haven't heard, I am meeting my momma in Italy in just 10 days after not seeing her for almost 10 months!)

PS I apologize for all the ! because it usually annoys me when I read stuff with a lot of !

Yesterday I read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" which has prompted me to apologize for the gramatical and punctuation errors that I'm sure abound in my previous blogs. And unforunately I cannot even promise that future blogs will be any better, they will probably be the same. I seriously apologize because gramatical mistakes do annoy me and I find myself counting the mistakes in every book I read; however, with limited internet time I type as fast as possible and don't even re-read anything I write. Anyway, I highly reccommend the book, it was vey entertaining and I found myself having to supress laughs a few time (my sternum hurts pretty bad when I laugh, sneeze, or cough.) The punctuation discusion reminded me of a sign that I recently saw in Zambia. We were on our way to Eastern Province from Lusaka and just before the road curved there was a sign beside the road. It was a white triangle-shaped sign similar to a yield sign in America. The border was a burgandy color and in the middle of the sign was an exclamation point, also in burgandy. When I saw it, all sorts of crazy things ran through my mind. I was filled with suspense and even some anxiety as to what the sign was supposed to be saying. Was it warning that something dangerous was right around the bend or was it saying there was something really cool and exciting just around the corner. Those two possible meanings alone are very different and then I was worried that maybe the sign was telling us to do something, but how would we be able to follow its instructions if we had no idea what the sign meant? To add to this, we were driving really slowly to it took a long time for us to round the bend and see what was on the other side. As it turns out they were repairing a section of the road (which in itself invokes the surprise and excitment of the exclamation point because it's so rare in this country) so the road was detoured around it and I assume that was the reason for the exclamation point sign, but overall it still perplexes me a bit.
Other interesting signs that I have seen:
*Germstone Restaurant (yes germstones)
*Layer Hens for sale cheep cheep cheep-which I found rather clever until I figured out it was probably just a typo
*Please flash the toilet when your finished-your not you're and yes some of us volunteers comply and flash the toilet on our way out
*Similarly another public toilet says "no monkey style please" still not really sure what that means???
*God Only Knows Take Away-I don't feel comfortable eating something if only God knows what t is
*Time will Tell Transport-I really don't want to wait until time tells me what will happen with he transport, if it will break down, crash, just decide to stop for 3 hours etc.
*Finally: as we were driving through South Luangwa National Park we came to a sign asking us to slow down because we were at a wildlife crossing. Yes that one particular spot was an authorized wildlife park despite the fact that we were in a national park with wildlife everywhere and they don't know where the one crossing is or don't care because they cross wherever and whenever they wish.

This is just a small selection of interesting signs that I can remember, but I have seen o so many in this country.

Exiled to Lusaka

On Monday I was sent down to Lusaka for medical. My sternum is still really sore from the car accident and there was concern that I may have gotten a hairline fracture or something. I was able to see the doctor monday afternoon as soon as I arrived (a doctor at a private clinic that PC uses) but he said my lungs were clear and I didn't have any broken ribs so I should just rest and if it's not better in a few days come back for a chest xray. Meaning I had to stay and rest in Lusaka, and if I haven't mentioned this before, Lusaka is lame and I don't particularly enjoy being here, especially alone. It turns out 2 people were at the PC bunk house in Lusaka for medical and 2 new volunteers that were evacuated from Guinea and sent here so its not completely empty here but still not too exciting. PC has a bed and breakfast program for volunteers where American families that live here open their homes to volunteers so that we can have a free place to stay when we are here for personal reasons. We are only allowed to stay at the bunk house, located at the office, if we are here on official, medical or program days. So last week when we were on our way back from the game park we arranged to stay with a family on the B&B list for the night and head back to central in the morning. Well the family we were assigned to is wonderful and so hospitible and they said we were more than welcome to stay with them anytime or for as long as necessary. So I called them when I got in town and asked if I could stay with them in a real house with a nice bed and a kitchen plus they cook dinner and they always have delicious cookies. They kindly said yes so at least I've been able to stay with them instead of being at the office. As much as I don't like Lusaka it's not so bad just hanging out at their house and resting. I've read 3.5 books in the last 3.5 days and i've slept in took a few naps and enjoyed sitting on the swing by their garden. Also, another girl from my intake came in yesterday and stayed with them for the night so it was nice to see here and hear how things are going for her. I told them I thought I would leave tomorrow but now it looks like i'm staying to hopefully they are not sick of me yet otherwise I'll have to move to the bunk house. Regardles of my enjoying their hospitality and the chance to rest and relax I still miss my village and I really want to go back soon, plus I miss the ability to bike, runa and exercise, not to mention I'm a little over the pain itself. I went back to the doctor this morning and they did a chest xray since the pain is still the same. On Monday I did get stronger pain meds whihc help and the pain is much more bearable now, but as soon as they wear off its just as bad as before. The chest x ray looks fine, no visible fractures which is good news. Then he sent me to a chiropracter/physical therapist right away hoping that I could at least get some exercises to do and head back to Serenje at least. However, the chiropracter says that my right colarbone is a little out of place which puts stress on my sternum plus my neck and back were a little messed up. He realigned my spine today and said I have to come back tomorrow for another adjustment and maybe even next week although I'm still hoping to go home by Saturday plus a cruiser is going then so I wouldn't even have to hitch. It all depends on tomorrows appointment. But seeing as I'm in Lusakaland and have access to free not quite as slow internet I can update again sometime again so stay tuned.

imbasela

In Zambia there is something called imbasela which in bemba means free and it usually refers to a gift. For example: if you go to the market and ask how much a pyramid of 5 tomatoes cost, they will say 1000 kwacha and then you say ok I will buy one (that is if you don't want to bargain with them, generally i bargain to get the best deal and because it leads to friendly conversation but now that i've been here so long I know a few women at the market that I don't have to bargain with because they always give me a good price to start off with). After agreeing to buy the tomatoes and handing the woman one pin (1000 kwacha) she begins to put 5 tomatoes in a bag then picks up another tomato shows it to you, says imbasela and puts it in with the others. It's really a fabulous system, I'd say it's the one thing Zambia really has going for it. I mean sure some marketing schemes in america have tried similar approaches, such as creating a package of 4 razors with an additional one in a separate package attached to the first one. I guess it's supposed to make you feel like you're getting something extra for free. Or some shampoo bottles advertise that you now get 33% more in the bottle as if this were all free when really you pay more for it because it's now a bigger bottle. The strategy doesn't seem to work so well in America maybe just because everything is pre packaged. Whereas here you really feel like you are someone special and they are giving you something extra for free just because you are such a good customer and giving them such good business. Of course they factor the imbasela into their prices and because it's so common I've learned to expect it and sometimes I buy less because I know i will get a few extra imbasela items. And if they don't offer an imbasela it's perfectly acceptable to ask for one and even to request a particular item such as a lolipop for the imbasela (this works out well for me because they have delicious lolipops here that i used to buy occasionally but now i just wait til I go to Chalata for bread, powdered milk and other essential items then I request a lolipop as my "gift"). Honestly I walk away feeling wonderful after getting an extra gift whether its a lolipop or just another tomato.

I think I had my best imbasela experience last week as I was traveling from Serenje to Lusaka. About 100km south of Serenje is Kapiri Boma which has a petrol station with a fast food place. They sell all kinds of things, but they have a delicious schwerma. Our driver asked us to go in and buy him a coke and he gave us 30000 k saying we could get ourselves one also. (Zambians are so friendly and not only do they often give us free rides around the country but many times they will buy us drinks or even lunch on the way). We decided that he had been so friendly and was already giving us a free ride so we bought him a coke with our own money as a gift and we also ordered 2 cokes and 2 schwermas for ourselves. I paid the chasier, took the cokes and waited in a separate line for the food. Somehow they must have been confused that we ordered 3 drinks and only 2 schwermas and they packaged up an extra schwerma. We took the food to go for lunch when we reached Lusaka so we didn't even notice until later. Of course this was not an intentional imbasela but still it was pretty exciting to get an extra one.

Birthday fun?

Quick update: I made it back to Serenje, yay! In Lusaka, we stayed one night with a homestay family and they were so sweet! Two other volunteers were also staying with them and they always open their home to PCVs plus she was a volunteer in the past and currently they both do development work here so it was great to talk to them. Not to mention they cooked us a wonderful meal and I had a dr. pepper which you can’t find in this country. After breakfast we headed to the office and then hitched a ride to Kapiri Mposhi. The police stopped us along the way trying to get a bribe by telling us it’s illegal to hitch in this country, which isn’t true. I refused to pay so I spent close to 30 minutes kindly explaining that we were only volunteers without a salary and that we just wanted to return to our villages so that we could help more people. Eventually he gave up and let us go so that he could hassle others for bribes. O how corruption frustrates me! From Kapiri we took a semi to Mkushi, it was slow, but safe. It began to pour as soon as we arrived, but these guys that service the MTN cell towers gave us a lift into the BOMA from the turn off and said they were just stopping to get diesel on their way to Serenje. I said we are also on our way to Serenje and just stopping to get our mail, do you think you could take us the rest of the way to Serenje. They quickly agreed and made room for our bags and the 4 huge packages I picked up at the post. The line was long because everyone was filling up 50 gallon drums because fuel isn’t always available these days what with the mini crisis here. Still I was happy to be almost back and looking forward to opening all my packages. The guys were really nice and took us all the way to the door of the PC house. It’s a good thing too because otherwise we would have had to take a taxi because it was getting dark, it was wet, and I couldn’t carry all the packages because they were so big. A few friends were at the house and they had bought a Pepsi and put it in the fridge for me and they baked cookies and wrote happy birthday Leann in purple icing on them. Then I opened my packages which were full of all sorts of goodies (Thank you Sherry, Vince, Laurie, Andy, mom, dad, Ann Marie and Andy) talked to my parents and then stayed up chatting with Mary. Despite being on transport most of the day, it was a pretty good day and I had cheezits, cake, brownies, etc. to enjoy for the rest of the weekend. I’ve been stuck at the house all weekend because medical said I shouldn’t bike so soon after the accident. It’s relaxing but I really miss my village, my own hut, and of course my kitty! Hopefully, I can go home tomorrow. Finally, I made a very close replica of a cosmic Karma: it was an expensive but heavenly adventure (for those of you who don’t get this mellow mushroom reference, I feel very sorry for you.)

Safari time!

As I mentioned in the last update, I went to Mushroom Lodge in South Luangwa National Park for three nights and it was wonderful. We arrived at the lodge at 16 hours, just in time for the evening game drive. Just driving into the lodge we saw elephants, impala, a monitor lizard, monkeys and baboons. We were greeted at the lodge with cold wash cloths and juice, we quickly left our things and got back in the vehicle super excited for the game drive. Luckily we were the only people staying at the lodge that week so we could do anything we wanted for the drives. We were exhausted from the crazy travel day and we still had not slept in close to 36 hours so we decided to come back a little early for dinner and bed. Still, the first thing we saw on the drive was a pack of 5 wild dogs which are very endangered and difficult to see because the move around so much. They were beautiful and we very quickly forgot all the craziness of our travel, from then on we could only think of how amazing everything was at the park. We saw elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebra, various antelope, and then after dark we saw two spotted genets (small cat-related things), some hyenas, a civet, and some hippos coming out of water to forage for the night. Dinner was delicious plus on each drive you stop somewhere for drinks and a snack and the first night’s snack was chips and salsa: not only delicious, but greatly appreciated by our hungry stomachs that had not seen food since 5 in the morning when we got to the PC house in eastern and raided their left-over Halloween treats. After dinner we went straight to bed and woke up at 5 the next morning. I immediately opened the blinds to enjoy the lovely scenery as we prepared for the morning drive which left at 6. Right outside the window was a hippo walking back towards the water for the day. I had never seen a hippo out of water before and it was pretty neat. Not a bad way to start the day. At 5:30 they have tea, biscuits, toast, cereal, and juice: just a quick snack to get you through the first two hours of the drive, before you stop for another quick snack. They definitely kept us well fed and rice krispies was one of the cereal options so that was exciting enough on its own. (For the record at markets you can generally only get corn flakes, which taste fine, but I miss the cereal variety in America. There is one store in Mkushi Boma that sometimes has special K and/or All Bran that is more expensive but a nice treat every now and then.) With the morning light we were able to see everything better so we stopped to watch some of the giraffes, elephants, and zebras. Our guide assumed that like most other tourists we just wanted to see something take a photo and move on, but we quickly explained that we both enjoy just watching them, even if they seem not to be doing much. We saw several huge crocodiles, some pretty birds, these cute squirrels, mongoose, and a bunch of buffalo. The buffalo were hilarious- at first we saw about 15 and it seemed like they were in line for a breakfast buffet. We slowly drove by them and realized the single file line went on for about 2 kms. It turns out they were headed to the pond for water and for whatever reason they had formed a single file line for their journey. They don’t have ostriches in Zambia which is odd because they can be found in most of the countries around Zambia, but we did see crowned cranes which are beautiful, storks, weaver birds, fish eagles, and many other beautiful birds that I can’t identify. Our guide took us back really early which was disappointing but by the time we realized we were back at the lodge we thought it was too late to say anything, not to mention he was not very personable and always made us feel like we were inconveniencing him (as someone who formerly worked at the Breakers, I’m not really sure why this man still has a job at such a fancy safari lodge.) After that we decided we just had to demand what we wanted because we were paying customers, even if it was the discounted rate, and he needed to do his job. Back at the lodge we rested a bit, then had a huge brunch before moving on to the pool deck for the rest of the afternoon. We swam, tanned, and watched the antelope, birds, primates, zebras, giraffes, etc. the wandered by in the empty river bed in front of the lodge. It was a perfect relaxing afternoon. 15:30 was tea time and then off on another evening drive. This time after dark, we saw 2 leopards! Our driver was the first to spot the large male leopard by the river and we got pretty close to watch him for a bit. He was beautiful with very dark rosettes and his tail actually curled which is unusual but pretty. We were about to leave when we noticed another leopard, that I assume was a female. Leopards are very secretive and they are rarely found together. In fact they only meet up for mating and then the female stays with her cubs until they are weaned and trained to hunt. Therefore, seeing the two together was fairly unique and a really neat experience. We also saw more hyenas, and another civet. Cats are by far my favorite animals and I had never seen leopards, genets or civets in the wild so it was awesome. And if this weren’t enough we saw a porcupine on our way back, it was pretty far away and we didn’t stop to observe, but it was still cool. After another delicious dinner we went to bed. I woke up in the night and was covered in sweat because the park is a much lower elevation, in the hottest part of the country and the hottest part of the year. I decided to sit outside where there was some breeze and I could read under the porch light without waking my friend up. After a little while I heard a lion roar in the distance and I got pretty excited. In the morning, we headed a different direction for the drive and we saw hundreds of elephants- they were everywhere! Apparently they often go in towards the village at night so many of them were returning to the park in the morning and others were just foraging nearby. Chelsea would have loved it. We soon came across a pride of 17 lions all together lounging by the river where there is more of a breeze. It’s not very common to find them all together when they don’t have a kill. They were all females and juvenile males, no small cubs or adult males. The guide said the males never stay with the females, but I’ve seen males in every other pride I found on previous safaris. Regardless, they were beautiful and I was so happy to watch them. After a little while the guide would start to turn the engine back on and say “ok we go now” and I would say “wait one more minute” but one minute always turned into longer. I knew he was bored and wanted to go, but I just couldn’t tear myself away from the beautiful lions. By 7:00 they started to get up and move into the shade and they walked right by our vehicle which was a completely open cruiser with just a shade covering on top. It was more difficult to see them lounging under the trees but I still requested we watch them longer. Finally the guide convinced me to move on by saying that the lions wouldn’t leave the shade until dark so we could come back on the evening safari and watch them some more. So we moved on and found more of all the animals we had been seeing and we went to see a really old baobab tree that was huge and beautiful, it even had plenty of green leaves at the time. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much a repeat of the day before, relaxing by the pool, enjoying the water and the scenery. As promised we went back to visit the lions first thing on the evening drive, but there were only 5 or 6 still hanging out in that area. Still, they had left the shade and moved back near the river so it was easier to see them. We drove around a bit, but didn’t see much that night, then after dark we went back to the lions, hoping they would make a kill. All 17 were back together but they were just lying around, with no sign of a hunt for the night. We knew they had killed a buffalo just a few days before, but we still wanted to see them make another kill. After a bit of coaxing them to get up and kill something for me I jokingly asked our guide how I could make 17 sleeping lions get up and move around. Even if they were too lazy to kill anything they should at least move around so I could have more to watch. Instead of answering me, he made a nearly perfect buffalo call. Immediately, all the lions got up and formed a single file line and began heading out on the prowl. Unfortunately, there were no buffalo in the area, but there was a nearby hippo we thought they would go after. They soon noticed the hippo, but apparently they weren’t hungry enough to kill the hippo and they were only craving buffalo after hearing the call. Sadly, they were only slowly moving out as it was time for us to return for dinner, so we didn’t see them kill anything, but it was still great just to watch them. Originally, we planned to leave early on the morning of the 4th, but after the ordeal we had getting there and the fact that even at the discounted rate this vacation was definitely a splurge (although well worth it and I would love to go back again before I finish my service) we decided to stay for the morning drive and leave immediately afterwards. In hindsight, I am super glad we stayed because it was the best morning. We woke up early, packed our things and walked outside to enjoy the last views of wildlife from our porch, then we noticed 3 elephants eating the marula fruit off the tree on the other side of our chalet. (I think I need to add a tangent about our chalet which was spectacular. It had a table and chairs outside on the porch, large windows on two sides looking out at the river bed, a sitting area inside with a couch and two comfy chairs, a big desk and chair, two nice soft beds which they turned down every evening while we were out on safari, a small fridge, two rotating fans, indoor and outdoor showers, not sure why we needed both, and a big tub. Seriously, I could have just moved in and never left this place, it was so perfect even with the ridiculous heat throughout the night. It at least made me appreciate that in Central province even in the hot season it gets cool at night.) We were so happy that the elephants came right up to our lodge, it was a perfect goodbye. Then on the drive, we saw the same pack of wild dogs again and because they are so rare, even our guide didn’t mind watching them for awhile. We went back to the lion hangout but sadly, they were all gone. We drove along the river and saw some local fishermen in their dugout canoes, the wild dogs headed that way too and we saw them again briefly on their way towards the river. We stopped by the baobab tree again for our snacks and drinks which was beautiful enough on its own, but also we found two bull elephants nearby so that made the view even better. On the last little part of the last game drive we found the lions again in a different spot. As usual they were just lounging around like the lazy cats they are. I took some more pictures and after about 10 minutes we started to leave when we heard a loud and intense roar as if a lion were defending a kill. We drove around behind where the lions were and found two young males finally enjoying their chance at the killed buffalo now that all the others were clearly satisfied and more concerned with resting in the shade. We couldn’t stay long because we were in an open safari vehicle, off road next to two lions that were already roaring and showing their canines as they ripped into the buffalo, but it was so awesome, a perfect ending to such a wonderful vacation. I know I have used the words perfect, wonderful, awesome, amazing etc. repeatedly in this update, but there’s really no other way to describe this vacation.

Transport: it's a problem

Transport in Zambia can always be a problem, but lately it has been worse than usual. The oil refinery in Zambia has to shut down yearly for maintenance, only they never think to stockpile fuel in advance or to arrange for imports. This year, the refinery happened to close at the same time the wheat was ready to harvest, and wheat is mostly grown by commercial farmers that use tractors (therefore a lot of fuel) to harvest. A lot of places were completely out of petrol meaning that less vehicles, mini buses, taxis, etc. were on the roads. The past few times that i left the village I was forced to wait much longer for transport. Then some companies finally started importing fuel from Tanzania to solve the crisis, but the prices were very high. (Actually even though things are getting better the prices are still a bit high.) In other words now is not the best time to travel, but seeing as I already had a trip planned I decided to go anyway and hope for the best. Well, we hitched to Lusaka just fine, in a nice safe, free, and quick ride. From there we had some difficulties...we waited a while before flagging down a canter truck that seemed to be going fairly fast. They offered us a free ride to Nyimba which is half way from Lusaka to Chipata (where we arranged to spend the night in another peace corps house). Well, the started going really slow and stopping a lot so by the time we got to the bridge we realized it was getting late and we didn't want to be stranded in Nyimba after dark so we switched to another truck going all the way to Chipata. We were able to sit in the cab and again we didn't have to pay, but it was a little cramped. Also, even though they were going pretty fast they stopped so much and for so long that we didn't arrive until 5 in the morning. It took us about 16 hours to make the 6-7 hour drive from Lusaka to Chipata. When we arrived we thought we lucked out because another girl was headed to Mfuwe airport right near the game park so we agreed to share the taxi that she had arranged and our lodge offered to pick us at the airport. It all sounded perfect and we were more than willing to pay for the convenience of a taxi after a night of no sleep in the back of a truck bed and them cramped in the cab with many other people. The taxi wasn't leaving \until 10 but that still gave us plenty of time to get to the park before the evening game drive. Well, as I am constantly reminded we are in Zambia and Zambia always wins. The taxi was an hour late and then it had to stop for petrol before we could start the journey. The taxi driver started discretely drinking beer from a sprite bottle, but it was obvious that it was beer and i double checked later just to be sure. Less than half way we started having problems with one of the wheels and it turns out it was missing a part or something so that the wheel didn't stay on tightly, it wobbled around and we couldn't drive anymore. We were completely stuck, the drivers, did not apologize or offer to help us find another ride. There were no cars on the road at all, it was dead and we were stranded. Finally a safari company bringing guests out to the park stopped and offered us a ride. Sometimes I feel bad that people here are so racists that they wont stop for Africans but they will stop for us; however, we need the rides so the guilt doesn't last too long. We got to the airport then eventually to the lodge, but not until 16. Since this blog is about transport, I will save the vacation part for another blog and skip to the transport home. We hed the lodge drop us at the road where we could hitch a ride into Chipata and after an hour and a half we finally had a car drive by on their way to there. It was a swiss couple in a rental car and the stopped and squeezed us in. We were so excited that are luck was improving. It was a nice vehicle with air conditioning, enough space for us and they were going a fast but still safe speed. After a while the driver slammed on the brake and we realized the road we were on just came to a T with another road, of course there was no sign or warning. We weren't able to stop in time and these gravel roads have water drainage ditches along side them. So we crossed to the road that was perpendicular to us (luckily no cars, bikes, cows, children etc. were in the way) and hitch the ditch. We actually got pretty high off the ground despite the weight of the vehicle and landed back upright. Naturally, we were very thankful that we didn't spin, flip, or crash into anything, and that we had seatbelts which is a rare luxury in this country. Regardless, it was painful and my sternum is very bruised from the seatbelt not to mention how sore my neck and back are! We spent the night in Chipata again and I am happy to report that after about an hour we got a ride to Lusaka this morning, it was safe, comfortable, fairly quick and we only paid the equivalent of $4 so thats not bad. Hopefully we will have good luck on our way back to Serenje tomorrow also!

*I must add that the crusier was perfectly fine after the accident so we just backed out and kept going, no more being stranded on the side of the road.
*Also I think you should all know that South Luangwa National Park is directly east of Serenje district which makes the whole crazy transport situation even more frustrating. Seeing as this country only has 4 real roads we had to go all the way around to get there when theoretically we could have driven straight through the park to not only get there quicker but to see more of the landscape and wildlife. It's a bit frustrating when you think about it. I hate that it's so difficult to go anywhere in Zambia, especially without your own all terrain vehicle.