Fall Break 2010: African Road Trip

Last week we had our fall break.  Actually, I keep calling it fall break and all Namibians look at me funny. It is spring here, and I keep forgetting!  Any who, on this break from classes, five of us decided to roadtrip across Southern Africa.  We packed up the truck-a 4X4 Toyota Hilux-with our tents, sleeping bags, water, cooler, food, and suitcases.  5 seats, 5 friends, and 8 burned CDs and we were ready to roll.  We headed east into Botswana.  The drive was hot, beautiful, and flat.  I thought of Grandma Peters as we drove into Botswana, wondering if we would run into the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  Alas, I didn’t see a mystery solved, but I did see lots of animals and beautiful landscape.

After two long days of driving, we made it into Zimbabwe and stayed at the town of Victoria Falls right next to the falls.  Vic Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world-the first natural wonder I’ve seen in person!  The falls stem from the Zambezi River, which is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  This river is the 4^th longest river in Africa after the Nile, Congo, and Niger Rivers.  We were there during the low season, so the falls weren’t roaring too much.  This was all right, though, because we got to see the length of the falls without mist covering any of our sight.  We spent about 5 hours looking at the falls, eating lunch, and hanging out.  One evening we ate out at a fun restaurant called Mama Africa’s Eating House.  They had live music and traditional dancers come.  One song the traditional dancers sang and danced to was a revised “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the Lion King.  I thought this was a little sad that it was part of their “traditional” repertoire, but also rather funny.  Overall, the food was delicious, the atmosphere wonderful, and the company great!

We decided while we were so close we should walk to Zambia.  On our way through “no man’s land” between the exit and entry border posts we ran into some of our friends staying on the Zambia side.  This was a fun surprise.  We spent the day with 2 of the girls who had stayed at the hostel, walking around the town of Livingstone for the afternoon.  We went to a craft market where I almost traded my hair tie for a bracelet.  Then the vendor wanted $2 as well and that was just too much J  We had a fun day and went back to Zimbabwe for a relaxing evening before our return trip.  I must thank Alissa, Jessica, Alison, and Kevin for a great road trip!

Now I am back at the house, re-entering school and city life.  It has been a bit challenging finding the motivation for homework, but then I am reminded that we only have 3 more full weeks of classes and then our end of the year projects.  Time is flying!  I am working on homework, as well as soaking up all the time I have left to spend with students in the house and people I’ve met here.  It is a funny emotional place to be at, where I simultaneously want to continue this Namibian adventure with all of these people here, while at the same time so looking forward to being in the States and sharing in face-to-face relationships with family and friends again.  I guess this emotional struggle is part of the deal! 

I hope and pray this blog finds you well, and I continue looking forward to seeing your faces soon.