Our journey to Livingstone, Zambia was long. Very long. On Thursday Tina and I arrived at Johannesburg International Airport a good hour and a half before our flight (because I wanted to) only to learn that our Zambian Airlines flight to Lusaka had been canceled. The budget airline kulula.com we booked through never informed us of this. So we waited at the airport until 6pm when we could finally board the plane. We hung out with a Zambian guy who offered us a ride from Lusaka to Livingstone, and while we initially accepted, realized that he would be awkward to ride with , so just never called him once we got to Lusaka.
Once in Lusaka (after a horrid flight with the most annoying children EVER surrounding us) we arrived at our hoste at about 9:30pm. Lusaka is the biggest city in Zambia, which isn't saying that much, and it's definitely not a tourist city. Nonetheless, these Zambian guys at our hostel took us out and I had probably the most fun of any night here. Zambians are SO friendly, and mostly in a good way. They pride themselves on being the "friendliest people in Southern Africa" and while I have no way to quantify if that's true it makes sense. I actually enjoyed dancing which is odd for me. The guys wanted to take the bus with us to Livingstone, but because of issues with what they had to do in Lusaka they couldn't. This was just as well. One of the guys was kind of in love with me and it could have been an awkward situation.
Friday at 10am on the dot we arrived at the bus station to take our coach bus to Livingstone. Silly us. We forgot about Africa time. They waited for the bus to fill up (in the mean time dozens of peopel came on to try to sell things and one guy came on to read the bible) and we didn't leave until noon. Tina and I thoguht we'd each have our own row so we didn't sit together and I was squished in with a son and father coming from school in Lusaka to home in Livingstone. I was one of three white people on the bus and Tina was the only Asian. THe drve was pretty ok. I enjoyed seeing the countryside, since Zambia is how I imagined Africa looking in my imagination.
By 7pm we arrived in the hostel, which is quite nice. Again, how I pictured hostels being in my imagination. This is the first time we wer in a hostel more than one ngiht too (other than Cape Town which was not a good hostel experience). There is a pool and lots of outdoor couches and everyone is really friendly and social. All for $8 U.S. a night. We are in a dorm with 8 beds. The first night was awful because there was a man who snored the loudest of anyone I've ever heard in my life. Since his friends weren't correcting the problem, I got out of bed and politely asked Snorer to turn over.
Yesterday Tina and I went on an all-day canoeing trip down the Zambezi river. It was quite fun. Since Tina and I lack at paddling they matched us up with two buff British guys who were the chief rowers. Tina and here guy hit a tree. Me and my guy saved Tina but unfortunately we couldn't save her sandal. My camera unfortunately somehow got wet but I'm hoping it will work. We saw elephants! We sort of saw hippos! The buff British guys left so I was in a boat with the tour guide (Potato is his name) who basically did all the paddling. Life's hard. Tina too, went in a big boat and got to be the Queen of Sheba as well (they also saw giraffes)
Potato and the other tour guide Jonathan took us out to dinner where they explained how men need to give a woman's family cattle in order to marry her. The only two other white people at the restaurant were the people from the bus. That's waht's cool about Livingstone, even though it's really touristy, most thigns are still populated by locals (except for blatantly tourist things).
Snorer and friends left and things have since gotten better and we made friends with 6 of the 8 people in our room. We all hung out last night playing cards, going out and staying up late talking. These people are a British guy and girl who are nursing students finishing observing a peer education program in Zambia, a British guy on the first leg of his year long travel around the world and a Canadian guy doing a 6 month trip from Cape Town to Cairo who met British guy in hostel in Cape Town. There's just such a comfort level with peopel who are of the same culture.
Today tour guide Jonathan took Tina and I to buy cheap crafts so we wouldn't get ripped off as Americans We finally have a non-sketchy Zambian friend! The craft market was prettty overwhelming. Even though I think I got good deals (the exchange rate is also good for us here) I definitely bought things I didn't need just because peopel kept pressuring me. But in total I spent 8 U..S. which isn't bad. Then we went on the hostel bus to Victoria Falls. Jonathan came too and our little group included the Canadian from the dorm room. Vic Falls is BEAUTIFUL. We got very wet and also climbed down to see the falls from a different angle. Amazing. The only downside is my camera is still wet, so I'll have to rely on Tina's pics
After Vic Falls Jonathan took us to see the luxury hotels in Livingstone. They are amazing. At $400 a night there are tame GIRAFFES and ZEBRAS just roaming the premises.
So, yeah, I really like this trip. I've met great people and it's just such a cool country. I like the feeling of being in Africa as stupid as that sounds. SA is awesome of course, but so Western. This is more mixed.
I'll be going back to Lusaka tomorrow, then Cape Town then London then home. wow.
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