eighty hours.

Autumn hangs in the air. It rustles the leaves and beckons for scarves and fleeces. The days remain warm, but the mornings are chilly and the evenings call for getting cozy. I know, May and it’s autumny.. Welcome to the Souther Hemisphere! This week I discovered the camp has hot water bottles. Upon discovery, I asked for one, and as I write this, it’s making an awesome foot-warmer!

Two weeks have passed since I last blogged, and it might as well have been two months! That week passed with packing, finishing a gripping Agatha Christie novel, and bussing ourselves off to Mbeya Friday to catch the train for Zambia on Saturday. And thus started our nine day journey of adventure…

Funny story: Friday morning before we left for a field trip, and then Mbeya, I was asking Amanda, the owner of the camp, about packages, since I was expecting one. She was explaining how long it can take, and in walks Godfrey, one of camp’s drivers, with an arm load of mail. I got three packages, and two letters. Hehe, perfect timing: right before we left! Thanks Mama and Aunt Jeanne. I love everything I got! Sam and Tessa, I cherished your letters and read them on the train J

I must note that one of the only things that seem to be on time in Tanzania is the buses. Our bus for Mbeya was, in fact, early and was just aching for us to leave on it, honking its horn and inching forward. And that seems to be the norm for most buses here, especially the honking horn/inching forward thing. The bus drivers seem to think that going as fast as possible is the best way to transport large vehicles full of people. Live people. People who could die if they went faster than possible and wrecked. On our bus back from Mbeya on Monday, we almost got side bumped from a truck we were passing that was passing a motorbike. Eeek! Of course after traveling all the way through Zambia on public transport we would come back to our Tanzania and get in a wreck! Thank you Lord we didn’t.

The train on Saturday started out arriving late and leaving even later. Instead of 2:45, it was 4:30ish, and we left the station at 6:30. The train was full of germs, and God knows how long it had been since the benches were sanitized. Our second class cabin consisted of about 4x7 feet (not meters!) of space with three bench type beds on each side it. We got a mini table and a window too. Yippee! We slept fitfully, me due to cold feet, my blankie being too small, and fearing the roaches Garrett saw by what I thought was the edge of my bench bed. We got to enjoy our first Zambian sunrise, and lots of bush/tree scenery. Oh, and on the way there I read about half a book.

We railed our way to Kapiri Mposhi around eight Sunday night, caught a mini-bus filled mostly with wazungu, and pulled into Lusaka at midnight. I found myself quite amazed and pleasantly surprised by the cleanness and nicer looking buildings in the towns of Zambia. I even, honest to goodness, saw a Subway in one if the towns. When we pulled into Lusaka, it was as if we’d arrived in a certain part of Portland or else Johannesburg, South Africa. What a huge city!

Monday, after sleeping in, we had the tasks of getting money, buying bus tickets for more of our journey, and getting our visas. Unfortunately, on the train crossing into Zambia Saturday night, the immigration people didn’t have the patience to wait on the train for us to get our visa money. And upon arrival at the train station in Kapiri Mposhi, immigration was gone. So here we were stamped out of Tanzania Saturday night, and hanging out in limbo land with no stamp or visa in Zambia. Whoops!

Immigration was a process that required lots of waiting. We didn’t even get it all taken care of until mid-afternoon! But we got it done, so that’s what counted. And we got to enjoy some yummy street food in the process and I got to discover what a Zambian eggroll is… When you think eggroll you think Chinese roll with veggie-type goodness inside, right? That’s what I thought and ordered two. What I got were two rolls with egg and veggies in the middle. Ha! DJ and Garrett had to eat my second one.

We enjoyed visits with DJ and Tricia’s friends the Turnbulls who so sweetly opened their home to us and fed us wonderful food. Tuesday we went back into Lusaka and got to, wonder of wonders, go to a mall. We’d briefly gone to a strip mall to get money on Monday, and Charles (who traveled from Iringa with us) and I went through a bit of culture shock. Kind of overwhelming going from small-town type Africa to big city Africa!

Tricia was hunting for a dress on Tuesday for a wedding she’s going to the end of June, and I with my dress-love was looking for one because I could. I fell in love with a bunch, bought none. The one I loved the most needed a medium and a half to fit me right. Oh well, shopping was still quite nice. Afterwards, I got myself a coconut mocha and Tricia and I split a chocolate chip muffin. And this wasn’t just any chocolate chip muffin. This was a Mugg and Bean chocolate chip muffin. That means you must put butter, jam, and cheese on it. Strange, right? That’s what I thought. Until I tried it. It was yum! And so was my mocha. Ahh, vacation, how I love thee!

On Wednesday, we settled in for a six hour bus ride to Livingston. We also discovered that Zambian buses are quite nice. They even stop at real toilets for ten minutes! We relaxed at Jolly Boys backpackers place, I had soup for the first time in a while, and we even met this awesome older couple and their daughter from The States. A wonderful surprise!

We awoke and were in a taxi by about eight Thursday morning heading off to set our eyes upon one of the World’s seven wonders – Victoria Falls! It was a wonder, this is for sure. A wet wonder. Before you even arrived, you could see the spray of it, especially it being the end of the rainy season. There were parts of the Falls you couldn’t even see due to the spray. We started out quite dry. But, as one can imagine, we left quite wet. It was like dashing through a rain storm, without the rain and gray clouds. I loved it. Until my jeans were soaking and sagging. The experience made me smile, and the pictures can tell you the rest. What an incredible wonder to witness. One of God’s many truly beautiful forms of art!

Before we left, one of the raiding baboons in the Fall’s parking lot had to give me a story to take home… He saw I had a bag and thought sure I might have food in it. So, he grabbed it and pulled. I didn’t even see it, but felt it and screamed! Yes, typical American tourist, screaming. But that was my natural instinct. I feared an attack. Baboons are not nice creatures! He let go, and this left Tricia and even more, Avery, laughing. I was too scared to laugh. Stinkin’ creatures!

After rushing to and fro, we made it to town in time to eat yummy food at Wonderbake, get a soft serve ice cream, and jump back onto a bus bound for Lusaka. We got in that evening to the power being out at the Turnbull’s. First the water pump (when we got there Sunday), now the power! I honestly think the best shower I had all of vacation was, well, wasn’t. It was here at Rivervalley!

Sandwiches were in order for dinner instead of pizza. They tasted delicious J We packed up, and headed out the next morning to take another bus back to the train. As we drove to the bus station, DJ gets a call: the train isn’t running today. It’s running tomorrow! Thank goodness we hadn’t bought tickets the night before for the bus. God is good! We stopped at the strip mall place again, and DJ saw a paper headline about the train. A bunch of the workers were on strike and got laid off. Oh boy, will we ever get back to Tanzania at this rate?!

Friday was a most relaxing day, and that night was actually got to eat the pizza. That afternoon I even got the chance to sit down and write down pros and cons of different options for this fall. It felt quite nice to get things down on paper. All I’ll say for now is, keep praying for my future! And thanks for all your already prayers!

Saturday our bus left Lusaka earlier than scheduled. It left at 5:45… AM! We pulled into Kapiri Mposhi around 8:30. Our train wasn’t meant to leave until two. Oops! We hung out at a gas station type place for a while, almost got kicked out due to our large amount of luggage and I guess it being an eyesore or something. We taxied to the train, bought tickets, and boarded at one. Right before two we phoned Charles - who loved Zambia so much he decided to stay a bit longer - to sing him happy birthday (a day late I think!). And right after that, a miracle happened: it was two and the train left. Hallelujah, glory be!

We slept a bit better that night, although I had to pee all night but was too lazy and kept smelling strange smells coming from the hallway, like alcohol, and hearing things like some guy who sounded quite intoxicated saying funny things. Plus, Avery was my toilet buddy and I didn’t much like going alone. The toilets are squatty’s that just shoot out onto the tracks. How nice! I finished my book Sunday. The train was such a fun place to just relax and read things. Sunday got us stamped out of Zambia, then into Tanzania. Immigration came onto the train in Tanzania with forms to fill out. The usual. We filled them out, and then they came back. Stamping went on. But alas, in the mess of five passports to stamp, mine got missed. Thank Jesus I checked, and DJ hunted them down on the train. Phewf, that was a close one! And in fact the main reason for our week of travel – to get my visa re-stamped so I could stay another three months. One little stamp could have caused a big trouble. Emphasis on could, thank goodness!

We stayed the night in Mbeya again, and took off on another bus at six in the morning. On our huge adventure we saw a total of four early morning skies, which is almost the average of what I usually see in a year!

After over a week’s worth of travel and adventure, thanks to God is quite necessary…

v  For a total of about 80 hours using African public transport, and surviving!

v  Zambia being a step up: they have real toilets. But they’re still working on the whole toilet-seat thing…

v  Gazing at the wonder of God’s handiwork – something we didn’t think we’d get to see – Victoria Falls

v  A baboon non-attack

v  Going to a country where you could successfully communicate. In English!

v  Edible, actually tasty, train food

v  Gracious and hospitable friends

v  Missing bunnies, and then, surprise! Sarah Turnbull had one. His name was Tycho. And while there, I shone a new light on Tycho: Tycho wasn’t a he…

v  Having a chance to enjoy the last five weeks in Iringa

v  Finding out (thanks mama!) over break, that I got the Treacy Company scholarship. Again J

v  Psych antics (Laura and Kama if you’re reading this, you can smile now!)

v  Home sweet home

v  So far, receiving since being here, four packages and three letters: the same amount of African and North American countries that I’ve visited, respectively

v  God’s provision in all things

Happy May friends and I hope your springs are feeling quite springy about now! PS- sniff a lilac for me when you get the chance, please and thank you J