August 9, 2006
Keedra's Visit!
Okay, I still can't put any of the photos I took up on this site... if you want to know why, you can ask Keedra via the comments section :) Anyway. Her trip was a month long and it was awesome. Of course there were some bumps along the way, mostly concerning transport, as there usually are in Africa. When she got here we spent some days in Lusaka bumming around (me getting a terrible flu). Then it was off to Chipata, the provincial capital of Eastern Province. Then we hopped over the boarder into Malawi and made our way to Mayoka Village ( http://www.thetravelrag.com/docs/10017.asp ) in the town of Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi. Paradise is the only word I can use to describe it. The country itself is called "the warm heart of Africa," and the town is nicknamed "the warm heart of Malawi" by the locals. They eat casava nshima and freah fish constantly.
A main mode of transport is dugout canoe. I mastered it solo, Keedra mastered it solo, but together was another story. Shortly after this picture was taken, we were dumped again.
I worked on my pool game (the most useful thing I have learned in my tenure here), swam like a fish, picked-up Bilharzia ( http://www.escargot.ch/personel/schisto.htm ), and chilled with the locals.
It was relaxing, peaceful, and fun. Mayoka Village is quite possibly the best place I've every stayed anywhere... screw 5-star hotels! The owner, Gary, is AWESOME.
We made our wasy back to Zambia and then back to Choma. It was business as usual with my Choma pals and they all had a great time meeting Keedra. We had a party at the PC house and there were over 40 people in attendance. I made pizzas... from scratch... with a lot of help from other volunteers. Mat dug a fire pit. People played beer cricket (a game created by PCZ volunteers to pass the time in an alcoholic way). We went to Livingstone shortly thereafter, then to Mat's village to see the rural life.
I found out that Mathew was given the honor of naming a baby girl in his village and guess what he named it.... RINGO! She's cute as the dickens. Pictures will come soon.
It was sad when Ms. Gibba (Keedra) left. It was stressful, mostly because she missed her flight after a transport snafu with a midsize bus! Pain. But she's in Ohio now visiting with family and soon she'll be off to the lovely hippie state of Vermont to studt at SIT ( www.sit.edu ). It was great having her here... visitors are great from anywhere, but having her travel after living 2 years in Ethiopia was great! August will be a bleak month after July's spendor.
Posted by ringo at 1:28 PM | Comments (3)
August 1, 2006
Small Gift
Keedra was suppose to fly out today. Yeah, after 6 hours on the bus from Choma (at most a trip that takes 4 hours) to Lusaka, we missed her flight. Yay! Okay, it was realy stressful and emotional when it happened but now I'm glad. Alas, y'all are going to have to wait a little bit longer for updates and photos of the trip!
Posted by ringo at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)