Saturday April 5th, 2014
5:15am
Alarm goes off.
Jamie hits snooze.
Sleep 10 more minutes. Alarm goes off again.
Slowly roll out of bed, wash up and pack our bags into the car.
Drop house keys off at Hesters and head to the airport.
7:30am
Sipping on watery tasting mocha at the airport.
Jamie can't connect to the 30 minutes free wifi at the aiport...... but I can. ;-P
Find huge chunk of hot chocolate in a clump at the bottom of my cup. ;-(
8:10am
Board plane from Capetown to JoBurg.
(We feel that we can use this term for Johannesburg now that we've visited once already)
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| View from plane above Cape Town area. |
Noon
Walking around JoBurg airport looking for money exchange bureau.
Exchange money. Great exchange rate. Killer service charge.
1:50pm
Board flight from Johannesburg to Lusaka, Zambia.
3:40pm
Arrive in Lusaka.
Wait at airport for pickup that was previously arranged through guest house we're staying at tonight.
Wait some more.
Bored and entertaining ourselves with taking pictures of our shadows.
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| Two heads, not better than one! |
5:10pm
Negotiate price to get ride into town with taxi.
5:30pm
Arrive at backpacker guesthouse but they have no reservation, nor any idea that we were arriving at all.
No bus tickets for tomorrow's trip to Livingstone as requested through their tour desk as we were told they need to be booked 24hrs in advance.
Meet Justin who is an employee, but not working at the time. He called the owner who remembered our recent email conversation including confirming with us that all would be taken care of, but didn't let his staff know.
Justin tried calling the bus companies to reserve tickets, but one line was busy and the other not picking up. He gave us a room and showed us around. He drew a map for us to the bus station. He was AWESOME.
He informed us that an employee would be in at 7am tomorrow morning and they will reserve a ticket on the 9am bus for us. He assures us the bus will not be fully booked.
7:30pm
Having a drink at the bar with Justin, his girlfriend and a few other locals watching the rugby game on t.v.
10:30pm
Bed
Sunday, April 6th 2014
6:30am
Alarm goes off.
Up, wash and pack. Waiting at front desk for employee at 7am.
7:40am
Employee shows up as we are walking out towards bus station.
Fast walk to bus station.
8:30am
Zig Zagging through several people, wheelbarrows, rice and grain bags. Repeating "No thank you" and "We're good, thanks" to many people wanting us to follow them, sell us things or asking where we are going.
Eventually book bus tickets on local Shalom bus.
9:30am
Hop on bus and head out on the road! Begin to relax.
Man stands up on the bus with a bible and begins preaching loudly. Makes eye contact with Jamie as others look away and asks "What is the last temptation?" Turns around and goes back up the aisle. Preaches loudly for the next 15 minutes until he promptly asks for donations and gets off at the next gas station.
2pm
Too hot. Sleep. Read. Push Jamie back into upright position and wake him up in the process. Open window for breeze.
Stop for ten minute bathroom break. Run around trying to make change so I can pay and use the bathroom.
Close window as dust from bumpy detour road pours in.
Back aches after sitting sideways for hours. Bus is cramped with more people than seats. Talk to a Mom and her shy little girl beside us in the back row on bus. Play games on my tablet with them.
5:45pm
Arrive in Livingstone, Zambia.
Rabeccah Mukumbo, Volunteer Co-ordinator for Dream Livingstone meets us at station for volunteer week.
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| Victory! We've arrived! |