Email to Friends: TIA (This Is Africa)‏

So I am now in Namibia. The last few days have been very rough. The hostel I stayed at in Namibia had an owner who was being very persistent in hitting on me to the point that I couldn't sleep that night and had to push a chair in front of my door since he threatened that he had keys to everything. Got on the bus the next day to head to Livingstone, Zambia. Left around 5 PM Monday night and was due to arrive in Livingstone by 1:30 PM Tuesday.

The sunset on the bus out of town was the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen, and I was glad to be moving on. Unfortunately the bus broke down a bit before 8 AM Monday morning in the Caprivi Strip. They said the mechanic would take 2 hours to get there, so we all waited by the side of the highway in the hot desert sun, miles and miles from any town. Nobody had food or water left, since we were on our way to the next stop for supplies (I had had a bit but gave most of it out to others). Stood there for six hours when the mechanic showed up... with no tools. But hey, he said "we pray". I am sure THAT will put the wheel back on the bus! People were beginning to get angry and fight with the driver. So seven of us convinced a nice Cel-Tel man to give us a ride to try to get to the border before it closed. I felt terrible because we left a bunch of people behind, including this couple and their infant baby who I had been holding who was crying all day in the sun.

The driver that gave us a lift didn't have his passport, but we convinced the border people to let him drive us across. The hostel that was suppose to get my visa waiver screwed it up, so I had to shell out $100 to cross. Overnighted in some small village and then caught a minibus this morning. Finally in Livingstone. At 4:00 PM, some of the other people on the bus just arrived and said they had been out there all day and night. The mechanic and driver didn't do anything... just prayed. They sent another bus for them this morning, but they still had not eaten or gotten water. So I feel pretty lucky. I will never get on a bus without food and water again.

Today I treated myself to a sunset dinner/booze cruise and got to see lots of hippos and a crocodile. Tomorrow I am going to Victoria Falls from the Zambia side and may try my luck getting in on the Zimbabwe side since there is not much water from that side. Friday I booked a white water rafting trip down the Zambezi River and then heading to Lusaka on Saturday.

Oh, and all those cool animals I wrote about like zebra, ostrich, springbok, and oryx... they all taste really good. Especially Springbok. So now it is a different reaction when I see them. Instead of "oh look at the cute little springbok" I think "Mmmmmm... springbok in Madagascar sauce tastes goooooooood".

New country so new cell phone number. Not positive I have it right, but I think it is +011 260 97 889 8447. If it doesn't work, L has it, since he kept my head together after my little meltdown last night. We are 9 hours later than Seattle.

Don't worry about me...better days are ahead!

Love,
Betsy