Welcome to Zambia

The flight from London to Lusaka was torture from the minute it started. Full of rambunctious 4-year-olds and one baby that screamed at piercing "Noooooooooooo" for hours at a time. As we descended through the early African mist the runway in Lusaka didn't look adequate to slow the plane. The pilot laid on the breaks and we screeched down the runway before doing a 360 and taxiing for what seemed like 20 minutes back to the terminal. After a wait through the customs line with the bad American parents who had allowed their child to scream through the night, we collected our bags and came out the arrival gate to find a much browner and skinnier Ashlee and Andy waiting. We had to wait for the car rental office to open. When it finally did open we learned that a travel agent in the US makes an online reservation with a company that doesn't have online reservations it won't always mean a car waiting on the other end. Ashlee was able to get things worked out and about and hour later we were wading through a group of Zambian men wanting to load our bags into the Land Cruiser for a few cents. We were a little heavy on the bags so Ashlee piled on top in the back section with a small area of seat still exposed. She said she didn't mind as it is still much better than how she usually gets around. Andy was our driver for the trip and he maneuvered the entire trip like a champion! They started out by taking us to the guest house where we would stay for the night so we could clean up and rest while they finished up a few things for work. The guest house was within a 10' wall like everything in the nicer neighborhoods in Lusaka. There was an empty pool and a guard at the gate. The woman that manages the house was there cleaning dishes and helping to carry in bags. It was basically a large house with four bedrooms and three shared bathrooms. There was also a large living room and kitchen. Ashlee showed us around, as this house is often used by the Peace Corp volunteers. There were mosquito nets over the beds. The bathrooms were rough but functional. After dark bugs started to appear though.

Later in the day we headed out to visit the Peace Corp house where we met several of the leaders and volunteers. There had just been a training session for the group so many of the volunteers were in Lusaka. They showed us around the campus where they have demonstrations of the gardening techniques they are teaching. Then we went to the Busy Bee, a small restaurant that had sandwiches made to order, meat pies, mixed salads and other treats that we took back to the guest house to eat. They also had a garden out back where they sell plant material for landscaping. Mom enjoy looking around and found several plants that she has in her garden already.

Later we headed to exchange some money and visit the Shoprite (Shop-rit-E), the large very nice grocery store, to pick up some travel food and supplies for while we are visiting the bush. It was a hectic inside. After battling the isles we headed for an ice cream cone or sundae. We went back to the guest house to unload the groceries and repacked them for the trip.

The sun was starting to set when we walked a few houses down to a Chinese restaurant that is a favorite of the volunteers. It smelled great when we came through the gate. The house had several small dining rooms and we got a private room with a large round table. We requested the first of many Cokes for the trip and ordered from their vaguely familiar Chinese food menu. During the meal Ashlee took a call from a guy they met days earlier in Lusaka. They were hitchhiking and were picked up by a Zambian man. When asked where they lived they said Kasempa and after some back and forth they realized that the man's mother lives just down to path from Andy and Ashlee, small world. So the man was calling to bring by a package for us to take to his mother, some sugar, salt and oil, small luxuries for the Zambian. We finished up dinner and walked back for an early retirement. Aundre and I snuggled up under the mosquito net and chattered for quite a while before drifting off to a fitful sleep. We are planning to set off at dawn so that we can try to make it the whole way to Kasempa in the day light as driving after dark is a risky business, so hopefully we can catch some zzz's in the car.