I apologize for having been so remiss in my blogging lately, I have been on another epic adventure. I will only attempt to describe it breifly, however, because a) I am at an internet cafe paying by the minute b) I cannot load the pictures (the best part) untill I am back in Gaborone and c) I have been on a forced march for the past 10 hours by a crazy woman (my friend angene, evidence of her insanity to come in photo form later) and I am so ridiculously tired that I cannot even devise a clever analogy to describe it (we have an overnight busride at 10pm and angene wanted us all to be tired enough to sleep. FYI I have drugs for that which do NOT make my feet hurt). In any case the last five or so days have been really awesome, if involving constant travel.
The trip out:
The second I ended my parasitology final (which I did fine on despite finding gossip girl for free online the night before) Pat and I booked it to the busrank to get onto a combi to Joburg; we then sat on the combi for 3 hours, waiting for all of the seats to fill before it would leave. We got to Joburg 15 minutes before our next bus connection and while Pat went and got food I convinced the bus to wait for us. As I checked in for the two of us, the driver kept demanding "where is your husband? We need to go!"
In which I tried to fake an accent:
We made it to Bloemfontain, where we saw one of the stadiums in which the world cup will be played in 2010 and we managed to find our third friend angene at Naval Hill Backpackers, who had come from Namibia. (Backpackers was nice, cute receptionist, altho there was some serious confusion because the owners were convinced that, since I booked the room under Dupont, they were waiting for three french students)
Local entertainment:
The next day, amid pouring rain and a really sketchy busrank, we managed to make it to our lodge in Malealea where we discovered that it is COLD in Lesotho and we were eventually given jackets by the staff, which I am pretty sure came out of the donations bin and had just not yet been distributed; we must have looked really pathetic (we were). Despite the very wet start, we had a fantastic time in Lesotho, we rode ponies (I discovered that a pony is harder to remain upright on than an elephant, the guide laughed) and we took in epic scenery.
Baboons in the mist & Sarah the attractive Liberian
Defying all odds, we also managed to make it to Durban, South Africa, in one day, 700km and 3 combi rides later (One of which was through a national park that rivalled Utah in my estimation of natural beauty.) We got to Durban, checked into one of the scuzziest backpacker's hostels at which I have ever stayed (there was a 60 yr old fisherman sharing the room with us, more lovely details to come, including the explanation for that title) and managed to sleep anyway.
Death March through the Miami of Africa
Today was the forced march; it included the beach, an indian market (Dad I got you spices), the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, another 2010 world cup stadium, a glittzy casino, and this internet cafe.
Again, actual stories (not more dull chronologies) and pictures (worth at least 1,853 words each) to come in future posts. The short of it is: mom and dad, I am alive, I had a great time, I probably will be asking you for more money soon and I don't think that hostel had bedbugs. Untill later, keep it real yo!
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