Vacation 2010

I have finally gotten around to going through, editing and uploading most of our pictures form this summers vacation.  The Zambian and Botswana pictures are all uploaded and now I am working on the rest of the Tanzanian and Malawian pictures.  If I could just find that little card where are the rest of the pictures are I would be good to go.  Too many things to keep track of.  I promise to finish the pictures shortly and write a summary of the last few weeks in Malawi.  It´s funny now that I have internet I do not use it as often as I would have liked to while we were traveling.  Bare with me people............

Malawi (español)

Por fin estamos en Malawi y con internet!  La ultima vez que
escribimos estabamos yendo hacia la frontera de Tanzania con Malawi.
Hicimos una parada en un pueblo de Tanzania, Iringa, para celebrar mi
cumpleanos y hacer un ultimo safari.  Cruzamos medio pais en autobus,
un viaje que nos dijeron que iba a tardar 5 hrs y al final tardamos 9.
 Pasamos a toda velocidad por el parque de Mukuni y pudimos ver
Girafas, Elefantes, Zebras, Baboons y otros animales desde la sucia
ventana del autobus.  Me preocupaba la velocidad a la que ibamos
pasando por el parque y luego lei que en esa caretera han atropellado
muchos animales, incluyendo elefantes.  Por fin cuando llegamos a
Iringa fuimos a una oficina donde organizan safari's y miramos a ver
si habia otra gente interesada en compartir los gastos del coche,
conductor y guia.  Nos encontramos con otra pareja, Jerome y Rebeca,
de Francia y Espana.  Contratamos un safari de una noche y dos dias y
salimos hacia el parque de Ruaha por un camino de tierra y con
muchisimos baches.  Nuestro campamento estaba muy cerca de la entrada
del parque y antes de entrar pudimos ver elefantes y girafas.  Es algo
increible ver animales tan grandes desde la ventana del coche.  El
parque de Ruaha es completamente distinto al de Chobe en Botswana.  La
vegetacion es como yo imaginaba cuando pense en Africa, Acacias,
Baobab's, arbustos secos, una hierba larga y la tierra roja.  La
densidad de animales no es la de Chobe pero se aprecia los animales en
un habitat mas natural.  Vimos muchos animales y al final del dia
vimos nuestros primeros leones!  Fue increible.  Habia un grupo de 8 o
9 machos muy cerca del camino y nos quedamos mucho tiempo sacandoles
fotos, aunque ellos pasaban de nosotros totalmente.  Por la noche en
el camping nos sentamos alrededor del fuego hablando con nuestro guia
y conductor de los Masai's y la historia y cultura de Tanzania.
Fueron unos dias increibles y me alegro de haber hecho otro safari.
Despues del Safari cogimos un autobus hasta Mbeya donde pasamos la
noche antes de seguir hacia la frontera de Malawi. La salida de
Tanzania y entrada a Malawi fue muy facil y nada mas cruzar la
frontera cogimos un taxi a la primera ciudad de Malawi.  La ciudades
aqui son mucho mas basicas y apenas tienen bancos, ni restaurantes, ni
alojamiento etc.  Al final llegamos a nuestro destino en el norte de
Malawi a la orilla del lago Malawi.  Nos acampamos alli dos dias y
dimos unas vueltas por el pueblo que es solo unas casas y puestos de
comida en la calle principal.  Dejamos nuestras mochilas en el camping
y cogimos un camino de tierra y fuimos andando hacia arriba hacia el
pueblo de Livingstonia, que era una antigua mision de David
Livingstone.  Alli nos quedamos en un sitio precioso al borde de un
barranco.  El dueno es belga y tiene el camping, unas cabanas y una
huerta donde saca todos los alimientos para las comidas, en plan
autosostenible.  Ibamos a quedarnos una noche y al final pasamos tres
donde celebramos el cumpleanos de Antonio.  Hicimos una pequena fiesta
con el dueno, un suizo-argentino, el cocinero Italiano y nuestros
amigos Jerome y Rebeca.   Ayer bajamos andando y recogimos nuestras
mochilas para seguir nuestro camino hacia el sur. Hoy estamos en un
pueblo en las montanas, Muzuzu, y estamos aprovechando de las
comodides que ofrecen las ciudades Africanas, como bancos y internet y
nada mas.  Manana iremos hacia el lago otra vez a Nkhata bay y nos
quedaremos por lo menos una semana explorando la zona y las islas en
frente que estan en el lado de Mozambique.
En general nos gusta mucho Malawi y la gente son muy simpaticos pero
nos soprende que es mas caro que Tanzania aunque es bastante menos
desarollado.  Nos quedan menos de 20 dias antes de coger nuestro avion
en Lilongwe.

Zanzibar to Malawi

We had a great time in Zanzibar and even met the son of the president of Zanzibar.  I love mixing with the rich and famous!  Although I don't know how posh it is to be drinking warm beers on a beach in Zanzibar but at least he was an extremely interesting guy and we had a great day with him.  We spent our last day in Stone town buying souvenirs which now make our backpacks even heavier and we still have one month to go.  We took a fast boat back to Dar, as apposed to a slow ferry, and had a super fun ride.  I felt like I was ten again and back on the Demon at Great America.  The ocean was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing hard and with our speed it all combined together to make a stomach dropping ride.  Every once in awhile the boat would lift up and then plunge back down into the water.  Every time I did that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air!  We also had dolphins swim along side of the boat and at one point in front of us.  Silly things didn't they know that we were flying and they could have been run over.  Back in Dar we were deciding whether to go straight to Mbeya (near the border of Malawi) by train or stopping along the way by bus and maybe joining in on a Safari.  We eventually deciding, because of the cost $$$, to go by train.  I had been trying to call all week,with no luck, to book the tickets and so finally the day before we went to the train station.  We took the local transport, Dalla Dalla, which is a small mini bus.  For 20 cents you jam in there with about 50 other people and hope you don't get stepped on or pick pocketed.  I have seen many of these buses from the outside with people hanging out the door and others faces smashed up against the window, quite a sight.  By the time we got to the train station the booking office was closed so we just decided to risk it and show up the next day for the train.  The next morning before we took the taxi and left our guesthouse I tried calling one more time and this time got thru and was told that the train was all sold out!  Again our train trip was foiled and we now had no other option than going the next day by bus.  That following morning we got on a supposedly 5hr bus trip to Iringa in southern Tanzania but as usual it wasn't 5 hrs but instead 9hrs!  Aside from stopping in every single town on the way to pick up and drop off customers we also had a lot of road construction and many delays due to that.  Luckily we had a TV on board and got to watch tons of music videos by local artists and even some Swahili comedy shows.  The music videos got old pretty quick as you can't really tell one song from the next and they usually last like 20 mins each.  The comedy show was even worse since we don't understand Swahilli and the humor was not evident.  But the bus driver seemed to enjoy the show and has he drove he would crane his neck back and glance up at the TV!  Then at one of the stops, due to construction, where we sat on the road for about 15mins Antonio nudged me and pointed to the driver.  I was quite surprised to find him taking a little snooze!  Poor guy must have been really tired!  The rest of the trip I was kind of freaked wondering if the 15min cat nap did him any good or maybe wasn't enough for the next 3 hours that he still had to drive.  Finally at about 7pm we arrived in Iringa and were glad to get to our guest house which is quite nice compared to what we have been living in for the last few weeks.  We actually have one big bed, yes at night Antonio and I both roll to the middle but so what, we have hot water and breakfast included.  We finally have signed on to a Safari with two others and tomorrow leave for a two day one night Safari!  I am hoping to see lots of lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!
After that it is off to Malawi.

Catch up on Zanzibar and Southern Tanzania

We had a great time in Zanzibar and even met the son of the president of Zanzibar. I love mixing with the rich and famous! Although I don't know how posh it is to be drinking warm beers on a beach in Zanzibar but at least he was an extremely interesting guy and we had a great day with him. We spent our last day in Stone town buying souvenirs which now make our backpacks even heavier and we still have one month to go. We took a fast boat back to Dar, as apposed to a slow ferry, and had a super fun ride. I felt like I was ten again and back on the Demon at Great America. The ocean was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing hard and with our speed it all combined together to make a stomach dropping ride. Every once in awhile the boat would lift up and then plunge back down into the water. Every time I did that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air! We also had dolphins swim along side of the boat and at one point in front of us. Silly things didn't they know that we were flying and they could have been run over. Back in Dar we were deciding whether to go straight to Mbeya (near the border of Malawi) by train or stopping along the way by bus and maybe joining in on a Safari. We eventually deciding, because of the cost $$$, to go by train. I had been trying to call all week,with no luck, to book the tickets and so finally the day before we went to the train station. We took the local transport, Dalla Dalla, which is a small mini bus. For 20 cents you jam in there with about 50 other people and hope you don't get stepped on or pick pocketed. I have seen many of these buses from the outside with people hanging out the door and others faces smashed up against the window, quite a sight. By the time we got to the train station the booking office was closed so we just decided to risk it and show up the next day for the train. The next morning before we took the taxi and left our guesthouse I tried calling one more time and this time got thru and was told that the train was all sold out! Again our train trip was foiled and we now had no other option than going the next day by bus. That following morning we got on a supposedly 5hr bus trip to Iringa in southern Tanzania but as usual it wasn't 5 hrs but instead 9hrs! Aside from stopping in every single town on the way to pick up and drop off customers we also had a lot of road construction and many delays due to that. Luckily we had a TV on board and got to watch tons of music videos by local artists and even some Swahili comedy shows. The music videos got old pretty quick as you can't really tell one song from the next and they usually last like 20 mins each. The comedy show was even worse since we don't understand Swahilli and the humor was not evident. But the bus driver seemed to enjoy the show and has he drove he would crane his neck back and glance up at the TV! Then at one of the stops, due to construction, where we sat on the road for about 15mins Antonio nudged me and pointed to the driver. I was quite surprised to find him taking a little snooze! Poor guy must have been really tired! The rest of the trip I was kind of freaked wondering if the 15min cat nap did him any good or maybe wasn't enough for the next 3 hours that he still had to drive. Finally at about 7pm we arrived in Iringa and were glad to get to our guest house which is quite nice compared to what we have been living in for the last few weeks. We actually have one big bed, yes at night Antonio and I both roll to the middle but so what, we have hot water and breakfast included. We finally have signed on to a Safari with two others and tomorrow leave for a two day one night Safari! I am hoping to see lots of lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!


After that it is off to Malawi.

Nos Vamos

Creo que no le gustamos al tren. Nuestro segundo intento de coger el
tren y .......FALLIDO! Esta vez ni pudimos comprar billetes porque
estaban todos vendidos. La primera vez fue el accidente y tuvimos que
cambiar a un bus...ay ay ay! Bueno tuvimos que buscar otra solucion y
tampoco es mala. Manana cogemos un bus y hacemos un viaje de 6 horas
a Iringa y alli decidiremos si siguimos el dia siguiente a Malawi o
nos quedamos unos dias en la zona. Es una zona buena para hacer
safari's y caminatas pero los precios de los safari's son bastante
caros y ya que hicimos uno, y nos gusto mucho, no se si gastaremos el
dinero para hacer otro.
Hace dos dias que vinimos de Zanzibar y tuvimos una vuelta bastante
divertida. Cogimos un barco rapido, en vez del Ferry lento, y hacia
bastante viento y le mar estaba un poco revuelto. Nosotros nos
sentamos en la proa en unos bancos al aire libre. A veces soplaba muy
fuerte el viento y se levantaba el barco y parecia una montana rusa.
Creo que mas que algunas veces tenia el estomago en la boca. Luego
vimos unos delfines a lado del barco y un poco mas tarde nadaron por
delate, espero que no pillamos ninguno. Ibamos bastante rapidos.

Aqui estamos en Dar es Salaam y ya se lo que significa estar como
sardinas en una lata. Ayer cogimos el mini bus local "Dalla Dalla" y
empezaba subir gente y mas gente y justo cuando pense que ya no podia
subir mas, subio como otras diez personas. Desde fuera tenia que
parecer bastante graciosa con gente con sus caras aplastadas en las
ventanas y algunos cueropos que salian por la puerta. Todo una
experiencia.
No se si tendremos mas noticias hasta Malawi y nos queda unos dias de
viaje, cambia de moneda, hora, idioma, culturas, paises etc. Que
ilusion.

Tanzania (english)

I am writing  from one of the many beaches in Zanzibar.  We have been here for the last week and are really enjoying the Tanzanian hospitality and the beautiful beaches.  The first few days we spent in Zanzibar town and stayed in the area of Stone town, which is the heart and soul of Zanzibar.  The town faces out to the ocean and is surrounded on the remaining sides by the main road.  The center is a maze of small, windy cobblestone streets littered with small souvenir shops, tiny restaurants, cafes, guest houses and hotels.  As you walk down the streets you are constantly being greeted "Mambo" "Jambo" " Karibu".  These are the Swahili ways of saying " hello" and "welcome".  Yes, most are trying to sell you something but they are in no way aggressive or too persistent and some just want a little conversation.  The buildings are a mixture of colonial, Arabic and Swahili style construction resulting in a beautiful mixture of architecture.  It is very common to see Masai's walking down the streets in their typical dress with red or blue cloths wrapped around them and tied to their waists with a belt.  They also wear lots of beaded jewelry on  their wrists, ankles and necks and some even have a knife tied into their belts and carry a walking stick.  But it is even more curious and fun to see them here on the beach with their sunglasses on selling their jewelry.  The market in Stone town is very lively and goes on all day.  They have tons of fruits, vegetables, some really big fish and spices (It is called the spice island).  In the evening you can walk outside the marked or down the side streets and eat grilled octopus, calamari, bread fruit, and cassava's.  All throughout the day you can buy peeled oranges which you buy to suck the juice out and then throw away the pulp, mangoes with chili and sugar sprinkled on top or just sit by one of the locals selling spiced coffee on the street and people watch.  After leaving Stone town we took a "Dalla Dalla" (local transport) to Kendwa, one of the most beautiful beaches (that's what we are told) here in Zanzibar.  They are white sand beaches, with turquoise water and the temperature is perfect to swim or just laze around.  There is always someone to offer you a tour somewhere or a snorkeling trip but if you decide not to go they say "Akuna matata", "no problem".  Yesterday we went out on a typical Dhow boat, which is made of wood and has a large sail, and were taken to a nearby private island to snorkel.  Later they took us to a different beach where they had fresh grilled tuna and rice waiting for us for lunch.  On the way back we had a school of Dolphin swim up along the boat and follow us for a bit.  Today we have walked to a nearby village while the tide is low to use the internet and tour around.  We are planning on staying for about 4 or 5 days more before making our way back to Malawi. 

Tanzania (espanol)

La ultima vez que os escribimos estabamos todavia en Zambia, en el norte.  Alli pasamos los ultimos dias con mi madre visitando unas pinturas rupestres.  Por mala suerte cogimos una guia que no tenia muchas ganas de trabajar y de las mas de mil pinturas nos enseno 4.  Al final compramos unos libros sobre la zona y asi aprendimos un poquito mas.  Otro dia hicimos una ruta en bici hasta unas cataratas a 35km de Kasama y acampamos alli.  La zona era muy chula y pudimos acercarnos a las cataratas mucho y dormir al ladito.  Finalmente nos despedimos de mi madre en Kasama y cogimos el tren, la Tazara, que une Zambia con Tanzania y va hasta Dar es Salaam.  Todos nos habian dicho que el viaje era super chulo como pasaba por un parque nacional y ves un monton de animales.  El viaje supestamente tarda mas o menos 36-46 horas dependiendo de los retrasos.  Nosotros salimos a las 4am el miercoles, con una hora de retraso solo, y supuestamente ibamos a llegar sobre las 2pm el viernes.  Teniamos un camarote para nosotros solos y estabamos muy ilusionados con nuestro viaje.  Cuando cruzamos la frontera con Tanzania uno que trabajaba en el Tren venia a informarnos que a unos 2 horas habia un accidente en la via y lo mas probable es cuando llegasemos a la proxima parada nos cambiaria a un autobus que nos llevaria a Dar es Salaam.  Estaba muy decepcionada y no tenia muchas ganas de cambiar el viaje en tren por uno en autobus de 12hrs.  Al final estuvimos parados en esa ciudad todo el dia , hasta las 8pm, y finalmente nos dijeron que el dia siguiente iba a recogernos un autobus a las 5am para llevarnos a Dar.  Esa noche, vimos el partido de Espana y Alemania en un vagon del tren sin volumen y el tren parado.  El dia siguiente esperamos desde las 5am hasta las 7am cuando por fin llego el autobus.  El viaje aparte de ser muy largo fue bastante aburrido hasta que quedaban 3 horas para llegar a Dar y empezamos a ver Masai's por las calles con sus ropas, una especie de pareo, rojas y azules que los atan a sus cinturas con un cinturon, llevando muchas pulseras de cuentas, sus zapatos hechos de las llantas de los coches y siempre con un baston en la mano.  Son gente muy alta y delgada y la mayoria llevan la cabeza rapada.  Tambien pasamos por un parque nacional y pudimos ver zebras, girafas, impalas y elefantes.  Por fin a las 8pm de la noche llegamos a Dar es Salaam y pudimos probar nuestras primeras cervezas de Tanzania.  Las cervezas tienen nombres como; Safari, Serengeti, Tusker etc y estan buenisimas!  El dia siguiente dimos una vuelta por Dar, una ciudad con mucha vida y un puerto bastante importante.  Probamos nuestras primeras comidas de la calle como casava asada, naranjas a que las quitan una capa muy fina de la piel, la que luego usan para te's, y las parten en medio y chupas el zumo.  Tambien hemos comido pinchos de carne, pulpo asado, chapati's etc.  Ese dia decidimos irnos el dia siguiente en ferry a Zanzibar.  Llevamos ya 4 dias aqui y estamos encantados con lo que hemos visto hasta ahora.  Nos alojamos en Stonetown que ocupa una pequena parte de la ciudad, que tiene 3 caras al mar.  Las calles son muy estrechas y laberinticas.  Estan llenas de tiendas de ropa, recuerdos, comida etc.  Te puedes perder facilmente pero no hay ningun peligro porque siempre sales al mar o a la calle principal que le da la vuelta a la ciudad.  Nos recuerda un poco a Essauira.  La gente es super amable y te saludan diciendo "Mambo, Jambo" " hola como estas".  Luego te invitan a entrar en su tienda o simplemente dandote la bienvenidos a la isla diciendo "Karibu".  Si les dices que estas un poco perdido o estas buscando una calle te dicen " Akuna matata" " no pasa nada" y te indiquen el camino o hasta a veces te acompanan.  Ayer fuimos a una playa muy cerca de la ciudad y la tuvimos para nosotros solos.  Eso si nos pico unas moscas de la arena y hoy tenemos unas picaduras de muerte que pican la hostia.  Manana nos vamos a una playa en el norte de la isla que dicen que es una de las mejores de la isla. 

Zambia (English)

Finally after almost a month I am sitting down and writing an email.
In Zambia internet connections were almost non existent and if we had
one it was painfully slow.  Now we are in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and
we have more connections.

Back to Zambia....

We had a great time in Zambia and traveled over 3 weeks together with
my mom.  She came to pick us up in Lusaka airport after a 28hr trip
which included 4 airplane changes.  When we arrived at the airport we
saw the Zambezi airlines plane which has it's wings and motors painted
with the Giraffe's spots.  I thought that could only be seen here in
Africa (hopefully we will get a picture up).  We spent 3 days in
Lusaka which we used to rest up, catch up with my mom and make our
future plans.  Lusaka was somewhat disappointing as it really was not
what I thought a big African city would be.  We basically went to
strip malls and big grocery stores, which we could have probably done
in Spain.  After Lusaka we took a 7hr bus trip to Livingstone.  Before
getting on the bus one of the Zambian customers, who was a little over
weight and very tall, complained to the bus driver that " there is a
problem, I do not fit in my seat".  The women next to her said "oh,
you are blessed", and they both laughed.  Being thin here is not a
sign of beauty, in fact it is just the opposite, having extra weight
is healthy and a sign of being wealthy.  On the bus we watched a movie
called "Prey"  about a safari gone wrong.  These Zambians really have
a good sense of humor.  In Livingstone the main attraction are the
Victoria Falls.  There original name is Mosi-o-Tunya, which means the
smoke that thunders, which it definitely lives up to.  On our way to
the falls we could already see the mist coming off them and hear them
long before we even saw them.  We were stopped on the road by police
who were trying to shoo 2 big elephants who had entered into one of
the hotels compound and from what I could tell were not too happy.
The falls are beautiful and although the are not the highest ones the
are very wide and fall down into a gorge.  It is impossible to get
near because, now after the rainy season the water level is very high,
there is so much mist coming off of them.  In certain areas it is
almost as if it is pouring rain, but it is just the mist.  The whole
area surrounding the falls are beautiful with many walking paths and
lots of baboons to entertain you.  From there we walked on to the
bridge that connects Zambia to Zimbabwe but did not enter into
Zimbabwe.  The next day we took transport to the border of Zambia and
Botswana, crossed the river which separates  Zambia, Namibia, Botswana
and Zimbabwe.  We were picked up in a Safari jeep, like the ones you
see in the movies, with a rag top, bench seating and no doors, and
driven to a Lodge next to Chobe National park.  We took a river safari
in the morning on a small motorboat.  Right away we started seeing
crocodiles, hippos, elephants, impala's, baboons, eagles, storks,
wildebeests, mongoose's etc.  It was amazing the wildlife and how
close we could get to the animals, sometimes a bit to close for my
comfort.  At one point we got stuck up on the bank next to a very
large crocodile and all I could think was " I'm not getting out to
push".  In the afternoon we did a jeep safari into the park and saw
herds of buffalo's, giraffe's, kudu's and more of the same animal's we
saw in the morning.  Again we got pretty close to some of them and the
experience was pretty awesome.  I was hoping to see Zebra's and maybe
even a Lion but I knew that would be pretty difficult and hopefully we
will be seeing them here in Tanzania or Malawi.  From Livingstone we
passed thru Lusaka again and next day took a bus at 3pm to Mpika in
the northern district.  In Mpika we spent a few days buying food and
resting up a bit from our travels.  From Mpika to Mpepo, my mom's
village, there is no public transport so you have to hitch.  After
1.30hr we got picked up and rode in the back of a flat bed truck.
Mpepo is a small village with dirt roads and mud huts with thatch
roofs, or the more modern one's have tin roofs.  My mom lives at the
end of the village, and only has one neighbor in front of her yard.
Her house is 3 rooms, a living room, bed room and kitchen or storage
area.  Out side there is a round open hut with a thatch roof, cement
floor and that is where she cooks her food and her dining area.  She
cooks all of her food in a charcoal pit which is on the floor while
sitting on a small stool.  She has an outhouse with a pit toilet and a
shower area which is enclosed by the long grass.  Every day we would
have to walk to the well to draw enough water for our cooking, showers
and cleaning.  Any time we wanted to cook we would have to start a new
fire.  All of these things took up almost half of our day, so you can
just imagine the ordeal of cooking or bathing.  While we were in her
village we were asked to teach a class at school, which really was
made up of the students asking us questions about ourselves and our
lifestyles and customs.  We also went to the chief's "palace" which is
a large compound with a larger than normal brick home with a tin roof
and of course TV.  When we met him we had to get down on our knees and
clap our hands together and greet him by saying " Moi polaney moo
kwai".  We then presented him with our gifts for both him and Mrs.
Chief Mpepo.  We also borrowed " Zam bikes" and rode out to a nearby
village to see the river there.  On Sunday we went to church and at
the end of 2hrs of signing and dancing were presented to the whole
village.  We were called up to the front and each of the parishioners
walked up and shook our hands.  On our last afternoon there we were
given a party by the local choir, which my mom supports.  The killed a
goat, made us local food and local beer.  Then the sang and danced for
us.  After a week of being in Mpepo we hit the road again to hitch to
Kasama.  In Kasama we spent a few days waiting to take the Tazara
train to Dar Es Salaam.  One day we went and saw the painted rocks,
which was interesting, but our guide was not too good.  There are over
1000 paintings but she only showed us 4!  We also borrowed bikes and
rode out to Chishimba falls and camped there.  It is a beautiful are
and the falls are quite nice.

Over all we had a great time in Zambia.  The people are very friendly
and the transport was pretty reliable.  Unfortunatley Zambia is not
geared for tourism and it is very expensive compared to many places we
have traveled to in Asia.  AID's is a huge problem here and everyone
knows someone who is sick or who has died of it.  It is not a poor
country and they don't seem to have problems with water shortages or
not having food.

On Wed we took the train at 4am to the border of Tanzania crossed over
and then stopped in the first major town on the Tanzanian side, Mbeya.
 There we were told that there was an accident further on on the
tracks and that most likely we would be bussed to Dar es Salaam.  This
was quite disappointing news since we were looking forward to the 2
day train trip and we had a whole sleeper compartment to ourselves.
Finally yesterday morning they boarded us on a bus for a 12hr bus
ride.  We went thru a National park and saw Zebras, giraffes and
elephants, again quite exciting.  Today we are here in Dar checking
out our options and hopefully tomorrow heading to a nearby beach or to
Zanzibar.

Zambia

Hola a todos,

Por fin despues de casi tres semanas tengo una conexion de internet y el tiempo de escribir un email.

Nuestra aventura empezo con 28 horas de viaje desde Granada hasta que aterrizamos en el pequeno aeropuerto de Lusaka.  Nada mas que aterrizar vimos un avion del Zambezi airlines que tenia la cola y los motores del avion pintados como las manchas de una girafa.  Pense que eso solo se veria aqui en Africa! Mi madre nos estaba esperando en el aeropuerto y nos dio mucha alegria verla.  Esta estupenda y super contenta aqui en Zambia. Pasamos los primeros dias en la ciudad de Lusaka y la verdad es que Lusaka no tiene mucho que ver ni ofrecer al turista.  Es una a ciudad sin mucho encanto y es muy extensa y hay que coger un taxi a todos los lados,  por la noche y en muchas zonas no es muy seguro andar por alli.
Nuestro primer destino despues de Lusaka fue Livingstone, al sur oeste y muy cerca de la frontera de Botswana, Namibia y Zimbabwe.  En Livingstone estan las cataratas de Victoria y son una de las maravillas naturales.  Son realmente impresionantes.  Antes de llegar a las cataratas puedes ver una especia de humo, en realidad es el espray de las cataratas, y por eso su nombre local es Mosi-o-tunya, lo cual significa el humo que truena.  Las cataratas no son tan altas pero si muy anchas y caen a una garganta.  Nosotros las hemos visitado justo despues de la epoca de lluvias y en el rio Zambezi lleva muchisima agua.  No te puedes acercar mucho a las cataratas sin acabar empapandote.  En la zona de las cataratas hay muchos caminos para verlas y estan llenos de baboons.  Antes de llegar pasamos por delante de un hotel donde estaba la policia intentando espantar dos elefantes que se habian metido en la entrada del hotel.
De Livingstone fuimos a Botswana para hacer un safari en Chobe National Park.  Uno de los parques mas grandes de Africa.  Por la manana hicimos un safari en una lancha pequena y pudimos ver muchos animales en el agua y otros en la orilla.  Al principio vimos muchos cocodrilos y nos acercamos mucho a ellos.  Tambien vimos unos hipopotamos, un poco demasiado cerca para mi gusto.  Tambien pudimos ver elefantes, kudu, impalas, cerdos salvajes, bufalos y muchos pajaros.  Al final de la vuelta en lancha estaba un poco cansada de ver cocodrilos, hipopotomos etc., habia tantos.  Por la tarde dimos una vuelta en un vehiculo tipo Jeep como los que se ve en las peliculas.  Alli vimos muchisimos elefantes y tambien nos acercamos mucho a ellos.  Hay una poblacion de 65,000 elefantes en ese parque y parecen casi una plaga.  Tambien vimos un monton de girafas, que animal mas extrano con su cuello tan largo y para agacharse se abre las piernas y mantiene una postura bastante graciosa.  No vimos ninguno de los gatos, ni zebras ni rinocerantes pero tenemos esperanza verlos en algunos de los parques de Tanzania o Malawi.
Despues de Livingstone pasamos otra vez por Lusaka y luego cogimos otro autobus para subir al norte.  En general las careteras no estan en mal estado y los autobuses tampoco.  Tardamos casi 10 horas en llegar al pueblo de Mpika, en el norte de Zambia, alli nos quedamos unos dias descansando del viaje y comprando cosas para llevar al pueblo de mi madre, Mpepo.  Tambien conocimos un Frances, Jean Baptist, que esta viviendo en la zona y trabajando con una ONG. El nos llevo a unas cataratas pequenas y a dar una vuelta por el monte.  Tambien pudimos ver un poco del Mundial y sabemos que Espana sigue, OLE!  Al final emprendimos camino hacia Mpepo.  Para llegar alli hay que hacer autoestop como no hay ningun tipo de transporte publico.  Eso es muy tipico aqui y no suele ser peligroso.  Despues de 1.30hr nos recogio un camion con la parte trasera abierta.  Nosotros nos sentamos fuera y mi madre dentro con el conductor.  Tardamos otro 1.30hr en llegar a su pueblo.  Mi madre conocia el conductor y no nos cobro nada y nos dejo casi en la puerta de la choza de mi madre.  Ella vive en una zona muy retirada del pueblo.  Su choza esta hecha de barro y el techo de una especia de cesped muy larga.  Tiene un salon, una habitacion y una cocina, aunque no cocina alli.  Fuera tiene un bano, sin agua corriente, una ducha al aire libre y tampoco tiene agua corriente.  Hay una especie de kiosko redondo de la misma construcion que la casa y alli es donde hace sus fuegos de carbon para cocinar y donde comemos y lavamos los platos.  Todos los dias hay que ir al pozo y recoger agua, hacer el fuego para desayunar, comer y cenar.  Siempre hay que recoger toda la comida y limpiar bien para que no haya bichos no deseados.  Para ducharse hay que llenar un cubo y con un vaso de agua ir lavandote.  Todo esas cosas ocupan la mayoria de tu dia.  Su pueblo no es muy grande y todo el mundo la conoce.  Es la unica blanca y extranjera en el pueblo.  Para ellos verla es algo especial pero para ver tres blancos fue una locura.  Cuando saliamos de su casa y ibamos al mercado o cualquier parte siempre teniamos un desfile.  Los perros iban delante y luego nosotros tres seguidos por un monton de ninos.  Los que no nos seguian venian corriendo para saludarnos o gritababan "How are you (como estas?)".  Mi madre se ha hecho amiga de un coro local y nos recibieron en su pueblo con canciones y musica y el ultimo dia hicieron una fiesta para nosotoros donde mataron a una cabra y hicieron todos sus platos tradicionales.  Tambien fuimos a la iglesia.  Es todo un espectaculo y dura 2 horas.  La mayoria del tiempo estan cantando y bailando.  Al final de la misa nos presentaron a la iglesia y tuvimos que ponernos delante de todos y esperar hasta que vinieron uno por uno a darnos la bienvenida y la mano.  Conocimos un profesor del colegio quien nos pidio que dieramos una clase.  Al final estuvimos casi 2 horas contestando preguntas sobre nosotros, Espana y los EEUU.  Lo que mas les gustaron es como nos damos dos besos para saludar, alli nunca se ve una pareja tocarse.
Despues de una semana otra vez volvimos a la carretera esperando a alguien para recogernos y traernos mas al norte a Kasama.  Y aqui estamos.  Llegamos ayer y nos alojamos en la casa de la ONG, Peace Corps, de mi madre.  Nos quedamos aqui hasta el martes por la noche cuando cogemos un tren para Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Tenemos planeado ir a unas cataratas con bicicleta y tambien visitar unas pinturas rupestres.

Total.  Nos gusta mucho Zambia.  La gente es muy simpatica y no son agresivas.  La comida tipica es Nshima (una especie de arepa), una masa hecha de harina de trigo y maiz, que lo comen con las manos y lo utilizan como tenedor para coger las verduras, la carne etc.  Aqui no se ve nadie muriendose de hambre y no se ve mucha pobreza.  De hecho creo que Zambia es una pais bastante rico en agua y con una tierra muy fertil.  El transporte es bastane bueno pero en las partes rurales es un poco dificil llegar a muchos sitios por la falta de transporte publico.  Lo que si hay es mucho SIDA y todos conocen a alguien o tienen familiares que lo tiene o se han muerto de SIDA.

Esperemos que en Tanzania tengamos  mas oportunidades de usar el internet y una conexion mas rapida para subir algunas fotos.

Espero que todos estan bien.

 Muchos besos,

Antonio y Carmen

Nos VAMOS

Por fin, un post en español........... He tardado mucho pero os prometo en este viaje que estaré escribiendo en Ingles y Español.
Mañana cogemos el avion y me muero de ganas de ver lo que nos ofrece Africa! 

And we are off....

We have less than two weeks before we fly off to Lusaka, Zambia.  I am getting very excited for this years trip and cannot wait to see what Africa has to offer us.  We bought a new tent yesterday and some super lite sleeping mats.  We plan on camping during most of our journey and therefor have invested quite a bit of money in the equipment.  I have been forewarned that we are going in the dry season/winter there so we will also have to pack warm clothes.  I am starting to worry about the weight of my backpack.  I have already pulled out my travel clothes, yes the same ones I wear every year in the pictures, and will be deciding what to bring.  I need to think light and then all the little things like swiss army knives, head lamps, tents etc will probably end up being about 12-16 kg.  Which is a lot to be lugging around on your back from place to place.  Two years ago in Papua New Guinea I packed a snake bite kit which I bought in Walmart.  Thank god I never had to use that because I don´t know if it would have really worked or not.  But this year since there was no previous trip to the States, I have no snake bit kit.  Fortunately I just read on my mom´s blog, http://maryellenrivero.blogspot.com, that with the rainy season gone the snake´s have gone too.  I hope that is true! 
Well I am not sure how often I will be able to post during our trip, but I promise every chance I get I will let you know how things are going. 

Happy summer

It´s snowing

Oops, that´s not snow.  They are little white ¨feather-like¨ seeds which make your headache terrible and send you into a sneezing fit.  I love spring time.  I love the nice weather, all the sun, starting to bare some skin etc.  But these last few years I have begun to have signs of allergies.  I wake up with a sore throat or a dry mouth.  I have a constant headache in a place where I never knew I could have one.  I pass from one area of town to the next and depending on what kind of trees are planted there or the pollen floating in the air in that area I have one symptom or another.  Each year I pray that my symptoms have not worsened and I will be able to make it through the spring and be able to enjoy one of my favorite times of the year.  I truly hope I do not have to end up with one of those surgical masks on my face.  If that would be the case I think I would rather opt for the whole helmet gear with a respiratory device, something like Darth Vader, but in pink for girls. Three cheers to all those who suffer from allergies and grin and bare it, you are the real deal!

Tweaking

Just finished my ¨all about blogs¨ online class and am happy to say that hopefully little by little I will be updating more often and promise to tweak my blog a bit to get better results.  I never really knew that there were so many options and really thought a blog was something very easy and simple.  The only really simple part is getting it up and running but then there are tons of options.  I guess I shouldn´t be suprised the days of drinking a ¨coffee with milk¨ are over we now live in  a ¨tall, non-fat, mocha with whip cream¨ world. 

Social Health

So for all of you who have no idea how social health works, I want to give you a GREAT example.
I have been having problems with my hands falling asleep. It occurs at night time while I am lying in my bed, no I am not lying on my hands, lying flat on my back. During the night I am awoken various times by a horrible, painful numbness in my hands. I finally made an appointment to see my general practitioner, which is usually pretty quick and you can get in from one day to the next. She then examines me and decides if she can treat me or if I need to be referred to a specialist. Well this is my second appointment with her for this problem and after exaggerating and breaking down in tears she finally gave me a referral for a specialist, a neurologist. I was given an appointment for a month in a half later. So this Monday I went to my appointment where I was examined by the neurologist. He took out his little hammer and hammered on my shoulder, neck and hands. He made me bend my arms behind my back, turn my head and wiggle my fingers. Then he typed in his notes to his computer and asked if I had been given ¨the test¨, which I responded ¨no¨. He then gave me a referral for ¨the test¨, which supposedly is to see if I have any nerve damage and a referral to see the neurologist after my test. I went to the secretary with my referrals and she gave me an appointment for ¨the test¨in OCTOBER 2010 and then proceeded to tell me that the neurologists agenda is closed and I have to call in September for an appointment. I did the obvious jaw drop and said ¨October¨ and then began to laugh hysterically. All I could think about was that if I didn´t have any nerve damage now it is very probable that I will have some by the time October rolls around. I also know that when I call in September for the neurologist appointment I am more than likely to get one months down the road. Then when I finally get in to see him/her I hope that I am not told ¨oh these tests are from last year, they are too old and we need to repeat them¨. HA!
So what are my options til October. I have decided to either sleep standing or sitting, take massive muscle relaxers and therefor will not be awoken by the pain, or drink large quantities of alcohol in hopes of passing out and not waking til the next morning. HHMMM I will let you all know the decision I make.

Lions and tigers and bears....oh my

Well not really bears but lions and tigers, yes. These animals and many more is what I hope to see this year on our vacation in Africa. Yesterday we bought our tickets for this summer. We fly on June 11th to Lusaka, Zambia and return August 25th from Lilongwe, Malwi. We bought tickets with Ethiopian Airlines, which I have to admit makes me a little nervous. The tickets with British airways were 400€ more each and the prices were rising daily. I am sure the difference in price has to do with the world cup being celebrated in Johannesburg this summer and the fact that the BA flights pass thru there. I also ordered my new Zambia and Malawi lonelyplanet, which will be coming out in 2 days and with the tickets and the guide book bought the only thing left is to wait for June 11th.
Just a quick follow up on my last post. Today we are having a beautiful sunny day, COLD, but sunny. It is the second day in a row and it´s amazing to see what a little sunshine can do for your state of being. Tomorrow we are expecting rain again, but til then I will enjoy the day.

Winter or Spring??

Wow, we are at the time of year where you don´t know if it is winter or spring with all the weather changes; freezing cold, snowing, torrential down pours etc. What is evident is the global warming and how the seasons are shifting and becoming allot milder. This December, I think about the 22, it started to rain and has not stopped since. I think we have seen less than of week of sun since then. Living in southern Spain, this is not common. In fact last year they were talking about droughts and water shortages. This year we are having flooding and have received more rain in the last 2 months than we would in a year. To be more exact, over double the rain. I am starting to see mold growing where I have never seen it before. The wooden doors are so swollen from the humidity that sometimes it takes me almost 5 minutes to leave the house. I tug and tug on the front door and it just won´t budge. I wonder if my skin will start to wrinkle too, like when you stay in the bath tub too long. Today on a tapestry, which is hung on the wall of our spare room, I saw mold. I looked behind it to see if it came through the wall, but no. Where could this mold be coming from??? One of my shoes in my closet was green and hairy! These are freak of nature things which I think I should be documenting. In 2175 when they talk about the wettest winter ever, 2009-2010, they can quote these documented phenomenons. I hope within the next few months I am not complaining about the hottest summer ever! Oh mother nature is not happy with us.