Zambia....AWESOME!! But still prefer Tanzania

So Melanie and I got on our bus to Zambia from Mbeya. The bus came a few hours late so we did not make the border crossing. We ended up having to spend the night at the border. We were surrounded on our bus by well speaking Zambian students. They speak English in Zambia. I was amazed at how hilarious these kids were and I was saddened to think of how funny my own kids are but because I still cannot perfectly understand Kiswahili their humor goes over my head. I am now on a mission to kick ass in Kiswahili so I can see how funny my kids are. Mel and I noticed one Mzungu (White person) on our bus and she looked young and rather scared so we befriended here of course. She was an American student who had just finished a 3 month volunteer stint in Zambia for GreenForce. She had been travelling with her mates and had to go back to America suddenly. Her flight was leaving from Lusaka so we hung out with her. The bus we were on bought all of us dinner and b-fast and we stayed the night in a hotel. Some people did not have money and slept on the bus. The Zambian students took it upon themselves to be our escorts…bless them. The next am we set sail for the customs office. Since Mel and I had a visa waiver from the hostel we were gonna stay in Zambia, we did not get charged. The poor American student got charged up the ass. The Zambian customs were way cool, but the Tanzanian customs were pretty much aholes. I grew very defensive about how the people on the bus talked about the Tanzanians. The bus was full of Zambians, Ugandans, and Kenyans. All English speaking countries whose infrastructure is better off than Tanzania's. They all had a superior attitude and seemed to look down upon Tanzania. I realized on this trip my love for Tanzania. So we embarked on our long-ass bus ride to Lusaka. Zambia sucks to drive through. There is absolutely nothing to see. In Tanzania, you have no reason to read a book because you are always looking at something interesting whether it be a safari park, Kilimanjaro, changing landscapes or what have you. Plus, no one was selling anything it to the buses if we made a stop. In Tanzania, you have tons of momma's in brightly colored kangas selling eggs, donuts, sambusas, and spoons to the bus windows. Maybe this is a sign of Zambia doing so well that they do not need to sell such items, but I felt like it was boring as hell. Anyways, we reached Kapiri Moshi, the first rest stop after driving for bloody 8 hours, and Mel and I were amazed at this rest stop. It was straight out of the West. They had everything you could ever want and for those who know about my love for KFC, they had the next best thing. Mel and I got three pieces of chicken each and some pies which reminded me of my England days. Pies from BP by our houses at Whitenights in Reading to be exact. Pure fatty fried heaven. The meat on these kuku was massive. I mean, I have not laid eyes on so much chicken meat in the entire 9 months I was in TZ. So we finally landed in Lusaka, the metropolis of Zambia. The Zambians boasted that Lusaka is better than Dar. It was pretty massive and looked rather industrial. All life seemed to be restored to Zambia come Lusaka. Mel, Julie, and I bid our farewells and Mel and I went to ChaChaCha backpackers for our one night in Lusaka.The hostel was pretty nice and there were craploads of Americans for some reason there. I was convinced that I would not meet any Americans on this trip unless they were Peace Corps. I have to give Americans more credit. I was convinced that Americans for the most part only backpack in Europe. I was wrong. So we left the next morning for Livingstone and arrived at our backpackers hostel Fawlty Towers which seemed more like a freaking resort. Livingstone is very much like New Zealand where you can pack craploads of outdoor adventures into a short time. Mel and I washed our clothes and had some dinner at the outdoor café they had behind the hostel. I took so many hot showers on this trip. I don't think I have been this clean in my life. The next morning I had a kickass English breakfast and Mel and I tried to sort going to Botswana's Okavanta Delta. We decided that the other hostel, Jolly Boys, had more information so we went there for information. We realized that we did not have enough time to go to Botswana so we decided to jam-pack our week in Zambia. That day we hit Victoria Falls. AMAZING is all I can say. We hiked to the Boiling Point and met many a baboon chilling on the way down. It was hilarious to see a group of 40 Zambian schoolgirls make way to the Boiling Point. They were screaming the whole way down and up. Who knows when they have ever seen this much water in their life. For those of us who have seen oceans, we take for granted the sheer joy of seeing so much water. I am sure my Tanzanian kids would be screaming too. We eventually left and gulped down a milkshake and hurriedly got dressed to go on our booze cruise. We were shocked to find a crapload of American missionary families none of whom drank. Why would anyone pay money to go on a booze cruise and not drink?Go figure. Mel and I befriended the bartender and booze cruise staff who were bored out of their mind. The bartender made us an assortment of cocktails. Needless to say, Mel and I were crawling off the 2 hour boatride on the gorgeous Zambezi. We attempted to eat dinner and have conversations with people that night but to no avail. We crashed at 9am. The next day we set off on our white water rafting trip. The Zambezi was opened that week for rafting. We were unable to do the first 10 rapids since they were too dangerous. We befriended an American PC couple who had been living in Cairo working for the American school there. They had lived in Senegal and I asked them about the mayonnaise dance that Pam had taught Lisa and I. They had no clue. Our rafting guide was Zambian and reeked of booze. I figured we were gonna have a most interesting time rafting on one of the world's most known rafting rivers with this guy named Boyd. We had a treacherous walk to the river with all of our equipment minus the raft. Boyd and SchoolBoy, our guides, led us on our way. It was loads of fun and I am now determined to go rafting wherever I can. Now that I am scuba certified, I feel like I can become the outdoorsy girl that I so long to be. Anyways, whenever we had to do drills and jump out the boat, Boyd and SchoolBoy made it a point to dunk me in the water. Boyd even knocked Mel into the water on purpose. We only hit one Title IV and V rapid. We barely missed the really good one and most are in the rapids we did not do. There was an Indian British family rafting too and they truly made me laugh. Their mother was dressed in crushed velvet and I could see her being the rich momma in a Bollywood movie. We picnicked on the Zimbabwe side of the Zambezi. Since I spent most of the day looking at Zimbabwe and ate lunch there, I can say that I have been to Zimbabwe now. Go me! I slipped out the raft at a lame moment much to my chagrin. I am the only PCV who did not pack shorts, so I was wearing these waterresistant pants that kept slipping off. The Dutch guy next to me kept on helping me to hike them up. Bless him. We returned from rafting and were excited to get a meal, booze, and a complimentary picture…rock on. Mel and I then hurried back to Fawlty Towers where we quickly dressed, grabbed a complimentary drink, and tried to catch the lunar rainbow at the Falls with another American and a lovely South African. Whenever there is a lunar moon, about once a month, Vic Falls will open up at night for the public and you can see the rainbow going into the falls all glowing. It was fantastic. We got completely soaked to the bone and were the only people in the park. I have never seen anything as amazing as this. There are no words to express. Just breathtaking. After the park, Mel and I changed and met up with Boyd, SchoolBoy , and their ratfting guide buddies for drinks and dancing. I made Boyd buy all of our drinks since he was drunk being our guide. We were like their trophy Wazungu friends. They protected us from creepers and we got the eveil eye from many a beautiful Zambian woman. Did I mention how gorgeous, men and women, the Zambians are!!! The Tanzanians have nothing on these people. All of the girls had extensions, but that was not why they were beautiful. Their complexions, cheekbones, eyes…beautiful. So Mel and I were well pleased to dance the night away. Mel is a white girl who can dance might I add. We said goodbye to our friendly tourguides and went to bed. The next morning, we got up to do our lovely Micro-Lighting flight over Victoria Falls. Micro-Lighting is a small sort-of plane-hanglide where you and the pilot hang freely while you cruise over the Falls. Can I say AMAZING all over again. My pilot was a hotty German named Heko. We saw hippos (they can swim really fast) and I was amazed at how close David Livingstone had gotten to the edge of the Falls with his wooden canoe. He was a lucky SOB. I actually have pictures of this courtesy of my pilot. We rushed back to Fawlty Tow2ers and checked out, grabbed pizza, and waited to leave for Bovu Island. Bovu Island was the next best thing to Okavanta Delta. An island where it is completely peaceful and all you do is rest. You can opt to do activities as well. Mel and I had to get in a dugout canoe (makolo) to reach the island. We were looking forward to finally resting on our so-called vacation. The island was full of little wooden bandas and had a bar and library with heaps of cushions to lye on. We were 2 of 4 people on the island. The bartender was a British dude who got offred free lodging and meals to watch the bar for two days. The other guy was a Frenchman working for Doctors Without Borders in the Congo. Apparently he came to the island all out of the shape and the island helped restore him to sane status. Mel and I opted to stay in a tent and cook our own meals. The showers were to die for. Hot and all made out of bamboo with the birds chirping above you. There were trails all around the island and if you were lucky you might spot a crocodile or hippo. We were not so lucky. You could also take your pick of hammocks. The bar was great because you could help yourself and choose music out of its stellar collection. Beware of hippos at night they said. We made pasta, pb and banana, and cheese and potato chip sandwhiches…I was in heaven. I went fishing for the first time in 16 years. The last time I went was at Old Lyme and Amy and I only succeeded in getting our hooks caught in the trees rather than in the fish. Tiger Fish were the fish of the Zambezi and I struck out. But it was fun all in all. We had random village children cheering me on to catch a fish. Afterwards we went on a sunset cruise in our makolo. Gorgeous. We were again looking at Zimbabwe. That night we chilled, ate, drank and bid adieu. Figures when I am camping do I need to pee at night. Both nights camping out I had to bust open the tent to take a leak. The day we were leaving, Mel and I had a drumming lesson and went to look for crocs. No luck.. Oh well, I strongly suggest Bovu Island for anyone. We then left the island and checked in on July 4th for our last night in Zambia. Jolly Boys was going on a booze cruise and said it was going to be a guaranteed good time so Mel and I could not resist. I mean it was July 4th!! We chilled by the pool and then got onour booze cruise. I will add in that there were no American missionary families on this cruise. We boozed it up, talked with lots of people and hung out with a bunch of cheeky Zambian momma's. I found it hysterical that they all were married to Wazungu men. One woman was in fact SchoolBoy's momma!!! I met a lovely RPCV from Cameroon named Darren who was getting his master's at the University of Arizona. He hates being back in America and could not wait to come to Africa again to travel. We also met Big Brother Africa's Winner who was from Zambia. She was gorgeous. The bartender of course hooked Mel and I up with "Jungle Juice". Uunfortunatley, I tossed my cookies onto my plastic sandals (malapas) as we were docking. I had to leave my malapas on the boat. The entire Jolly Boy crew hit the beach and watched Zambian cultural dance. Mel had to hold me back because I wanted to dance with the locals or drum with them. After they were done, the Jolly Boy crew took over the stage and drums and partied hearty. We eventually went back to Jolly Boys where we continued our party and I alone cheered Greece on to victory for the Euro Cup. The next day we set embarked for Lusaka and then Dar and rode the bus for ever and ever. We eventually made it to Dar a day later. I had to be in Dar for my VAC meeting. Mel left for Zanzibar and I spent the day chilling with Dan. More people from my training group were leaving Tanzania. I bid farewell to Stacey, Mitch and Nate. More are talking about leaving which makes me so sad!!!! The VAC meeting was good and we met with the country director and gave her our piece of mind. I met Heidi, her rents, and friend Jenny. We all played pool that night and hit the casinos. I broke even but got free drinks and a free grilled cheese out of it.More VAC meeting and dinner at someone's house. Saw Spiderman, went dancing where I saw so many ugly Indians and Beyonce wanna-be hookers, hit the beach, and ate some good Indian food. Good times, good times…I like being in Dar legally for VAC. I finally left for Songea where I was serenaded by a 3 year old on the bus. He belted out in the dark "Mungu Ibariki Africa"(Like the Star Spangled Banner but not).
Now back to Namabengo. Back to the grind.