Falls, a Lake and 5 Days on a Bus

We're writing this post on a very hot, muggy Christmas Day in Lusaka, Zambia.  Colleen and I are singing Christmas Carols and we made eggnog, it was pretty good.  Colleen and Olivia just put some Christmas cookies into the oven, they smell good. 
Anyways, we've been out of South Africa for two weeks now and had some great adventures.  We started out flying to Livingstone, Zambia where we stayed at a really cool backpacker's lodge called Jollyboys.  You could pick mangos off the tree or sit in the cool sunken pillow lounge and chill.  We went to Victoria Falls with a friend we made from Colombia.  The falls were amazing, this is the dry season so they weren't at their full volume but we were kind of glad they weren't because we hear that when it is at full strength you just get soaked and can't even take pictures because of the mist and spray from the falls.  After looking at the falls we went around behind them and walked around in the riverbed above the falls.  That evening we took a sunset dinner cruise aka booze cruise but thankfully there were only 4 other people on the boat and it was mellow and sober crowd.  The cruise was 3 hours long and we saw many hippos and crocodiles and watched the sun set over the Zambezi River.
The next day we took a bus to Lusaka to meet up with COLLEEN!  The bus took about 6 hours.  We basically went to sleep and got up the next morning at 3:45am to catch the bus to Lilongwe, Malawi.  This bus took 13 hours.  The bus was crowded and the aisles were full of bags and boxes, a suitcase fell on Colleen's head, there was no bathroom on the bus...they did give us a coke and cookies though.  The bus stopped about 5 times for people to go to the bathroom, but usually there wasn't a bathroom to go to... We got to Lilongwe and slept at a backpacker's lodge there then woke up early the next morning again to catch a bus up to Nkhata Bay, a town on Lake Malawi.  This bus took 7 hours, it was full, people were standing in the aisles and sitting on each other and it stopped every kilometer it seemed to pick up more people...and chickens. By the end of this trip I was saying to myself that this place had better be worth all these bus rides and I'd look at Olivia and Colleen and just shake my head miserably. 
Well, we arrived and let me tell you, it was definitely worth it.  We stayed at a backpacker's lodge called Mayoka Village (everyone should go there because it's AWESOME!).  We had a little stone and bamboo hut right on the shore looking out at the beautiful lake.  The water was warm and full of tropical fish, yellow ones, blue ones, orange ones, purple ones, red ones.  Lake Malawi is apparently one of the best places to freshwater snorkel/dive in the world and we agree!  The place provided us with free snorkeling equipment and there was a floating dock in the middle of the bay that you could swim out to and lay out on.  The food at the lodge was amazing, every day we'd wake up excited to see what the special for the day was.  They had pizza night twice and this made Olivia very happy.  They also had giant amazing pancakes with honey and lemon...so good.  Pretty much we spent a week swimming, snorkeling, eating, reading and playing Monopoly Deal (the best card game ever).  Lake Malawi also has a very interesting secret.  One day we were siting on the floating dock and we saw a dark cloud moving over the water's surface.  Colleen and Olivia thought it was smoke, but a boat would have had to explode to create that much smoke.  I remember having seen on Planet Earth about huge clouds of Lake Flies on Lake Malawi so I asked a local man in a passing canoe and he told me yes, they were flies...billions and billions of tiny flies.  There is a picture below.  Apparently a couple of fisherman have died, caught in a swarm of the flies and suffocated. 
Now we are back in Lusaka after two more days of lovely bus rides: 8.5 hours and 11 hours.  When we arrived in Lusaka they were unloading the bags from under the bus and in one of the compartments there was just a goat sitting there.  The man who owned it said it was Christmas dinner...shame.
In a couple of days we're heading to Cape Town with Colleen then back to Zonke for a month.  We've enjoyed seeing other parts of Africa, Zambia and Malawi are very different from South Africa.
Love,
The Wandering Two

Victoria Falls

Hippos on the Zambezi

Lake Malawi, the view from our room

Our room...and Colleen

Traditional Malawian dugout canoes, there were many on the lake every day

Just sitting in the water, watching the fishies

Lake Flies, found only in Malawi

Olivia and Colleen on the dock

Me peeking out from the outdoor shower

We spent a lot of time here.

Candlelight Vigil and Simunye Peer Educators

Since being back at VVOCF, Olivia and I have been spending most of our time preparing for and carrying out the peer educator program.  What we’re doing is training a group of about 10 of the older youth who attend the centre to be HIV/AIDS peer educators in the community.  We had an application and interview process to help them get experience in applying for jobs and for the past weeks we’ve been meeting twice a week and doing activities and training with them.  They have chosen the name “Simunye Peer Educators”. Simunye means “we are together”.  Our goal is to prepare and train them to lead workshops for their peers about HIV/AIDS.  We are also addressing other topics such as gender equality, human rights, English proficiency and basic financial literacy.  It’s been really interesting and challenging as well.  We look forward to continuing this in January when the centre reopens.  (Most of) the group is pictured below.

On December 1 we had a candlelight vigil for World AIDS Day.  The kids prepared for two days, practicing songs and chants which they sung as we marched around the township for 2 ½ hours that evening.  It was a really special experience and I can’t think of a better way to commemorate World AIDS Day than with children who are most directly affected by HIV/AIDS. 

Olivia has started the research project she and her professor and a few others will be working.  It is to look at the adherence to HIV treatment among the HIV positive children who attend the centre.  Olivia has been surveying and interviewing the children; I go along as well as one or two of the staff members to translate.  It’s a very humbling experience to realize how much these kids have to deal with and under what circumstances they live yet they are always so happy and joyful when we are there with them. 

We had a big party Friday for the last centre day before the holidays.  Had music and dancing and fried chicken.  We’re off now to Zambia and Malawi for three weeks to meet up with our friend Colleen who’s been serving at the Banani School in Zambia and travel around. 

Simunye Peer Educators

We're going to need a bigger boat!

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The Wandering Three embarked on our last adventure together to Cape Town. Upon arrival in the beautiful Mother City we got dressed up in our best Bafana Bafana spirit and took the bus with hundreds of other crazy fans to Green Point Stadium to watch South Africa play the USA in the Nelson Mandela Cup. The whole night was filled with the beautiful sound of thousands of Vuvuzelas!  Our friends who were with us said it was just like during the world cup since it seems people had world cup withdrawal and were going all out! Lucky us, we got to our seats and found ourselves surrounded by some obnoxious American exchange students but it was okay, I just blew my Vuvuzela until I got blisters on my lips! Unfortunately the USA won 1-0 with a goal in the last couple of minutes but the energy was amazing and we had a great time.

We got to bed around 2am, and woke up two hours later to set out on our next big adventure: cage diving with GREAT WHITE SHARKS! We had to drive to a town called Gansbaii two hours away from Cape Town. We got to the office and met our guide; Telia anxiously pointed out that he was missing a finger but we decided a shark couldn't have been delicate enough to only bite one finger off, it would have taken the whole hand, so he must have lost it some other way... We boarded the boat and rode half an hour to our destination to a place near the shore and only about 9 meters deep. The water was so beautiful and inviting but it was much colder in reality. We got into our wetsuit and they dropped some fish head bait into the water and our first shark appeared shortly after. Seeing the first shark was so amazing and exciting and we couldn't wait to get in the cage. We were the third group to get in, it fits 5-6 people and your head is above water the whole time. The back of the cage is attached to the boat and when a shark approaches the captain yells ''DOWN DOWN DOWN!!'' and you just take a deep breath and go under to watch as the shark tries to catch the bait which is being lured towards the cage. The sharks were amazingly close to us; the largest one was 3.5 meters long. We saw a total of 5 Great White Sharks that came and went throughout the duration of our dive. I was the first one to get out of the cage after our first dive and right as I climbed on the boat one of the sharks smashed into the cage. The whole boat shook so I can only imagine what it was like for Olivia who was in the corner of the cage right where the shark hit. I was worried that she would be scared but when she came up for air she and Telia were just screaming and so excited. We dried off on deck then went down for a second turn. By this time the sharks were really warmed up and were just constantly swimming around us. At one point I was watching a shark swim by and I turned my head and there was a huge shark right in front of me just looking at me. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we were surprisingly unafraid of the sharks; they are more scary on tv than they are in real life. Cape Town is definitely one of the best places to dive with sharks as you only have to go 30 minutes on the boat to get to the area where they are whereas in other places you have to travel as much as 8 hours to see them. We're definitely glad Telia convinced us to do it.

The next day we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins, which was cool, but...we had just went diving with great white sharks the day before... The rest of the week we spent just hanging out with friends and enjoying beautiful Cape Town...and watching a Barcelona game for the first time in 3 months, which they won 8-0!! On Monday we dropped Telia off and she flew back home and The Wandering Three became The Wandering Two once again.

Now we're back in Zonke until the centre closes over the holidays. Oh, and my laptop broke an hour after we got back from Cape Town...shame. Now Olivia has to share.

Love,

The Wandering Two