Today has been a great day so far!
Amy and I took a walk down to the Pick-and-Save and I bought some great International Marie Biscuits and some granola bars. I feel like I've really got a decent grasp of the currency now... Except for my frequent underpaying. I often give K100 instead of K1000. Better than overpaying?
Afterwards, we headed to the internet cafe. Down again! We'll have to try again tomorrow. I think I'm up to six blog entries waiting to be submitted now!
Now for this entry's namesake: After our adventuring, Sylvia, Jackie, Natalie, Esther, Sam, Fallon, Suzie, Rachel, and I headed to what we thought was a museum called Heritage Trail. We stopped by the curio shop. Sasa (the owner) showed us his crafts and told us all about a big festival coming up in February in western province.
Next, we headed into a walled compound. There were some small buildings and what looked just like a swim-up tiki bar. We were greeted by a friendly woman who offered to show us around. We looked at some murals and realized that we had exhausted the 'museum'. In the silence that followed, we asked what was growing from the trees. Mangos! We were all shocked, having never seen mango trees. She was equally surprised that we had never seen them. She asked us to take a seat in a covered area and offered to have somebody pick mangos for us.
We took a seat and took the opportunity for countless photo ops. When she returned, she had a large hand carved bowl full to the brim (and then some). We were so excited! Except that we weren't sure if we needed to pay. The moment she left, we dove into the mangos anyway. Digging our nails into the skin, we took to peeling them, exposing the fragrant (and dripping!) mango flesh. Before you knew it, we were covered in mango juice - my face, my hands, my arms. We all laughed and laughed at the ridiculousness of it. It was like eating stringy spaghetti squash. Fallon compared it to shampooing a cat. I thought it was like eating delicious dental floss. Eventually, we finished our mangos and pooled up a 'tip'. Not sure if tips were common, we settled on a modest amount - about K5000 per person.
We headed back to the tiki-hut bar and handed back the uneaten mangos and the skins. What really struck me was what happened next. Where I expected the 'gifts' to have a hidden price tag on them, they were actually offering us real hospitality. They appreciated us visiting and wanted to give us mangos. We tried to meet half way and left the bills on the counter.
After that, we went on home to get ready for lunch. It seems like time moves so slowly here in Zambia. We're up early and we keep ourselves busy the whole day. I love it here.
Amy and I took a walk down to the Pick-and-Save and I bought some great International Marie Biscuits and some granola bars. I feel like I've really got a decent grasp of the currency now... Except for my frequent underpaying. I often give K100 instead of K1000. Better than overpaying?
Afterwards, we headed to the internet cafe. Down again! We'll have to try again tomorrow. I think I'm up to six blog entries waiting to be submitted now!
Now for this entry's namesake: After our adventuring, Sylvia, Jackie, Natalie, Esther, Sam, Fallon, Suzie, Rachel, and I headed to what we thought was a museum called Heritage Trail. We stopped by the curio shop. Sasa (the owner) showed us his crafts and told us all about a big festival coming up in February in western province.
Next, we headed into a walled compound. There were some small buildings and what looked just like a swim-up tiki bar. We were greeted by a friendly woman who offered to show us around. We looked at some murals and realized that we had exhausted the 'museum'. In the silence that followed, we asked what was growing from the trees. Mangos! We were all shocked, having never seen mango trees. She was equally surprised that we had never seen them. She asked us to take a seat in a covered area and offered to have somebody pick mangos for us.
We took a seat and took the opportunity for countless photo ops. When she returned, she had a large hand carved bowl full to the brim (and then some). We were so excited! Except that we weren't sure if we needed to pay. The moment she left, we dove into the mangos anyway. Digging our nails into the skin, we took to peeling them, exposing the fragrant (and dripping!) mango flesh. Before you knew it, we were covered in mango juice - my face, my hands, my arms. We all laughed and laughed at the ridiculousness of it. It was like eating stringy spaghetti squash. Fallon compared it to shampooing a cat. I thought it was like eating delicious dental floss. Eventually, we finished our mangos and pooled up a 'tip'. Not sure if tips were common, we settled on a modest amount - about K5000 per person.
We headed back to the tiki-hut bar and handed back the uneaten mangos and the skins. What really struck me was what happened next. Where I expected the 'gifts' to have a hidden price tag on them, they were actually offering us real hospitality. They appreciated us visiting and wanted to give us mangos. We tried to meet half way and left the bills on the counter.
After that, we went on home to get ready for lunch. It seems like time moves so slowly here in Zambia. We're up early and we keep ourselves busy the whole day. I love it here.
I want to come to Zambia !!!
ReplyDeleteBesides being a tourist.. lol have you worked yet???
Your blogs are fantabulous! I'm loving it!!!