Two weeks ago, my friend and co-worker, JD, received notice that his vehicle was ready to clear after 3 months of waiting. Later that night (at about 9:30 pm), we were talking about whether he wanted a ride in the morning to the bus station to travel the 600 km where the vehicle was waiting. As we talked, we decided that we could just take my vehicle instead of having him battle Zambia's public transport. It was instantly decided that JD, Matt (our intern), and I would leave at 4 am for the Kariba border at the north end of Lake Kariba. Gotta love last minute road trips! It took us 8 hours to make it to the border post (through beautiful mountains) where JD's vehicle was waiting. Along the way I did have the unfortunate experience of accidently mooning a zambian man when doing a toilet stop along the side of the road. Whoops! He had the biggest grin on his face... I think I made his day. ;-)
It was our hope that everything would be ready for us to just pick up the vehicle and maybe even get to spend the night in Lusaka and see a movie in a real movie theatre. However, Africa is as it is and we found ourselves sitting for hours waiting on one form to be completed. Eventually it was time for the office to close and the form wouldn't be ready until the next day. Thus began an adventure of finding a decent, and affordable, place to stay for the night and dinner. We found ourselves in a little lodge run by a couple from Myanmar and sleeping in a room that had to be at least 90 degrees all night. I made the unfortunate mistake of only having a pair of jeans to sleep in... rookie error.
The next morning, we planted ourselves back at the border post until the vehicle finally cleared. By lunch time we were back on the road to Livingstone, battling crazy truck drivers, cow crossings, and the fact that you cannot find a bag of ice anywhere to save your life. In one small town, I found the only Cherry Coke I've ever seen in Zambia. The 150 ml can was $2 but it was well worth it. What was even more bizarre was that it was canned in Switzerland. Random!
We made it back to the base and crashed into bed. What a great African adventure!
