We are still up in Mwinilunga, enjoying life in a small town in the North West of Zambia (our spot tracker doesn't work up here, so you will have to use Google Maps to find us).
Every other day, we go for a stroll down to support the local market, and provide much entertainment for the locals. There isn't a lot of variety: tomatoes, onions, rape(like spinach), ground nuts, lemons, potatoes, cabbage and casava. So we buy a lot of the same thing, just from different people to try and spread things around. Monica also discovered a source for flour, so has been baking all sorts of things, and I have been inventing all sorts of different ways to eat these baked goods.
The Two Melo Velos were also reunited with their bikes. A short 50km round trip ride down the the Luakela River made Two Melo Jellos a more suitable name for us. It was good to get back on the bikes and see a bit of the countryside.
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| We were the traffic |
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| This is pretty normal load for people (particularly women) to carry on their heads |
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| Some ladies we met on the side of the road |
There was also more fishing/camping up the Lunga river - Monica caught her first fish! I had spent some time teaching her to cast, never thinking to take the lesson to the "catching a fish" chapter. The look of utter panic on Monica's face when she was the first to get a fish on was priceless. We skipped the theory, and got straight to the learn-by-doing, and before she knew it, Monica had her first fish, a nice little yellow-mouthed bream (tilapia)on the boat. Monica then spent the next 10 minutes apologizing profusely to the poor fish for catching it. She definitely got over it, because I didn't see any fish left on her plate.
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| Ug, me caveman - fire! |
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| Looking for sponsorship from Hennessy Hammocks |
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| "Yes Monica, anything you say!" |
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| Nyangombe Falls |
While on the river, we were fortunate enough to see some hippo (not what you want to see when you are in a small boat), and a very large crocodile. Hippo haven't been seen in these parts for many years, and thanks to the efforts of
Nchila Wildlife(it really looks like the pictures) and the
West Lunga Trust the people here are starting to think of nature as a resource, but there is a long way to go. One can understand the difficulty in thinking of the future when, at 33, my age is equal to the average life expectancy of a Zambia man.
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| Yes Monica, if you catch it, you have to hold it for the photo! |
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| Take 10! I have never seen a fish dropped so much! |
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| Dumb and Dumber |
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| nap on the river |
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| Some friendly Impala |
I have been helping out here and there with some computer stuff - this week, we are back up to Ikalene High School from the last post, and I am also helping Mwinilunga with its first Internet Cafe. Keep your eye out for emails from Zambian Princes. I happen to know quite a few who need you to keep some money for them for a short time.
The first ADSL connection has arrived in Mwinilunga at 256 Kbps, which is totally mind boggling for this part of the world - all for the equivalent of $90. This may not seem like much, but when you consider that a good wage is $4 per day, that is an awful lot of money.
Something to think about - until next time...
