Livingstone to Lusaka
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2008
1
16
27
Trip End
Jun 25, 2008
Lusaka,
Lusaka,
Zambia
Friday, May 2, 2008
Departing Livingstone at 13:30, I sat next to a nice local Zambian school teacher who unfortunately was a bit larger than her seat, and thus took up about a quarter of mine in addition to her own. I considered myself lucky, however, as some of the other older ladies on the bus were twice if not three times this girl's size
Balancing act
. Also, they had carried aboard chicken and rice and bread and fried what-not, and were devouring the tasty morsels aboard the bus. No problems - air conditioning was flowing, until of course our departure when it was turned off to save gas. So much for pleasing the customer. Although I do have to say that the customer service was quite good, as we were served Fanta and some kind of snack which I opted against. After about 2 hours of pure hell on the road, or lack thereof as we bounced around what must have been 4 foot potholes all across the asphalt, we hit a nice stretch of 2-lane highway which enabled the driver to put the pedal to the floor and gain time. Not more than an hour later (at which point we are nearly halfway thru the trip), two SUVs sprint past our vehicle and pull our bus over. I am thinking 'oh crap' as I had just finished a book about a S. African travelling who experienced a similar situation, yet the driver was taken away by the police. Such was not the case, and a stern warning was issued to our driver who thenceafter slowed to a mere 120-150km/hr.
Overall, the trip thus far had been a bit stale with no real sights or viewings along the 450km road between the two cities. Then entered the Nigerian tv sitcom series entitled 'Boys from Holland' and 'Boys from Holland 2'
Boom
. Now I realize that this seems a bad title to an adult or pornographic film, esp. given the liberal nature of the Dutch, but in fact it was the strangest tv series I have seen in quite some years. The premise of the series - sorry, as i have to explain this - is 4 Nigerians who immigrate to Amsterdam to set up a lucrative business. Three of the characters are adult males likely in their mid 30s, with the two main actors aged 7-10 dressed up like rap stars with gold chains and gangster type shirts and hats. Very odd. To add to this, the basic storyline is this 'boss' who (aged 7) wants to marry an actress, and heads to Nigeria to select a woman of his choosing. The entire first show focused on why he wanted and actress, as he and his buddies (aged 30+) sit there and drink whiskey and beer, swigging from the respective bottles. Now I on the bus seemed the only one questioning the basis of this show - everyone else just enjoyed it. Possibly it was the 1 speaker out of 20 on the bus that was functioning, and thus my hearing of the dialogue was a bit skewed? Nevertheless, I got fully into 'Boys from Amsterdam', and in the second episode came to find out that Pablo (7-year old) contracted out some movie actor / pimp in Lagos, Nigeria to find him the wife, married his bride, and was soon arrested for running a cocaine cartel in Amsterdam with his friends. Now the reason for explaining this in such detail, and I realize it is confusing, is because it was such a surreal experience
Cairo Rd in Lusaka
. Sitting there driving thru a craterfield, as the only white person amongst 50-60 local Zambians, watching a Nigerian tv series about a coke lord living in Amsterdam - hahahaha. Classic. I have seen very few Caucasians travelling thru Zambia, and even in Lusaka today as I walked around for 2 hours I saw only two white guys. Last nite - again, at my hostel I was one of 5 Caucasians amongst 40-50 Zambians, all of which had come to the bar to watch the Champions League match. Soccer - HUGE. Everyone watches it, and I mean everyone. Put discrimination aside - in reality, people are very friendly even as they call out to me such things as 'white' or 'whitey'. I feel very comfortable amongst these most hospitable and friendly people - my understanding is that Zambia and Malawi have extremely friendly populations, and I look forward to getting to know many more of them.Lusaka itself was a hayday. Quite a large town with 1.2 million people, the infrastructure was decent. More than i can say for my lodge - enter Jadin the stargazer. As I sat at my backpacker lodge situated within city center (Kuomboka Guesthouse) during the evening, the lights went out (regular occurence) due to load shedding or power shedding throughout the city. Just as the lights go off, I feel this tug on my arm with a girl asking me if i saw the Southern Cross. Now the southern cross is a collection of stars which nearly all Africans know, and sure enough it was in the sky
Civil service celebration
. Discussions with his admirer of the constellations began getting more and more curious about me and my plans for travel. Being the somewhat naive individual that I am, I continued to talk with this girl over a couple beers. Two beers in - I realized this girl was trouble, with a capital T. I was amazed to realize that the management of this guesthouse would allow 'women of the evening' to work her customers. Unbelievable, but true. Alarm bells ringing in my head, I excused myself and went to the dorm room where I remained the rest of the evening with an American and German I had encountered in past days in Livingstone. I am not weak or weary when i comes to local types, but this one really made me uncomfortable in her aggressive mannerisms and talk. So to you Jadin, I wish you well with the stars, and your future clients!!! 
