Pay good money for someone to send you hurling over a 200 foot gorge? Yes please. Just as soon as we signed our lives away we were strapped into a harness and sent repelling down the basalt cliffs that line the gorge carved out by thousands of years of rushing water from the Zambezi River. The first couple of activities were mere warm ups for what was to come later on in the afternoon. We repelled down a vertical cliff, launched ourselves onto a zip line spanning the stretch of the gorge and prepared ourselves for the gorge swing/fall. Jessi and I decided to jump tandem on our first attempt at the beastly swing for moral support and motivation. We were strapped in tight to two separate harnesses then tethered together at the ankles and back. To the edge of the platform we crept, inch by laborious inch, moving as fast as the safety rope would allow. We placed our toes on the solid cement slab and left our heels dangling off the wall. 3…2…1…Go! Instant freefall, silence, clenched teeth, stomach in your mouth, wind in your hair, adrenaline pumping, heart beating, EXHILARATION! When the free fall ended and the line caught us, a sense of relief that we didn’t fall to our death came over me and loud screams came flowing out of my mouth. Again? Yes please. Five jumps later I was content with the adrenaline flowing through my veins and was feeling fatigued from the vertical climb out of the gorge and back to the platform. On a side note, you know you are in Africa when the extreme sports outfitter you entrust with your life offers you beer with lunch. Yes please. Cheers!
Feeling pretty good about ourselves we headed back to Jollyboys Hostel only to shower, get dolled up in a matter of minutes and head back out the door to catch the setting sun from the deck of the Royal Livingstone Hotel. Marble floors, palm trees, pristine white walls, overstuffed leather couches and fountains all wrapped up into a five-star hotel and placed on a stunning piece of property feet from the banks of the river. Sundowners with fancy cocktails, the kind that come with decorated swizzle sticks, and good company will always put a smile on my face. [Yes shorty I have lots of pictures of the sunset].
The next morning we set out to search through the hidden treasures at the local craft market. Bone necklaces, carved iron wood masks, African queen sculptures, painted canvasses, whittled salad tongs, beaded sandals and every handmade curio stretched out before us. One could spend hours wandering through the shops, negotiating prices, admiring local handy work and hearing stories of the symbolism behind the crafts. In fact, that is exactly what we did. Bartering and trading items is also a welcomed form of payment so by the time I relocated my friends I saw grown men wearing articles of clothing, hair ties and head pillows that not hours earlier my friend wore on her back. I returned with some amazing items and with stories of the sweat and toil that went into creating my purchases, not to mention stories about soccer. I find I can always make friends anywhere in the world just as long as I can banter about soccer.
And just like that it was Friday. Friday meant we would be leaving Livingstone and the home of Victoria Falls to return to Lusaka. It also meant our trip would be coming to an end sooner versus later. Without super powers to slow down time, I accepted our fate and climbed onto a bus. With a slight hangover and slaphappy giddiness hilarity ensued over the next six hour bus ride. My brain was conversing with Jessi’s so we didn’t have to talk much to communicate but when we did open our mouths it was either to eat fried chicken and nsima or to make fun of one another for the lack of creativity in our dumbed down speech. (Insert inside joke here: “Female? Over 50?...Sister Michelle?”)
When we arrived back in Lusaka at dusk the women in the bus station selling chitenje were still around. Chitenje is a multi-purpose piece of fabric material detailed with African designs. Every one has its own unique pattern and color and with the selection of a particular chitenje you can catch a hint at one’s personality and flair. Chitenjes are used by local women to sling babies over their backs, carry heavy loads, clean up messes, provide warmth, make clothes and everything in between. I selected three specific prints to my liking to make some skirts, shoulder bags and aprons. Afterward, back at our lodge we got into more eating and our first fresh Zambian samosa taste test. If I had to be the judge I would say that the Zambian style samosa pales in comparison to that of our Malawian samosas, but maybe I’m just biased.
The next morning we woke up before the sun, wiped the sleep from our eyes and were at the bus terminal by 4:30 a.m. for a scheduled 5:00 a.m. departure. The bus company preceded to over load the bus with car engines, mattresses, people, boxes of clothing, bags of maize and some bicycles as we waited for all the passengers to arrive. By the time we pulled out it was 6:30 a.m. and although I was voicing my discontent loudly I could not be heard over the man reciting bible verses at the top of his lungs. I was tired, cranky and hungry and subjected to bible readings for the first 30 minutes of our ride. Ahhhhh! Frustration can be funny sometimes though and after about an hour it was but those first few moments were painful. I suppose not as painful as the woman sitting on the floor in the aisle for the 14-hour bus ride so I guess I should stop complaining.
Skip ahead to Monday morning and the Labor Day holiday back in Malawi. The goodbye party for Jessi was planned for that afternoon and the two other party planners and I went around town arranging the details and picking up the necessities aka beer, meat and samosas. Beer bottles in Malawi are refilled and thus have a return deposit attached to them so we brought our empties in exchange for fullies, stopped by the butcher and chased down the samosa man with our samosa GPS tracking device. Five crates of beer, 10 kgs of meat and 50 samosas later we were on our way to a delightful day. There was laughter, local music, dancing, random neighbors, barbeque, story telling, ‘poop’ hats, roses and merriment. What wasn’t so merry for me was coming to the realization that Jessi would be leaving Malawi for good. For the past three and a half months I have gotten to know this wonderful person who possesses a courageous spirit and infectious energy. Jessi has shared her genuine passion for life and for her work with me and I feel fortunate that our lives crossed paths. Thank you Jessi, I am going to miss your sunshine. LA!
Domes Favorites: As if I were the Road Runner trying to dupe Wiley Coyote, I threw a banana peel onto the sidewalk in the path of my friend Alex. Just as in the cartoons every segment of peel went up, spread wide and landed as if by parachute on the ground in front of her oncoming foot. I was sure she was going to step over it but the little devil sitting on my shoulder wanted her foot to tread on that peel. I watched the comedic scene unfold in front of me in what seemed like slow motion and when her foot slid across that slimy peel a fit of laughter fell over me. She was able to catch herself with a quick hitch step, which was good because I didn’t want her to fall to the ground (I know I’m evil but not malicious). It took me 10 minutes to calm myself down, wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes and breath regularly again. Looks like the Road Runner got away with one this time. Beep Beep.
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