So, this weekend we had to make a trip out of the country, because our visas were about to expire. Jeanette, a friend of Mishell’s boss, invited us to ride along with her to Victoria Falls for the weekend. That was a perfect opportunity for us to go see Zimbabwe and the world famous Falls.
We arrived Friday night, the trip only takes about an hour. Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed straight for the falls. The town of Victoria Falls, is very westernized and tourist oriented. I actually thought that Kasane was going to look even vaguely like this place, well maybe in 20 years. The town is right next to the falls, so everything is within walking distance, even Jeanette’s house. As we took off down the street towards the town, we were immediately approached by street peddlers trying to pawn off souvenirs. These guys are like flies, they will not go away. The way we found to get them to back off is to say that we are locals and not tourists… Looking around the town of Victoria Falls, one would not realize how bad off this country truly is. I, myself, know very little what true hardships the people of Zimbabwe are having to deal with. Their President Mugabe, is an evil tyrant, he has stopped the importation of food, petrol, and god knows what else. He is basically starving his own people. People have to travel outside of their country to buy food and fuel. What is totally incomprehensible to me is that you cannot use their own currency in their own country. All other currencies are excepted, especially the US dollar. I can go on and on, from what I have been finding out about this evil president. I found out today that the President of Botswana has put in a formal inquiry of Zim’s most recent election from earlier this year. The people are desperate for everything; food, petrol, and even basic living supplies. There is nothing in the stores for it’s citizens to buy. That is if they even have any money to purchase said items anyway.
On the the Falls… This place was incredible. Being one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Yeah, for sure. Even at the tail end of the dry season, it was amazing. Totally indescribable. One must see this place. We cannot wait to come back shortly after the main rainy season has passed, around June or July. The Falls was magnificent and I can only imagine with even more water going over the falls, how crazy it will be. It was nice to have clouds of mist coming up in certain areas to cool you off. The weather of course was stinking hot, so the mist was very welcome. There is even patches of tropical jungle around the falls due to the water and constant mist. We were told that in the rainy season you really can’t see anything due to high volume of mist, it clouds the view of all the falls, I kinda believe it. We wandered around the falls fallowing the path for the most part and hoped off the path around some rocky outcrops, that I would dare not walk on in the rainy season. Slippery rocks and a big drop equals certain death. But, since it was totally dry, I ventured close to the edge in a few places and WOW what a view. Still to chicken to stand really close to the edge though… eeks… I hope the pictures that I post shows what true magnificence this place truly is.
After the walk around the falls, I was in need of a very cold taste beverage. So we ventured back into town to check out the shops and get something to eat and drink. Of course more peddlers come outta no where. These guys are relentless, literally begging you to buy there carved wooden trinkets…. After food and drink, we decided to go to the Open Air Market to see all what was for sale. Walking down this one road, we were greeted by Tourist Police, one gentleman escorted us down the street showing us the way and kind of preparing us for what was about to happen. You come across this area that is crammed pack full of amazing carving of all sizes, wood and stone. But the crazy part is that every few feet you get pressured into buying their stuff. The carvings are absolutely beautiful. There are masks, bowls, carving of so many different animals of all sizes, and so much more. There were hippos that probably weighed 500 pounds and were of some beautiful wood. Giraffe that were 6 feet tall and so amazing. There was so much stuff I wanted to buy. It was so overwhelming cause all these men, very nice mind you, but they all wanted us to look at their stuff and buy from them. Every few feet you traveled, more and more men are greeting you and begging to have you buy their stuff… It all looked the same from one stall to the next. It got to where some of them were even wanting to trade what ever we had for their carvings; hand lotion, pens, soap, even my hat, sunglasses, shoes and dirty socks. They are desperate for anything. It got the point where it was too much and we wanted to leave. We do plan on going back there before we head back to the states. I wanna buy as much as I can to bring home. Walking out of the market was even harder. Men wandering around will follow you and not give up on trying to sell you a carving they are trying to sell… You can say anything and they will not stop. As we were heading back to Jeanette’s house, men will come up to you trying to scam or sell you anything. They try to get you to buy their old currency, drugs, souvenirs, tours, you name it- they are trying to get our money. I would not want to walk around there at night, cause their innocent peddling turns into mugging.
The next day, we wandered around the small town some more and attempted to find some old jewelry, ceremonial or tribal wears…. Mishell actually found a single piece of ornate beaded ear lobe jewelry for stretched lobes. It was in a basket in a pile of other stuff. A really good rare find, that the average tourist would not recognize. It was a little battle for her to purchase it, they were trying to charge a lot more for the piece than the price tag listed. Mishell finally won and was able to purchase it. Too bad that it was just a single piece and not a matching pair.
Both nights we were able to borrow one of Jeanette’s cars and was recommended to go up to the Victoria Fall’s Safari Lodge for drinks. The Lodge overlooked a watering hole and the view of the surrounding savannah was breath taking. I tried a couple of Zimbabwe’s local beers and relaxed. The last night, we splurged and got desert after our drinks. Sitting in the restaurant was almost too much to handle. Rich, white obnoxious tourists (from America) were plentiful and it was actually kinda embarrassing. It is hard to explain, ya gotta be here.
One thing is for sure. The people of Zimbabwe are incredibly friendly and very talkative. We were approached by individuals numerous times that just wanted to say hi and have a really nice conversation. Several of them, never once asked us to buy something or attempt to get money out of us in anyway. They just wanted to find out why we were here and even thank us for visiting their country. It is sad that these great people have to suffer, cause they have an evil president that doesn’t care about his people. He just wants everything for himself.
After the weekend was over… Back to the grind of working at the office. It is now 8 pm on Tueday the 4th. I wish I could watch the television right now to watch the election coverage, but no t.v., no satellite. So, tomorrow morning I cannot wait to get to the office and to get online to see what the outcome is. I really hope it isn’t a repeat of the last election. It is weird to be here and not be able to feel what is happening on US soil. I guess that is a good and a bad thing.
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