Spring Break '08 Two

Well break is over, I've already been back a couple of days and I had to write an essay and an exam, ugh. But anyway, break was amaaaaaaaazing!

Friday after work we went to Shabbat at Jaya's house which was really delicious and fun.

Saturday: We drove to the airport and all bought books at Exclusive before getting on our 2hr flight to Zambia. I fell asleep because we didn't get much sleep the night before. When we got to Livingstone we took a taxi to the border and got on a ferry that took us across to Botswana. We got a ride from two SA guys to lodging but it was full so we finally got a family room at the Bonezazi Lodge. We hitchhiked and a truck picked us up, it was safe and fine so that was cool, saved some money on transport. We had Pap and beans for dinner, yum.

Sunday: At 5am we took a cab to the Chobe Safari Lodge and on the way saw a Hyena eating an antelope by the side of the road. Our driver, George, told us he saw two lions crossing the road on the way to pick us up. We went on a morning game drive from the lodge and saw Wild Dogs, which are amazing, elephants across the river in Namibia. In the afternoon after eating at the buffet and grabbing tons of extra bread rolls and apples, we hung around the pool. My friends went swimming while I read. Then at 3pm we got on a sunset boatride which was kind of like a water safari. We saw elephants, giraffes, and tons of hippos (a group of hippos is called a Sedudu). We also saw an African Fishing Eagle, they mate for life and if one dies the other will too. The sunset was beautiful. We got to watch a group of bachelor elephants cross the river in a line as the sun was setting, got some really good pictures. More pap and beans for dinner.

Monday: We took a taxi back to the border and ferried across to Zambia. We went to our hostel, Fawlty Towers in Livingstone and explored the area a bit. Then we rested until evening when Lauren and Abby arrived early. We stayed in our own room with bunk beds, it was a bit cramped but lots of fun.

Tuesday: We took a shuttle to Victoria Falls and then crossed the border into Zimbabwe. We spent the day walking around the trails through the Zim side of the falls, it was beautiful. When we got back we ate at this delicious vegetarian place called African Visions. They had really good lentil rolls and apple and carrot cake.

Wednesday: White Water Rafting! The hike down to the water was intense and then we had to jump off a rock into the water and swim to the raft. I realize I kind of suck at swimming these days. We went over 9 rapids, most of them were level 5. Lauren and Claire fell off at the beginning but they were ok. Then on rapid 8 we flipped over and it felt like I swallowed half the river because I couldn't figure out which way to face and float so waves kept hitting me. Luckily a kayak came and picked me up. Somehow I got wacked in the face when we flipped though so I'm a bit bruised between the eyes haha.
After the rafting we went back to Safari Par Excellence base and ate lunch before leaving on a "booze cruise." Some angry old Italian woman swore at us as we got on the boat but besides that we had a pretty good time. Another beautiful African sunset.

Thursday: My friends went to go hiking so I stayed at FT and read all day, it was good to have some down time to myself and such. When they came back we ate pizza from a place called Funky Munky down the road and watched the olympics. We did a lot of that during out trip. I can't believe they are already over and Phelps won all 8 gold!

Friday: Mike and I went bunjee jumping!!! It was awesome and really scary. They just count down from 5 and you can't think, just go. We went tandem and yelled "noodles" as we fell haha (Kung Fu Panda reference anyone? "Noodles, not noodles") After jumping we went back to FT and chilled for the rest of the evening. Some of the girls got mani-pedi and massages.

Saturday: We went back to the place my friends went on Thursday, Angel's Swimming Pool. We crossed the top of the falls upstream and then came to a natural pool in the rocks where we spent the day swimming and eating lunch. There was a tall rock that we jumped off but I didn't jump out far enough so I hit a rock, got a bruised knee but it was fun :)
After we left the pool we saw an amazing view of the falls and took pictures, big rainbow spot. Then we went to the crafts market and I bought people presents. More pizza for dinner and then cake at African Visions after. We stayed at Rite Inn our last night and stayed up late watching TV. We watched Obama/Biden speeches as they declared their partnership. Should be interesting...

Sunday: We drove to the airport and hung out in the airport for a couple of hours, we were early. Had some trouble getting everyone's e-tickets approved but we made it. I slept a bit and read "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun" it's really good. Got back to Joburg, yay homebase! It felt good to be back in my room.

Today is Lauren's birthday so we are all going to dinner at Moyo's tonight. I have Philosophy and HR for the first time today, I hope it's good.