Letting Loose in Lusaka

Roger had been working non-stop since he arrived in mid-August so we decided to have a weekend in Lusaka.  It is a four hour drive, and fortunately the road is a bit wider than others I've been on. However, we still came face to face with cars screaming towards us in our lane as they tried to overtake buses and trucks. In one instance a driver realized he wasn't going to make it so he veered off into the ditch and continued at the same speed.  It was almost a Depends moment.

We didn't realize Roger had a bus company!

Everyone should have someone to trust

A truck that didn't stay on the road

The mud flap says "God with us". Hope so, as the bus was overtaking a car and a truck with a corner just up ahead.

Along various parts of the route, sellers offered different goods. When we first came upon the gourds on the side of the road, they actually looked like shrunken heads!

These hollowed out gourds can be used for everything from holding water, food - and in my case I'm going to buy dried reeds to decorate a corner of the living room.  Watching decorating shows on HGTV comes in handy!

On the way home, I couldn't resist buying some to decorate the house.

Bushels of charcoal for sale

Need a bed?

This was an area where coffee mugs were sold!

Lusaka is a large metropolitan city -- and clearly has pretty well everything you need!

We stayed at the Southern Sun Hotel and enjoyed eating lunch while watching the crocodiles in the pond.

There must have been 80 of these round balls which are nests to beautiful yellow birds (seen in the middle).  A South African friend explained  theYellow Finch (male) will build hundreds of these in his life time and the female – LBJ  “Little Brown Job”  will only use those she feels worthy and tear the rest apart.  They build them upside down so that snake cannot enter the nests and eat the eggs.

Better view of the nests

We did some shopping at the Manda Hill Mall which was a Chinook type place on a Saturday afternoon.  We were in a Wal-Mart type store buying household goods, and laughed when over the intercom the announcer said, "Would Angelina Jolie please come to the information desk?"

There is a fabulous arts and crafts market held outside on Sundays.  The quality of the goods was wonderful and our flat now has a very African feel to it.  The sellers were all good natured albeit very persuasive.  After we bought something, we ran back to the truck with our prized possessions so those that didn't sell to us wouldn't be disappointed when they saw us walk by.

I bought beautiful wall hangings and a couple of masks.  We also bought a "family" of warthogs that are metal wall hangings.

Roger bought the wooden statue of the man by the round table.  He felt that he looked very cool.  It's made of ironwood and very heavy and Roger already knows where it will be displayed in Idaho.

The city of Ndola uses roundabouts to control traffic, but there are a few traffic lights, called "robots".

On Thanksgiving Monday I was at the office helping Roger and after working late, stopped by the grocery store as well as our favourite ice cream parlour on the way home.  Since we couldn't find turkey, we thought a Thai curry would be good, followed by delicious homemade ice cream.  Our mouths were watering.  Our dreams of a wonderful dinner were dashed as soon as we entered the flat when we realized the power was off.  We've been very lucky, and this was the first sustained power outage in our area.

Our nightly game of Scrabble was done by candlelight

So our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of beer, cheese and crackers....and of course, ice cream.  And for all our bountiful blessings, we give thanks.

"Avoid fruit and nuts.  You are what you eat."      Jim Davis