Turkey Day!!

It's Thanksgiving and a bit surreal...I'm in Zambia. Well it's not so bad since my parents are here! Yep they arrived on the 13th of November wide eyed and excited to see my new digs here in the dark continent.

We spent a few days in the capitol of Lusaka, visiting my original host family in Chongwe and seeing a movie in town! My host family was extremely excited to meet my parents. In fact my Batata said that when he found out my my parents were coming to visit, he danced. While walking up to their house, the entire family came running out to greet us with hugs. They served my parents their first meal of nshima, chicken, and cabbage. My mom and dad had brought gifts like photographs, candy, calenders, hats, and toys for the kids so we doled those out and had a great time.The only downfall was we had to take an infamous Lusaka minibus to Chongwe... It was quite packed, loud, and rather uncomfortable (22 passengers and 2 chickens in a vehicle that would safely fit 12). We actually hitched back to Lusaka, and got a nice ride with two Swiss gentlemen.

Next we headed down to Livingstone to see the glorious Victoria Falls. We stayed at a nice little guesthouse run by a Brit. We walked up to the falls the first night and saw it from the top. Since rainy season is just beginning, the falls are pretty thin (water is quiet low) but the view is still fantastic. It's wide series of ridges that the Zambezi river flows through. The first night we saw elephants crossing the river. The next day we took a small boat from the Royal Livingstone Hotel (probably one of the nicest hotel I've ever seen in my life) to Livingstone island. We got to walk on the edge of the falls and swim in the devil's pool which is literally right on the lip of the falls. We even leaned over the edge to peer at the bottom. It was a blast! The next day we took a helicopter ride over the falls which provided an incredible view of the entire river: we saw hippos and elephants from the air.

After our Livingstone adventure we journeyed to Botswana to te Elephant Valley Lodge. ou safari began that afternoon with a drive through Chobe National Park. We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, lots of impala, kudu and other antelopes, hippos, crocodiles, a spotted hyena, a springhare, lots of monitor lizards, etc etc etc. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and the "tents" we stayed in were really nice. The lodge was right next to a waterhole where elephants and baboons would come about. All in all, the 3 day safari was a great experience and SO much fun!

We then headed back to Lusaka for one night and then onto the open Great North Road. We stopped in Serenje- the capitol of Central Province- to see some of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. Then we went on up to Mpika to my village. I think my site was a bit of a shock to my parents (along with a lot of other things about life here in Zambia), but they are doing GREAT dealing with the hardships.

Today we're in Kasama at my provincial house for Thanksgiving. All the 30 some volunteers here in Northern Province are up here for the holiday. They made TONS of food and we had a great time.

We're heading back to my site tomorrow for a few more days in the village. LOTS of people want to greet my parents so we'll be meandering around Luchembe!