We decided to get the heck out of Zambia a few days early because honestly there was nothing more we could do there. We had exhausted all of our options, we had even gone and had a spa day and gotten massages because we had nothing else to do. We knew we defiantly did not want to spend the night/a few days in Lusaka, after the “incident” we were left with a bad taste in our mouths for Lusaka and the idea we had previously had of going to Lake Nyasa for a few days clearly was worthless since we didn’t have any swim suits. We originally had wanted to take the train from Livingston to Lusaka to kill some time but were persuaded against it by everyone we talked to, so it was back to the buses and six am departure times.
The idea of overnight buses sound good in theory but after this trip I have learned that in practice they are the absolute worst idea ever. This last bus ride was the worst! We got to Lusaka late and most of the good buses going to the boarder were full so we got stuck on a bus with two seats on one side and three on the other. Of course all the seats on the two seat side were taken so we were stuck on the three seat side. We both wanted window seats so we sat in different rows. We did stop by the booking office of the company that we took the first time around when our bags got stolen and gave the manager a piece of our mind. Seriously how are you going to advertise a bus company with bible verses and even have a guy preach on the bus before we leave, and have employees that steal, so questionable. They told us they were still keeping on our problem and they would contact us with any information they learn from the police, so we sill see if anything ever comes from this. Things were looking up when the bus left because at first we didn’t have anyone in our rows. Of course as per usual the guy sitting on the other side of the aisle thought it would be nice to keep me company so he moved over to my side and started chatting me up. He was really nice guy and meant well but I was not in the mood at first. He did give me a soda and bought me a chicken pie (fried chicken HUGE in Zambia, I have never seen anything like it). We talked about all kinds of things, he could not believe that I live without electricity and even wanted to give me one of his generators. I told him had it not been my last month here I would have taken him up on the offer. Finally he got tired and we tried to sleep. If you think sleeping on a plane is hard, a bus is almost impossible. I kept turning and adjusting but no position would work I could not fall asleep. Finally after traveling in a bus for 23 hours we made it to the boarder and back to Tanzania with all our remaining possessions on Friday morning. During this one week span we successfully spent over 48 hours riding on cramped African buses, if that’s not a feat in itself I don’t know what is.
Zambia broke us down, and drug us through the mud a few times, but I like to think we did get a few wins out of the whole adventure. We did get to see Victoria Falls which was the main reason for going. Did we get to fully enjoy it, that’s debatable but we saw it none the less. I got to eat a lot of ice cream which is one of my favorite things. Probably the best part was getting to go on the walking safari and getting so incredibly close to rhinos and zebras in their natural state. Everything that could go wrong on this trip did, but we survived and managed to laugh at most things (although we are not at the point of acceptance yet). I don’t know if I would have handled it so well had it happened during my September break.
Being back in Mbeya has been nice. We have been able to eat at our favorite places and even discovered a new Chinese place (I know what you are thinking, Chinese in Africa…. Questionable but it was actually really good). For Easter we even treated ourselves. We have been wanting to go to the Utengule Coffee lodge and plantation for awhile now but have never had the chance to go. We decided what better time than Easter Sunday to head over for brunch. The place is set on a hill overlooking the Great Rift Valley and the atmosphere was really fun. On Sundays they have really good brick oven pizzas, so we treated ourselves to that and some coffee of course and just relaxed and took in the gorgeous scenery all afternoon. It was a great way to wind up this chaotic vacation.
Now that it is all said and done I can say that honestly it wasn’t all a complete loss. We were able to get out of our villages and see another part of the world. We got to see a natural wonder and experience yet another culture, and eat good food which we have to go with out when we are in the village. Was it everything I had been dreaming of for the past two months, no but it did give me a story I know I will be able to tell the rest of my life. It will be incredibly hard to top this as the best worst spring break ever.
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