Last days in Livingstone!

Today marks our last full day in Livingstone (tear), but we squeezed as much culture out of it as we could. This morning Nicole and Allison opted to go on a bike tour of Livingstone and surrounding villages with Patrick, a local high school student who works as a guide to pay for his housing and education. Our first stop was the local market, which was quite unlike the touristy ones we had seen in town. Vendors sold everything from vegetables to fish from the Zambezi to beans (LOTS of beans) to clothing to pots and pans and everything in between. Some notable local delicacies we saw in abundance were dried caterpillars (which would then be cooked in tomatoes and onions), fried tiny fish that resemble sardines, and rocks. Yes, rocks. Women here suck on them in an attempt to get the mineral content out. This is especially common when they're pregnant. Patrick gave us twenty minutes to explore the market, but told us that he wouldn't come with us. He explained that many people would want to chat with us, but would be deterred by his presence. Everyone was extremely friendly, shouting "hello! how are you?" as we walked by. Many asked us to take their picture, as they got a huge kick out of looking at it immediately after. Next we went to the pre-school, where we were greeted by throngs of children who wanted to hold our hands, legs, and anything else at their level. We got a tour of the school and the facilities, and the children even sang us a welcome song! It was hard to make out all the words, as they were each shouting at the VERY top of their lungs, but it was adorable nonetheless! These children, as well as the ones we saw all along our bike ride don't often get the chance to leave their village/go to Livingstone, so many have never seen a white person before. We felt like local celebrities as they would laugh, wave and yell "hello! MUZUNGU!" which is a friendly slang term for 'white person'. Even as we were biking through villages, children would run along beside us, trying to grab our hands or our bicycles, chasing us until their mothers called them back home. We then stopped by the Zambezi river for a break, and continued along through another village in the middle of the country side. It was really neat to see how the people of Zambia really live, as most of our activities in Livingstone have been pretty touristy thus far.

After we got back to Jollyboys, we reunited with Julia and decided to head into town for a traditional lunch. Nshima is the staple food of the country - it is made from cornmeal, and is a polenta-like texture. Most Zambians eat it for both lunch and dinner, and it is eaten with your hands and dipped in mixtures of beans, vegetables or meat. We all had our nshima with 'village chicken' in a delicious tomato sauce and thoroughly enjoyed it! We then lazed around Jollyboys for the afternoon, did some last day errands, and are getting ready to leave the country! So sad! We'll be boarding a bus to Lusaka tomorrow, spending the night in the city, and flying out Wednesday morning for our long journey home. Luckily we still have a stopover in Amsterdam to look forward to, otherwise the travel home would be long and tedious. Nonetheless, we're all sad to see this incredible vacation come to an end. We hope you've enjoyed reading about our adventures - fear not, you'll get to re-live them again once our pictures surface on facebook!