Day 2 - 19/06/05

sunday 19/06/05
next day said our fond farewells and headed towards messina where we’d need to stock up on fuel because we would be driving through zimbabwe. we were a little shaken because the conditions in zim had deteriorated. we filled the car’s tank, stocked up on cigarettes and things like batteries and snacks. bush pig had a falling out with the pavement so he grazed his knee and twisted his anckle (ag shame, bush pig was accident prone throughout the trip and this is where it all started)
we needed to buy another bottle for fuel and the woman who was selling the empty bottles was asking too much for it so we bought 1 cheaper from a guy on the street and drove out to a garage to fill it only to find it had holes in the bottom. argh… people are amazing aren’t they? so we ended up going back to that woman and ultimately ended up paying more than we wanted for the damn thing. we all sent our last sms’s and made our last fone calls because once across that border there would be no signal for us for the rest of the trip. the most beautifull scenery on the drive in the north was baobabs everywhere… and i mean everywhere… wow! awesome! we drove for just over an hour and we were at the border which thank god was not busy at that time. went in, filled in what we needed to, dr jones had to pay all kinds of insurance and taxes for the car. there was this little guy hovering around us telling us what to fill in, which queue to stand in and basic stuff that we already knew. 40 minutes later after we eventually cleared all the checks this little guy tells us we must pay him r300 for all his help. well that’s just great don’t you think, r300 for less than an hrs work plus its not like he was much help anyway, he didn’t even help us jump the queues ‘cause there weren’t any. we gave him a poo sandwhich and r20 instead.

our next stop was harare where we’d be staying with a lovely couple, pat and mike. the first thing we saw after crossing the border : mobil garage. ha ha ha!!! the drive to harare was long; the areas we drove through were rural and unpleasant to look at. it was very dry, the people lived in mud huts, the goats and cattle were really skinny and the situation just looked so desperate out there. we found a river where some locals were washing their clothes and the boys decided this would be a fine spot for a ‘kayak in the water’ photo opp.
eventually we made it to harare which is a big city. it was shocking to see how the cars queued outside the garages for about 100m, deserted at the side of the road ‘cause there’s no fuel. and there were hordes of people just standing at the side of the road battling to go anywhere, no taxi’s, no fuel. we got to the airport from which we called mike for directions. it would be another half an hour’s drive to get to their place. they live in a beautiful house and a decent suburb. they’re an elderly couple who are very passionate about cars. they owned about 5 cars and each 1 was in good condition.
we stayed and had a drink with them until the time came for kati (who didn’t get a nickname for the trip) to land. we ate out at a portugese restaurant. each 1 of us had half a peri-peri chicken and chips. us ladies shared 2 bottles of wine (which makes chateaux de cardboard taste absolutey lovely) it tasted much like fermented vinegar that could possibly be flamable but i must say it went down well with the meal. the guys drank beers and they also had space for dessert. in total (this is including the tip) the meal amounted to $1.2million. of course that’s in zim dollars the equivalent of r400 which is inexpensive considering that the portions were large and the 6 of us ate at r66a head. not bad! it was amusing to see pat haul out this big wad of money that took her quite a while to count.
when asked why they don’t just leave the country ‘cause of all that’s happened with the economy and mugabe and, and, and… they said that in spite of everything their lifestyle hasn’t really changed much. they have security in their home like any home in sa, their neighbourhood is quite safe, they own their house and they’re business does well, they’re happy even if they have to struggle with fuel and all the rest of it. it was pat who put it so eloquently: they’d rather live like kings in a 'kafir' country as opposed to living like a 'kafir' in a kings country. that phrase really stuck, because every country we visited, all the people we met had the same attitude (of course i’m refering to the white folk) you live in luxury, sure u don’t have the exact same house situated in sandton or on the coast over-looking the sea somewhere in sa but u have this huge luxury home and you live a safe and comfortable life where you can afford to have many servants who are loyal and respect you.
i didn’t sleep too well that night. it was cold, i was restless and i had all kinds of weird dreams disturbing my slumber.