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Up and Over

Posted August 11, 2013

PART 15 (DAYS 33-35): “How’s everything here?” I asked Chris, the manager at Southern Laughter Lodge, when I arrived back in Queenstown for a day in order to catch a homeward bound flight early the following morning.

“Oh, it’s quiet. It’s finally slowing down,” he answered.

“Oh, is the ski season over?”

“No, the season can go all the way until October,” he told me. “But all the Aussie kids have gone back to university.”

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Racing The Sun To Tanzania

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 29, 2004

DAY 191: My goal of the day was to make it to the southern Tanzanian city of Mbeya, 120 km. north of the Malawian/Tanzanian border. I questioned whether or not I would make it before the sun went down so that I wouldn’t arrive in the uncertainties of darkness. Anel, who had made her way down from the north, said I’d make it to Tanzania’s border by nightfall, but not Mbeya. Frank said I’d make it by 7:30 at night, but not to worry because a nice hotel was just across the street from the Mbeya bus terminal and that I wouldn’t have to stray too far at night to find it. I supposed that was the worst case scenario, but I still tried to make the effort to get there before the sun beat me to it.

One Last Lake Day

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 29, 2004

DAY 190: It was up in the air whether or not I’d leave Nkhata Bay that Monday. What was also in the air was water because overnight and all morning, it poured like there was another lake hidden in the clouds, spilling over and down to earth.

More Than Just A Lake

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 28, 2004

DAY 189: If you look at the cover of any recent Lonely Planet guidebook, you’ll see that on the bottom they write a catchy subtitle relative to the destination that is being covered inside. For Malawi, the subtitle reads, “More than just a lake.”

Tummy Aches

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 28, 2004

DAY 188: If you’ve kept up with The Blog since the beginning, you know that when I mention issues of the stomach I sometimes feature photos of my own diarrhea. Fans of these photos (as “sick” as they are) may be disappointed at this entry for this day was filled with others having stomach problems, and I didn’t exactly follow them to the toilet with a camera.

The Malawian Feel

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 28, 2004

DAY 187: Lonely Planet says that people have described the vibe of Nkhata Bay as “Caribbean,” yet still retaining a “Malawian feel.” What this “feel” was I didn’t know about prior to my arrival, but by the end of the day, I felt the gist of it.

A Long Way From Lilongwe

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 28, 2004

DAY 186: Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city wasn’t the reason why I came to the eastern African nation. While stoners may know Malawi for its “gold,” the mainraison d’être is Lake Nyassa — more commonly known as Lake Malawi — the lake between Malawi and northern Mozambique so big that when looking at the horizon from shore it looks like an ocean.

Catch Up, Chill Out

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 28, 2004

DAY 185: For my stayover in Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe, I gave myself the day to figure out my plan of attack in the country, a day to just chill out and run the errands that I might not be able to do outside of an urban area.

Traveler Again

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 20, 2004

DAY 184: Some people travel to escape their boring routine lives at home. Some people, particularly a fair amount of the backpacker set, travel great distances only to travel pub to pub, club to club, and have “generic” experiences they could probably have anywhere — to each his/her own taste I guess. I, like some other backpackers, travel to leave my comfort zone and experience new cultures.

I’ll admit that I was starting to get a little homesick since Namibia, but being in the American suburban bubble of the ZEHRP house got me over it. I had “recharged” back in the “normal” life the way a person who works in an office “recharges” on vacation. After my “reverse vacation” I was ready to face the world again.

And so, on the 20th of April 2004, the six month anniversary since The Global Trip 2004 started, the seventh month began…

Orphans

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 20, 2004

DAY 183: When I was stranded on Easter weekend in Livingstone, a town where only Visa-based ATM cards were accepted, me and my MasterCard-based bank card were lost like a stray puppy. Fortunately for me, a girl named Shelle picked me up, a Filipino-American stray, and took me home to her house in Lusaka. For four days, I lived in her house with her HIV research project pals and experienced the life of an American expatriate with all its Western conveniences. I had found a home.

The Things People Do On A Sunday

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 20, 2004

DAY 182: “We have to do something exciting today, so Erik can have something to write about,” Shelle told George in the car as we were driving to the market to get fresh vegetables.

“Where should we go?” George asked me.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I can always just write about The Things People Who Live Here Do On A Sunday.”

Last Day With ZEHRP

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 18, 2004

DAY 181: “We’re going to a bakery if you want to come,” Cristina said to me in the ZEHRP living/dining room that morning as I was typing a Blog entry on my iBook at the dining table. I took her up on her offer and hopped in the SUV with her, Jens and Deann, who was also tagging along for the ride since, although it was Saturday, Shelle was at work at the ZEHRP clinic.

Donations to a Country Going to Mars

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 17, 2004

DAY 180: Being at the ZEHRP house was like entering a bubble back into the familiar life I had back in metro-New York City. Other than watching The Simpsons with fellow fans like Jens the night before, that morning I had Golden Crisp cereal with Deann. (Yes, Sugar Bear was alive and well in the heart of Zambia.) Afterwards, we killed the morning in the little “computer lab” in the next door flat where there were some ZEHRP administrative offices.

Giving Good Price

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted April 17, 2004

DAY 179: One way to help aid a developing nation like Zambia is to pump foreign money into its economy. And what better way to do so as a tourist than by buying souvenirs and gifts for friends and family back home. By the end of the day, it seemed that Deann bought enough to increase Zambia’s Gross National Product tenfold.

Acronyms and Flea Shampoo