Home at last😊

 As I flew over Zambia, it was as if I had reached my beautiful home, Jamaica.

The place is absolutely sunny, green and lush and I actually got to see the wonderful Victoria falls from the air. 

It was even more amazing than I had ever thought for as far back as I can remember, I had always wanted to visit that place described as one of the wonders of the world. 

It’s in Livingstone, which is really flat as it’s in a valley. 

I didn’t get a pic from the air, but the pic in my mind is forever etched. 😊

Airlinks lunch boxes are so attractive 

We had left the hiccup in Johannesburg behind and had arrived via Airlink that lovely little South African airline which calls itself ‘domestic’ but it is clearly regional, as Zambia is definitely not part of South Africa!

I think the different feeling I got immediately about Zambia was because of the climate. 

Cape Town is absolutely beautiful but it tends to be bleakly. As I landed in Zambia a warmth embraced as  it must have been in the 80’s. 

Yup, my type of climate. 

Oh how I love my friend Wendy.❤️

She is a Jamaican who has made Zambia her home for the past 7 years but knows the entire region like the back of her hand. 

Without her, we would never have this wonderful adventure as she has directed us every step of the way, (except on how to get left at an airport).

Look at the Airbnb she recommended for us!

I can’t wait to get to Lusaka to see her and meet her family for I really haven’t seen her for about 20 years.

And Ian and Sue who own the lovely Airbnb have been super helpful,  from the past few weeks, long before we got here. 

Ian took us into Livingstone where we got some stuff, tried some local food and walked home.

Interestingly, on our walk home, we saw a lady and her school-age son, walking and eating these grape looking things.

 They offered us some and the young man even went and picked some more. We were warned that if they touch the outside of your mouth it itches.

 It did.

Coincidence was, she works right at the crocodile farm right beside our home.

Small world.

 I feel so at home here that ever since I arrived, the words to the signature song made by the late, great Peter Tosh aka stepping razor, have been swirling in my head.

Don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man, you're an African
No mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African. 

'Cause if you come from Clarendon (you are an African)
And if you come from Portland (you are an African)
And if you come from Westmoreland, you're an African

So don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man, you're an African
No mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African. 

Amén

I now know the difference between 3 g, 4 g and 5 g. 

With 3 g you can do almost nothing on the internet. With 4g It takes forever to upload pics so g although this blog is written on 24th March, I really don’t know when I can publish it 😡. 

They say you don’t miss something until you lose it. Well I really miss 5 .

Taking a break

 I was forced to take a break today (27/3, my daughter’s birthday) as the body went on strike. Yup I think I am thirty but it reminded me that I am staring down 80!

Two days ago I started to cough and sneeze then yesterday, got a thorough soaking at the falls.

Not complaining though, for it has been my life’s dream to visit Victoria Falls, and it exceeded all expectations. So, even if it killed me, it would have been worth it.☺️

Would you believe we ran into other Jamaicans there!  Three young ladies, and incidentally, the two sisters are from Santa Cruz, ten miles from where I am from. (Malvern).

The other young lady was from Old Harbor and they are after my own heart, as we ran into them on the lion walk later. They are staying on the Zimbabwe side of the falls but we are on the Zambia side.

And talking about Jamaica, every time someone expressed delight at meeting a Jamaican (they know about us through people like Bolt, Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear etc) I ask them if they know where Jamaica is. 

No one in Zambia or South Africa did, giving answers ranging from America, Asia, Africa to Europe. 

Everyone we asked n Zimbabwe did though.

Very interesting 🧐 

Cold receding but whenever I stand, not feeling too good.

My cousin Anette has gone on a tour of Livingstone, but I wasn’t interested anyway.

If I feel better, may walk around to the croc farm to see how it compares to our premier attraction in Black River and if feeling great, will probably walk to the waterfront although I suspect only boats and restaurants are there. 

Adventurous Jamaicans all😊

Otherwise will just watch tv.

The internet here is not too hot as can’t upload pics as each one takes forever. Today it was off for most of the day.

That’s life.

Never a dull moment

 Jamaica time does not work in South Africa. I saw that everywhere we went but the lesson is now forever etched in my brain, as it has been very expensive very expensive experience 😥

Sipping South African wine in Johannesburg airport 

We had been up from 3 am and got ready for the taxi to pick us up at 4am for the Cape Town airport. By 3.45, he was there. 

Having checked in on-line, all was well and although the flight was a bit rough at first, all was smooth up to Johannesburg.

This O.R.Tambo international airport is much larger and more impressive than the one in the Cape and almost every shop window has some painting or sculpture of the late great Nelson Mandela.

We checked easily through immigration and security and started moving slowly towards our connecting gate, taking in everything, as we had plenty time to spare. (we thought).

We heard some catchy South African music and headed towards it. 

On the floor below, we saw a uniformed welcoming group of singers and dancers. 

They were waiting for a French female soccer team to emerge we were told.  They were coming to play South African female soccer warriors and guess what, these teams are made up of grandmothers!

Yup, you heard that right😂

The welcoming committee is in yellow, South African grandma players in red and the visiting French players in white.

Then we heard there was wine tasting and you know who had to be there.

After my second glass, my cousin said we should start moving  to the connecting gate and we again started moving,  but no hurry. 

We had both forgotten the popular Jamaican saying ;‘chicken merry hawk deh near.’

A beautiful male outfit in one shop window 

My cousin had wanted to buy a bottle of South African wine to take home and since we both thought we still had a reasonable amount of time,  I told her to meet me at the boarding gate.

What none of us knew was,  just how far a walk it was to get there😢.

By the time I got to our gate, the bus taking passengers to the plane was closing its doors! The boarding agent called them to stop as she hurried me to the door. It did but problem was, my cousin was no where in sight. I called her but got no answer. 

After about a minute, the clerk said they could wait no longer and waved the bus off. Just then I saw her coming down the escalator but alas the lady said they couldn’t wait any longer and the bus took off. 😭

Long story short, our luggage was up loaded, we had to retrieve our luggage, go back through immigration and rush to try to get another flight to Livingstone.

But alas there was none. So here we are stuck in Johannesburg.

It’s been a terrible experience but the good news is we were able to get the same flight to Livingstone for tomorrow and luckily we will not miss our safari to Botswana which was my greatest fear.

Thank heavens that had booked that for Saturday not Friday.

And yes, we are close to bankruptcy but wiser and happy it was not worse.

For it could be.