Where billionaires are starving

In the early stages of planning the trip to Victoria Falls, we discovered that to visit the falls you can either stay on the Zambia side or the Zimbabwe side.  Traditionally, the Zimbabwe side has been more popular as it offers better views of the falls.  As the Zimbabwe state has crumbled over the last few years, tourism has dropped dramatically on their side and most everyone now heads for Zambia.  After doing a good deal of research and talking to past visitors, we determined that the Zim side did not hold any major safety concerns and would be the better place to visit.

Since the Zim side used to be the top choice for tourists, the hotels are all very nice, if a bit run down.  Our hotel was within walking distance to the falls and had 4 restaurants and a casino within the complex.  Unfortunately, we were 3 of about 15 guests staying there. It was weird and sad how deserted everything was.  Over and again, we had read and heard about how poor the people in Zimbabwe were and how the residents around the Vic Falls area were actually much better off than most due to the tourist dollars still coming in.  Zimbabwe has gone from being called the "bread basket of Africa" to boasting the highest inflation in the world, peaking at 500 billion percent in December 2008, which is almost impossible to comprehend.  The state has completely thrown out their currency and is now operating on US dollars.  For this reason, the old Zimbabwe dollars are no longer worth anything to the locals and are being sold to tourists.  Jared got a full set for $10 US, which are sure to become collectors' items as they include gems such as this one hundred trillion dollar bill:      

Looking online for the image of the bill, I came across some pretty crazy pictures of people carrying their Zim dollars around in huge bags just to pay for basic things like bread.  Wild.

Such a terrible state of the economy has led to more than a little bit of desperation and this was evident in the relentlessness of the sales pitches by the local craftsmen.  Luckily, we were happy to do a bit of shopping and walked away with some cool souvenirs.  After a bit of time in the market, we soon realized that the best deals to be had were through barterning.  Unfortunately, we didn't come properly prepared for this possibility.  In our dealings, we exchanged sunglasses, hats, extra layers, pens, and anything else we could think of.  We drew the line on shirts and shoes (no service?).  I also couldn't in good concience take anything in exchange for my mismatched, dirty socks that I was wearing so I just gave those away. 

Jared got a pretty nice deal for his sunglasses (bought on the streets of Cape Town for about $5) in exchange for a mask and Kirsten walked away with some cool carved warthog tusks. Overall, the shopping expereince lent more insight into the state of affairs in Zim than we could have expected. 

The Smoke that Thunders

"The Smoke that Thunders" was the traditional name for Victoria Falls before Sir John Livingstone "discovered" the falls in 1855.  I have to say that I think that the first name was better suited as the falls create a mist that can be seen and a roar that can be heard from miles away and do not bear any resemblance to Queen Victoria.  Jared, Kirsten and I visited the falls last weekend and were thoroughly impressed and felt that their inclusion as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World was well warranted.  Waterfalls also happen to be my personal favorite natural phenomena, so I was pumped to check out the famed falls first hand.  Not only did we get to walk so close to the falls that we were completely drenched from the mist, but we also got to check them out from a helicopter and from a sunset cruise that was way more relaxed than our previous experience in Cape Town the week before.

Our Cape Town friends, Liz and John, are helping a 3rd grader out with his "Flat Stanley" project and asked us to take Stan on our trip to the falls. My account of Stanley's adventures in Zim and a few more pictures appear on Liz's blog in this posting.  Despite a few setbacks due to evil malaria medications, we had an awesome trip overall.

Ringing in 2010

For me, New Year's Eve was truly a celebration as I was given a break from my planning duties and the only thing I had to organize was transportation for our party of 10 to and from John and Liz's house in Camp's Bay.  Our ever-gracious hosts had organized a lovely soiree to bring in the New Year and were happy to include my entourage of 9 in the festivities.  Not wanting to be ungrateful guests, we arrived with no fewer than 9 regular-sized and 3 magnum-sized bottles of champagne.  Tack on a bit of white wine, some vodka, a bottle of bourbon and 10 good-timin' Americans and I think that pretty much any party would have been happy to have us. 

The evening started out pretty normally but later devolved into a strange hybrid of costumes (see Modern George Washington and Kim Jong Il, left) and blooper-filled dance routines.  But then again, I guess that is actually kind of normal for our group....

Happy New Years to all that were not able to join us and if these pictures are not enough to convice you of the fun times that await when visiting us, I am not sure what will.

Champagne Sunset "Cruise"

Champagne? Check.

Sunset? Check.

Enormous waves soaking all passengers in freezing sea water? Check.
Prayers to return to shore ASAP? Check.
Experience that is funnier once it is over and the anger and trauma have died down? Check.

To me, the champagne sunset cruise was a no brainer.  Our group would get to go on a boat, drinks would be taken care of, and everyone would get to see the city from a unique angle while watching the sunset before we rushed off to our dinner reservations. All for about $25 per person.  Perfect Christmas present that would result in memories, rather than material items. 

And, boy, did it result in memories.  This was easily one of the funniest events of the trip, with everything going terribly wrong and calling into question my (thusfar) flawless planning skills.  First we were late. Then they made me trek all over the stupid waterfront harbor in my carefully selected (champagne casual but boat practical) wedge heels. Once we got on the boat, we were, of course, last aboard and there weren't enough seats.  Certainly not together.  Nevertheless, we were all on board and I began to relax and look forward to the champagne and lovely views.

Unfortunately, things did not work out that way.  As soon as we got out of the harbor, the wind and waves picked up dramatically.  The little sailboat began to lean perilously to one side ("totally normal" says the captain) and the first waves began to crash onboard.  Luckily, Joseph secured some of the few available blankets for our group.  Tara, Kelly, and I huddled together and tried to "turtle" inward to create a warm, dry shelter.  Jared and Mom got to bond a bit under a shared blanket as Michelle, Joseph, and Michael clung to the more perilous, but drier top level.  Somehow, between Kelly trying to calm herself by repeating, "this is fun, it is just like Six Flags" and moving the blanket just enough to stick our glasses out for more champagne, we spy Dad examining the bubbles in his champagne glass from the warm, dry boat cabin.  How he became the only passenger to secure this position is unknown to us, but lets just say that it didn't create any warm feelings in our turtle shell. 

Exiting the boat, everyone was soaked to the bone and shivering.  Nevertheless, this was easily overshadowed by the hilarity of a Champagne cruise gone terribly wrong.

The Family Cometh

“Yes, hello, I have a booking. Name? Galvin, party of 10.”

After months of waiting, hoping, and making bookings until I thought that my head might explode, the day had finally arrived: Mom, Dad, Kelly, Michael, Tara, Kirsten, Michelle, and Joseph were in South Africa and the whirlwind tour had begun!   The two weeks or so that everyone was here passed very quickly, but we were still able to pack in quite a bit of fun, so I think that I am going to try to break this up into a few different postings.

First, lets just start with some favorite pictures that seem to sum things up...

Christmas in Cape Town

For Christmas, our fellow ex-pats invited us to join them for a lovely Christmas lunch at Backsberg wine estate in Paarl. Although it wasn't exactly what I would normally think of as a Christmas lunch (traditionally for me this means mimosas and bourbon balls at Aunt Linda's), it couldn't have been a better way to spend our first Christmas away from home.