Botswana - over and out

Daybreak Africa!

It is just on 8:00 a.m. and everyone else is still sleeping.  Largely a reaction to the chilly overnight temperatures.  Why get out of bed until the sun has warmed the air and chased away the overnight temperatures.

As I walked from our little bedroom beside the main house to the kitchen I could see my breath.  I am sure some people in Trenton would take that right now!

We are going to have a leisurely day in the village.  After breakfast we will walk to the Co-op and get a hydro card to replenish Mma Binnie’s power supply.  Somehow the electricity meter has run way down during our trip to the north.  I wonder how that happened?  Then we will stop at the pottery and buy a few pieces of pottery to take back to Canada.

The rest of the day we will all take it easy and I will pack my 2 bags.  I’m not sure at this hour which 2 bags they want me to take back.  Hopefully once I check in at the airport in Gaborone I will not see the bags until I am in the arrivals area in Toronto.  Therefore weight and bulkiness are not a factor since the only time I will have to deal with them are at the check in and arrivals carousel.

I imagine the others will drop me off at the airport a little before 5 p.m. and head back to the village.  Driving at night is challenging at times and Dave has not driven after dark and I don’t think he is interested in starting now.  It also would be more reassuring to me that they were home before dark (ie: 6:15 p.m.).

In terms of the rest of this week, Dave and Binnie have decided that they will see about having the kids go to school for 1 day.  School is in and they will see if Iain and Isabella can tag along with my niece Thabang for 1 day to see how secondary school is in Botswana. 

As for Gordon he has permission from the school headmaster to go to school with his cousin Molly in Mochudi for a week if he wishes.  He is not too keen on that idea but I won’t be surprised to hear that he has gone for a couple of days.  It will help him get an appreciation for what school life is like here in Botswana and what his cousin does every day.

As well, believe it or not there is a yacht club in Gaborone.  There is a large reservoir on the south end of the capital and there are signs indicating the turn to the yacht club.  Dave read somewhere that they have rowing, so he and Bella are going to see about an opportunity to row.  Something to tell the rowing club back home.

The only other event planned is to try and attend Binnie’s former church in the capital on Sunday.  To see what a large urban church is like.

Lastly, I have tried to keep the blog going as best I could but time constraints and technology limitations (ie: the ability to upload pictures and text) have limited what I wanted to write.  I have kept a little sheet with a list of subjects to write about and I am going to do so just to have a complete record of my thoughts.  Thus, although the writing my originate from Trenton on the weekend when I get home the subject matter and pictures will all be about Botswana and the trip.

On the paper I have listed: directions, Victoria Falls, economy, back house, Makaleng, Sedia Hotel, weather, church and the lands.