Harmony School, 1998, Page 111

Description:	through. We went BACK to Blantyre, where we found the Embassyclosed for the holidays. Not due to open for another week or so, we satsullenly on the steps thinking. It ended up about 20-30 other peoplewere trying to get visas as well, so myself and this South Africanfound the name of one of the officials who works at the Embassy. Wesearch town for this guy, finally find his friends who speak Portugueseand we communicate through a bit of English a bit of Portuguese, a bitof Spanish and a bit of Chichewa. The next morning, we get our visa,paying twice the money, get to the border with our money spent onthe bus two days ago. In twosomes, we hitch with some truckers atthe border. Unfortunately, the borders close at 6:00 in the eveningfrom both sides and open again at 6:00 in the morning. We arrive anhour or so after closing time. About 30-40 trucks were there, spendingthe night. We stayed in a small guest house, four people to a singlebed. It was New Years Eve, we were exhausted and slept at 11:00.So much for welcoming in the New Year. We arrived in Harare whereI stayed for about 10 days relaxing, making friends, going to listen tobands and generally having a really good time. Afterwardsmyself and Rebecca went on to South Africa where we stayed withfriends of friends in JoBerg and Pietermeritzberg. We traveled toDurban for a day, swam in the ocean and then went camping for twodays in a smaller reserve outside the city and then onto Injasuti inNatal National Park where we stayed for three days. The mountainsare a part of the Drakensberg Range. It was the most beautifulcombination of bright green rolling grass and orange and black cliffswith grass on top. The mountains rippled like a paper fan, only withmuch gentler edges. The morning light was stunning on the cliff facesand the sunsets helped me understand why there are so manymusical compositions entitled sunset. The swiftly changing colorscolliding with a combination of large soft clouds and flat misty ones allgently easing the orange-red sun beneath the hills left me breathlessand watching wide-eyed with a thumping heart. Leaving was sadbecause it meant returning to school. I split up with Rebecca, shewent back to Harare and I went to Victoria Falls. Its an amazing featof nature. It is dubbed The smoke that thunders. Although it hadntbeen raining as much and the water was low and the place was tootouristy, the natural beauty of the Falls was unreal. Before I left Iplayed nine holes at a five star golf course with an Australian guy whoinvited me to. Id never played golf before in my life aside fromminiature golf. It was fun, what with baboons hooting at golfers andrunning across the park, hearing a snort and a shuffle behind you andturning to realize theres a herd of wart hogs or bush pigs cutting thegrass very close to the ground by standing on their back legs andkneeling on their front, shuffling around, nose to the ground justchomping the grass. They are much loved on the golf course I assume,unlike me, much more careless as I took wild swings leaving a verynoticeable trail of ripped up patches of earth at each hole along with acouple of laughing caddies. I left with a couple in a Land Rover backto Malawi where I decided to use the last of my money and purchasea ticket for Nairobi and not retrace my steps over the incredibly BADroads in Malawi and to get back to school in decent time. Here inMalawi, an incredible contrast of good and bad things happened tome. I got a ticket to Dar Es Salam as I did not have enough to go toNairobi. From Dar, I would take a bus to Nairobi. That day, I got backto camp where I was faced with the words We were robbed. Mysmall school-sized backpack was gone. This was my clothes, mycamera, my family photos, addresses of friends, all the photographs Ihad taken on my vacation including some very beautiful ones in SouthAfrica, my blanket, my journal, my sketchbook kindly given to me bythe Roys which had been put to good use, filling it with sketches andsome miscellaneous items, toothbrush etc... The only items not in mybag were my money belt which contained my passport andapproximately $25.00 dollars, a pair of flip-flops and my washcloth as ithad been wet. Still in semi-shock and trying to convince myself that itwasnt all that bad. In an attempt to affirm this belief I patted mymoney belt about my waist which contained my passport and mym...y... t...i...c...k...e...t...It was gone. I went into a panic. The plane was to leavethat night and I was left with a passport, $25.00, a pair of flip-flopsand a washcloth from home. My shirt was very dirty. I sat down tothink and cry. Then, I went to the Travel Agency to explain thesituation. They said they could reissue me a ticket but I needed tobring them a police report. I reported at the police station the twoseparate incidents in the same day of my ticket stolen from my pocketand my bag stolen from the back of a locked vehicle. The nextmorning, after arranging with the manager for us to stay the night forfree as both our bags were stolen, I left to return to the travel agency,showed them the police report. They apologized and said that Iwould have to go to Dar via Nairobi. My heart jumped and I asked if Icould get off in Nairobi. They said that would be fine. Woohoo! What
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-harmony/id/1679
Collection:	Harmony School

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