August 3 to 5

Lots of traveling done. I'm now in Gaborone, capital city of Botswana. Botswana is an anomaly in this part of the world, a British protectorate (by request of local chieftains) until the 1960's when it became independent. It therefore suffered fewer of the depredations of colonialism. According to what I was told the country languished economically until diamonds were discovered, which freed up money for infrastructure improvements and other public expenses.
Botswana is starkly different from Zimbabwe. It has a modern feel to it, much like Namibia. Shopping centers here resemble El Cerrito or Burbank. The hinterland, i.e. the Kalahari Desert, is still primitive,but the population centers are clearly members of the First World rather than the Third. There are many improvements that could be made--an expansion of the rail system, new agricultural crops, more industrialization, and a more democratic government (the President, from the dominant tribe, has been in office for 13 years, and dominates a flaccid Parliament).
I got here this afternoon after stopping for a day to visit some friends in the village of Mahalapye is 2.5 hours north of here. Mike and Geri, Peace Corps volunteers, live there. They come from Oakland, but serendipitously I met them in a hostel in Johannesburg in early July. They rent a small house and work for an NGO (non-governmental agency=western-funded charity) that is trying to reduce the soaring AIDS rate in Botswana. They were ultra generous to me, allowing me to stay a night in their home and feeding me throughout my one-day stay. The highlight of my time in Mahalapye was a visit that Geri arranged to a primary school. I sat in on three different classes, one on geography, one on AID's awareness, and one science class on parasites. I asked a bunch of questions and learned a good deal about how schools function in this land. I wish I'd been more assertive in trying to visit schools in other countries on this trip.
I got to Botswana via a convoluted series of bus rides from Bulawayo. I started at 6 a.m., before dawn, walking from my hotel to an omnibus station in midtown. I'd been told that I needed to get to the suburbs to a place called Nkunumura Shopping Center. I peered into one omnibus and asked about this route but he said it wasn't his. Luckily another van was on the same street going the opposite direction and he, indeed, was the one I wanted. I even got a front seat, unprecedented good fortune! After a ten or fifteen minute journey they dropped me at the 'shopping center', which turned out to be a few old ladies selling bananas and candy. There were several large buses filling up and I envisioned a soft-seated ride to the Botswana border, three hours south. But I quickly learned that the bus I wanted was a 15 passenger, beat up, hard-seated minivan. And I re-learned that finding the bus was half the battle. We sat for three hours waiting for a full passenger load. And full passenger load meant everyone squeezed in cheek to jowl. Now I envisioned a harrowing trip that would leave me incapacitated at the border from back pain. But ten minutes into the ride a family left the bus and we all shifted into a relative degree of comfort. But now my attention shifted to, "what do I do when I get to the border" since this van driver told me that was as far as he would go.
But not to worry. On the other side of the border waited an inexpensive, fairly large bus, ready to take us to Francistown, Botswana, the next big town down the road. That went well and, one hour later, I transferred at the Francistown bus depot, to another bus--this time a very large specimen--for the final ride to Mahalapye. Altogether a tiring day of rides but interesting nonetheless.
My last day in Zimbabwe was fun. I found a museum that had been recommended to me and discovered a pretty lively art culture in Bulawayo. I even talked with some artists who rented space in the museum to do their work. I really wanted to buy one piece by a local artist but I felt it was too fragile to make it home. He was bummed and so was I.

Tomorrow I hope to head back to South Africa. The lady at the bed & breakfast where I am presently located says I must book a ticket a day in advance. I hope that's not true. Today is Friday, I believe. On Tuesday I jet back to New York, assuming I make it to Oliver Tambo Airport in JoBurg on time.