July 30-31

Nothing remarkable has happened in Harare so far. I was very fortunate in finding that the 2011 Harare Book Festival was taking place while I'm here. I spent a couple enjoyable hours talking with folks at the fair about how teachers are trained in Zimbabwe; how black farmers are faring now that they've been given land seized from white farmers; the state of literature in Zimbabwe (I bought three books for my classroom library by Zimbabwean authors); and the state of libraries in Zimbabwe (I agreed to try to send some books to help the cause).
Most of my time has been spent wandering around Harare, learning the layout of the city. I've ridden some more omnibus commuter buses into the suburbs, always an interesting thing to do. I've been searching for the best way to get to Botswana from here. It turns out the cheap buses leave from a crowded suburb called Mbare and that I'd need to get there at around one a.m. to secure a seat on the 6am bus. It sounds dangerous. So I'm going to research whether I can take a luxury bus from the city center to Bulawayo (remember Bulawayo, my favorite city of this trip), then transfer to a bus going further south to Botswana. We shall see.
I've been pondering several questions about Harare and Zimbabwe:
1. Why are there no Chinese restaurants in this country? I can't remember the last nation I've been in where there were none. And I know, from reading the local press, that there are many Chinese in Zimbabwe either mining minerals or searching for new deposits. In fact that is a controversial topic hereabouts. The MDC people (the major party opposed to Mugabe) resent the Chinese, saying they are raping the country of its mineral wealth. (Most of the refining apparently happens in China). Yet somehow all those Chinese workers are keeping a low profile. I saw my first two Chinese folks on the streets this morning. So why no restaurants.
Zimbabwean cuisine is the worst in the world, I'll wager. Every restaurant serves the same fare: chicken and rice; beef and rice; some other meat and rice; chicken, beef, or other with chips (french fries). And I am not exaggerating. No one sells anything else. If you are very lucky someone will serve a salad with the aforementioned. There is one chain of 'restaurants'. They have four incarnations, Baker's Inn (baked goods); Chicken Inn; Steer Inn (hamburgers); and Creamy Inn (Ice cream).
1a. Related to this is the question of indigenisation. This is a new law requiring that all foreign mining operations sell 51% of their assets to Black Zimbabweans (most of whom would presumably belong to Zapu PF, Mugabe's party). One assumes that many of these firms belong to the Chinese, yet I've read nothing in the press indicating that the Chinese embassy or any representative of Chinese business firms is upset.
2. Why are there no motorcyles or motor scooters in Zimbabwe? I've seen two motorcyles (one a nice offroad bike near Masvingo) and not one motor scooter. There are automobiles. Thousands of them in Harare. The omnibuses amount to thousands of vehicles all by themselves. So why no scooters?
3. The trash pickup system is odd. There are no streetside trash receptacle. Everyone simply throws their trash on the ground wherever they happen to be. Then a city employee comes and sweeps the trash into piles at intersections for sometimes mid-block. Generally these piles are set alite, where they smolder for hours. Occasionally a city garbage truck will come along and scoop up piles of trash from these piles into the trucks.
4. Why is it that in this terribly poor country (according to the press annual per capita income is $640; unemployment is 80%) everyone is scrupulously honest and friendly towards me? From my limited experience this is the most honest, friendly country I have ever visited, I almost didn't come here because I was afraid of robbery (or worse). What a mistake it would have been to give in to those fears.