Time to get Cultural

Sleeping in ‘til 8:45am felt so wonderful! After a relaxing morning of reading, breakfast and getting ready, we decided we wanted to do something to get out of the guest house today.

We looked up fun things to do in or around Lusaka and came up with several promising ideas. The thing we both wanted to do was go to the Crocodile Farm a little ways out of town. There are snakes and crocs, plus other fun things like golf, trampolines and a cute restaurant where you could get a crocodile burger. Unfortunately, minibuses don’t take you all the way out there, and it would be a loooong bike ride. So we decided to go into town to see the museum instead. We walked up to the larger bus stop and asked for the museum and he said he could take us part way there but then he’d tell us how to get the rest of the way. So we climbed aboard one of the nicer, bigger buses. We knew it’d probably take us a good hour to get into town. When buses stop to pick up more people it’s always a long drawn out thing. When we stopped outside the University we knew he was going to try to fill the rest of the bus. We were there a good 15 minutes. Anyway, we got into the downtown area (past the malls) pretty easily. When we arrived at a large bus stop, we started to get worried. We were hoping the guy would let us know when to get off, but we couldn’t guarantee it. So we started to get off anyway, but he waved us back on and said this wasn’t the stop we needed. So we trusted him. We felt like as long as we were on the bus, we were safe, and we’d end up somewhere. A little ways down the road we got to another big bus station and that’s when he told us to get off. He was very nice and explained to us where to go to find the next bus we needed and what to say. This is when Erika and I began to feel uneasy. We didn’t know what to do because there were minibuses everywhere! And usually we have people running up to us asking where we’re going so we can get on their minibus, but that shockingly didn’t happen this time. We were wandering around the bus station hoping someone would ask where we were going. Finally we found a nice man who directed us to the right bus. So far our minibus rides have been pretty easy going. This one was definitely a little more cultural. We were jammed in the back of this hot mini-bus with really no idea if we were going to get dropped off at the right place. We just kept saying “the museum”. Well after this 2^nd ride we stopped to pick up more people and I just asked the lady if she knew where the museum was. She pointed outside and said, “Right there”. So we hopped off the bus and the museum was just steps away! I think we got cheated out of some money because the amount we paid for that short ride was definitely not worth it. Oh well, we got there safely.

When we got into the museum it looked pretty empty. Online it had said it was going to cost $2. A man came to greet us and we asked how much a ticket was. He asked if we were residents or visitors. We told him we were visitors and then he asked to see our work permits or drivers licenses. We were confused and asked why. He said there’s a different rate for residents or visitors, the visitor rate being more expensive. We told him we were visitors but he was so hesitant to let us buy a ticket without seeing our paperwork. It was so strange. We admitted to being visitors and would have paid the more expensive rate anyway, so we weren’t sure what the issue was. Then he wanted us to pay the visitor rate plus the resident rate for his “troubles”. Ah it was a mess. In the end we ended up paying $4 each. The museum was interesting. The 1^st floor was mainly Zambian art and sculpture, and the 2^nd floor had political and ethnographic history with a display on witchcraft. If you are picturing a smaller version of an American museum, stop. It really was nothing like an American museum at all. It was very small and things were displayed a lot differently than they would be in America. It was still quite interesting to walk around and read up a little on Zambian history. I think the museum is in the process of updating and getting a facelift. We maybe spend 20-30 minutes there and then headed back to catch another minibus. We found a nice man to help us again, and piled into another crowded minibus. I felt a lot more comfortable on this ride because we were retracing our steps so I knew what looked familiar. We got off at the Manda Hill stop so we could do a little grocery shopping and kill some time before heading home. We wandered around the mall and checked out some stores we haven’t been in before like Game, which is like a mini Wal-Mart. Then we did some shopping at Shoprite and got an early supper at Galito’s, which is like a Nando’s—they have yummy chicken sandwiches and salads etc. We caught another mini bus to take us back to Chelston, and this was probably one of the most crammed rides we’ve had. Our knees were jammed into the seat in front of us, Erika’s head was grazing the ceiling and we each had three bags of groceries squished in our laps. Oh well, we made it just fine and walked the rest of the way home in a light drizzle.

We didn’t do a whole ton today but it felt like we did. Those long, tight mini bus rides are kind of exhausting and you never know where you might end up. We are glad that we ventured out today though and became a little more cultured.

The evening consisted of some more reading and watching the movie “Life as We Know It”.