A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

We had our (one) midterm, so now it's vacation for a week. I'm not kidding. This place is beautiful. And touristy. But let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

Saturday morning was an Olympic qualifying match between the Botswana Zebras (pronounced "zeh-bras") and the Guinea somethings. We only hung around for the first half of the game, but it was really a great game. Bots won 2-1 in overtime (we heard later). And I noticed how good the Zebras were or, rather, how much American soccer isn't. No wonder it's not very popular in the states.

















The entrance of the Zebras at Botswana's National Stadium.

Then we had a party to say good-bye to the Gabs homestay families. And then we were off to Kasane. Via Francistown. It was a long trip. There was an 8-hour overnight train ride followed by a 6-hour combi ride. The train compartment was small and way too hot:















I did manage to achieve one of my life goals on the journey: I learned how to beat Rubik's Cube. Yay.

We arrived in Kasane on Sunday around lunchtime and pitched our tents. My tent is as wonderful as I remember it, although it smells less like feet than I remember.

Our tent city:

















This is like a resort; the blues and greens are especially vivid and perfect shady spots are everywhere. There was even a swimming pool. Of course, the pool was dirty and slimy, but I think it was cleaner than me.

Here's my thousand-word picture:

May the worst frustration in your life be that it is impossible to write and see the stars at the same time because your headlamp is too bright.

This picture is so amazing because I accidentally scared a bird away while photographing it, which I didn't realize until I looked at the picture:

Then there was a boat tour on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park. I'll let the pictures tell the story. There were so many animals, it was like I was playing a game of Pokemon Snap! in real life.

Water buffalo are so funny-looking. I know, I know, don't judge by your own cultural standards.

Luckily, there is an internet cafe in Kasane. We are staying about 10 km from Kasane. I don't know when I'll see internet again. And it's expensive here.

I'll leave you with one final thought before I go out for a walk in the sunny 40-degree-C weather and try not to melt. Due to a fortuitous typograpical error, I discovered a new species of antelope: the facebok. Though it has never been seen in the wild, pictures of it have appeared all over the internet.