This is What a Scientist Looks Like

Excursion!

Today, I have a computer with dial-up internet. There will NOT be pictures. Tomorrow there will be pictures, because they really sums up my week perfectly. Now, just words.

The previous entry was supposed to be 15 pictures, but due to the suckiness of the series of tubes that is the internet, I only got 5 uploaded. The pictures, in order, are:
Accidentally Awesome Picture of Water Lily
Okavango Delta with Brush Fire in Distance
Crocodile Eatng Fish
2,000-year-old Cave Paintings
Baobabs are HUGE.

This place is magical.

We first stayed at a campsite/hotel on the bank of the Okavango River main channel. At first I was a little disappointed that "civilization" could be right on top of "nature" like that. Then I realized that there are some places in the world that can't be ruined. Even sitting on the deck by the bar, we could watch the croc-infested water flowing or look under a tre to find a colony of fruitbats sleeping or eat some of the tart fruit from that tree that ripens each day.

Monday, we got on a boat with a young South African crocodile researcher named Vince. We rode along the Okavango Delta panhandle and scouted out croc nests and stopped at islands to pee and ate lunch on an island under a tree. Also, we were pelted by a catfish head that fell from a frightened fish eagle.

There were so many birds. We saw two wattled cranes, which are citically endangered. There were several dozen different species of bird (that we saw). There's something so incredible about racing a boat against a bird skimming the water alongside the boat.

School should always be such that at the end of the day, you want more than anything else to be asked what you did in school today, so you can answer, "Today I rode a boat down the Okavango and saw dozens of species of birds and then jumped into a swimming pool and played cards."

In case you didn't notice how much of an awesome time I'm having, I tend to write in run-on sentences when I'm excited...

::Philosophy Break::
I've found it helpful to write, because it's simpler to have a debate between me and myself than to have a debate between me, myself, and someone else. I feel less outnumbered that way.

Whoa. Religious discussion. God stuff. My brain hurts. And I don't have the luxury of being at school with some friends, post-God-discussion, and having some mind-clearing fun. I have to say, though, that it's a fair trade to give up that and receive in return a campfire and stars. It makes a nice forum for debate.

Here's a poorly approximated summary:
Is there one God with six billion facets, or six billion Gods with a common facet? Is each of these six billion Gods the REAL God, or is none?

That wasn't the debate, that was the topic of debate. The real questions are: Is there an answer to those questions? If there is, is it possible to learn the answer? In our lifetimes? After our lifetimes? At "Judgment Day"? At the arrival of the Great Green Arkleseizure? Can we just agree on 42 and be done with it?

::End of break::

Cows like to hang out along the Okavango River. It's not a very good idea. A crocodile will kill a cow, let it soak in the river for a day or two, then rip it to shreds. We saw a cow with a croc's head poking through its middle.

We spent a day reclining in a mokoro, or wooden-ish canoe-boat propelled by a Motswana with a pole. We sort of drifted through the delta lazily. I wore long pants and a long shirt in an attempt to avoid sunburn, and ended up with sunburned hands. Silly lekgoa.

My internet time is up, more tomorrow. Pictures and stories. Lions, hippos, ISP.