Untukmu Para Pengunjung

We went to Masvingo for the long weekend, and spent Heroes Day and Forces Day at Great Zimbabwe. Great Zimbabwe was built by the Shona king in the 1200s and is actually quite a large structure (to accommodate his hundreds of wives). The king lived on the top of the mountain and all the wives lived below - so he could keep a good eye on them. The ruins are quite impressive, and it was awe-inspiring to walk around these old African structures. There is one big conic structure that has become a symbol of Zimbabwe. The guide was telling us that it has two meanings - the official one (being a silo; representing Zimbabwe's achievements in feeding the continent) and the unofficial one (being a representation of the king's "member" - a sign of his sexual power). How about that for a national symbol!

We were supposed to go on a boat cruise, but when we called to confirm our pick-up we learned that our space had been cancelled and given to someone else. I was tempted to give the "white" reaction and throw a temper tantrum about injustice and corruption and organization. But I didn't. I am learning to go with the flow and to be patient. We did enjoy all of the monkeys around our hotel room, and found it fun to watch them steal sugar packets off of the housekeeping tray and eat them furtively on the roof. Of course monkeys are viewed as pests here (like raccoons) but we're still foreign enough to enjoy them!

Getting home from Masvingo was an adventure. Transportation is a huge problem because of the lack of fuel (it's actually kind of eerie to know that you can't find fuel at any service station!) We hitch-hiked, and via 4 different pick-ups, we got back to Harare. There were so many police road blocks on the way home, and it actually came as kind of a relief to know that it is indeed illegal to travel with so many passengers on the back of a truck! One guy in our truck used a trick from the movies - shouting out to the police officer and saying "remember me from school?... yes, we're just coming from the rural areas - this is my mother, these are my friends from Canada, etc. It's so good to see you!" (of course we'd never met him before). I guess it's better than paying a bribe. He said he's seen the police officer on the news, so knew his name.

I've posted some pics in the photo gallery (and there are also some photos of the famous chicken slaughtering, as well as other events).