I have yet to pack. This week has been the most stressful week of school at UCT thus far. Apparently the professors here don’t give a damn that people go on trips for spring break, so they assign all of the class work for right before and right after the vac (they abbreviate vacation, ‘vac’ rhymes with ‘back’). This week I had a sociology test on Tuesday, and I have two history papers due today; one is a research paper on how labor migrancy effected the political economy of South Africa in the 20th century, and the other is a compare and contrast paper on the two films by Raoul Peck following the life of Patrice Lumumba, Lumumba and Death of a Prophet. Also, I have a Differential Equations test on the Tuesday the week after spring break, the day after I get back from my trip at 10 pm.
But I have indeed started to prepare for the trip. To ensure I would be able to take as many pictures as I wanted, I bought an 8 GB memory card for my camera, it originally came with a 4 GB, and an additional battery for it. There will be plugs to charge our electronics on the bus, but apparently sometimes there are enough outlets for everyone, and there will be two days when we are without the bus as well. I brought deep woods insect repellent full of deet from home, and purchased a pack of Malaria pills to take before and after the trip.
Oh, and sunscreen. While it is raining here currently, and is quite cold, the temperatures in Botswana and Zimbabwe should be from 80-100 F. I have fallen in love with Cape Town, but it's time for some sun. It's time for spring break!
Off to turn in my papers!
P.S. The website for my trip is 2waytravel.com
A few more things...
Here are three interesting events occurring during the trip (other than the entire experience itself):
1. To get to one of our campsites, we will each have to stuff one backpack into a waterproof case, and then we are taking wooden canoes to the site, in the Okavango Delta for two days, and our bus will meet us at the site.
2. Victoria Falls, which we will be witnessing from the Zimbabwe side (it can also be seen from Zambia), is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
3. Towards the end of the trip there are markets in Botswana where you can trade goods instead of paying money. One of our tour guides, Mike, told a story about an American boy who traded his socks, shirt, tampons (apparently they are a big trade), pens, and $30 for a wooden chess set. He later sold the chess set on Ebay for $1500. I have already set aside some socks, a shirt, a bag we received during orientation, and my sleeping bag.
Wish me luck in the trading world! (Although some of you know I’m not too good at bargaining, especially at garage sales)
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