“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.” - George Moore
Its tough to leave behind friends and family. And its even more so when you do it for a considerable amount of time. Like say - 2 years. Saying your last fair wells at airports, doorways or while exiting cars is an emotional and unfair experience. The final moment is approaching days, months, hours and minutes before that fateful time comes, but there's really no way to prepare yourself, no arrangement of words, or types of embraces that can make the goodbye any less painful and agonizing then what it will be. Good byes are consistently brutal when it comes to the ones you love.
And in an instant; its over. You broke eye contact- you stepped away. You're on your way and now waiting to board a plane - talking to yourself, calming yourself down and envisioning the path ahead. In different versions, its happened to us all. Our first day of school, our first day of college, our first days at the job and, for us PCV's, at the airport on the way to our countries of service.
I have now been in Zambia for almost 15 months without seeing one of my friends or family member's from back home. Some of those departures were harder then others, but among them all, the goodbye to my sister seemed to standout the most. It wasn't the most emotional, but the most unemotional that made it what it was for two reasons. One, she was on the brink of starting her own service and knew what I was going thorough, and two, it didn't seem that it would be two years until our next encounter. And it wouldn't - thanks to the sale of here truck and here curiosity of Africa.
My sister came off her plane two hours delayed from Paraguay close to midnight in mid November about a year after I said goodbye. She didn't see me as she hustled out of the baggage return area, but I knew it was her from the purpose of her pace and determination of wanting a 2 day travel experience to be over and done with- she was the first to come out. She hadn't changed much physically from what I had noticed other then excusably looking tired and jet lagged. Immediately after hugging her and hearing her voice it became comforting to have another family member around again. It was a subtle reminder of how much I missed her, and was missing others back home. I had planned quite the Zambian vacation for us with the short amount of time we had together - just 3 weeks, and it was just starting.
Our first stop in the excursion was none other then the flagstone of Zambia, the largest waterfall and one of the seven wonders of the world - Victoria Falls. The travel down to Livingstone would prove to be quite the experience for my sister, and her first taste into some of the quarks and hardships of a PCV in Zambia. We hitchhiked from Lusaka to Livingstone - about a 6 hour drive straight, but something like 8 hours when hitching in and out of vehicles with a group of three - My sister, my girlfriend and myself. We stood on the side of roads, ate cold meat pies, solved crosswords, chatted, joked and complained in the hot sun and in the back of different hitches. We made it down and checked into our backpacker lodge just before dark. The next day we visited the National park and saw the legendary waterfall but were disappointed by what we saw. I have visited Victoria Falls one time previously and was in awe by the tremendous flow of water coming from the Zambezi river over the gorge - however that was rain season; this time it was dry season, and what we saw was hardly more then an empty canyon with slight water trickles coming down a few of the rock faces. Not what I had hoped for.
Happy to be there regardless - we left the dry National park and went to a nearby posh resort/ lodge for a Zambezi booze cruse I had heard great things about - a 2 hour boating cruse at sunset around the falls. We drank, spotted wild game including Hippos and Crocodiles, and met delightful and talkative people from all ends of the world. Even a few from America. It was a wonderful way to conclude the day and despite the lack of liquid falling at the falls earlier that day, we made up for it by creating a mini Victoria falls from our mouths to our bladders with all you can drink booze for 2 hours. The remainder of our time in Livingstone was spent around town and at another elegant resort called the Royal Livingstone. We felt completely out of place the entire time despite the fact that we were wearing the nicest cloths that we had. We drank high tea and ate a countless amount of cakes, pies, salmon fillets, puddings and other kinds of rich treats that would make anyone feel like royalty. We stuffed our faces and stomachs. Satisfied and convinced that diabetes was on the horizon for us all, we walked around and saw many different animals walking freely around the resort that included monkeys, zebras and giraffes. It was a lovely evening to say the least full of conversation, pictures, exploring, relaxation and luxury I was not accustomed to.
We left Livingstone the following day and stayed in Lusaka for a night, and then headed for Eastern province - my home region. It was my birthday so we had a party at the Provincial house in Chipata with some of my closest friends in PC. We had a very enjoyable evening which included a beer pong tournament, singing, pictures, dancing and kind words from all my friends about their most memorable experience with me. Even though I've only known them a year, the list of good times and memories that we've had together is enough to convince one otherwise. Some of them had a hard time deciding which one they enjoyed the most. It was very flattering and heartfelt to hear such nice things from people I've known for only a short while. If one of you are reading this Blog I want to thank you again for your adulation.
We woke up hungover once again and hit the road. Up to a bush village called Mufuwe, but this time only a few hours away. We were planning on camping at a game park and going on a few safaris to see animals in their wild habitat. The facility was accommodating and relaxing. We had most of the campgrounds to ourselves which seemed ideal at first, but later seemed to be a blessing in disguise as the moneys in the immediate area now had only one group of campers to target. The game drives that we went on were very expensive yet entertaining and didn't disappoint. We went on one in the A.M. and one in the P.M.. We saw Leopards, lions, giraffes, buffalo, elephants, hyenas, hippos, crocs, Antelope (of many different species), eagles, porcupines and lots and lots of baboons. It was a pleasant drive and on both safaris we encountered pleasant weather and company.
We headed back after a few days to Chipata and then to my site. We said goodbye to Amanda and my sister and I headed to my village for a little brother-sister bonding time. The village took to her well, she didn't complain about the food, or the bathroom situation. She approved of my site and was fascinated about the differences in the way we each live at site in comparison. We camped in the nearby mountains where we nearly got caught in a thunderstorm and played jenga with my host family. My greatest regret regarding her visit is that she couldn't have stayed even a few more days in the village. Despite her brief time, she was able to get a good feel for what life there was like.
We were approaching the final week of her vacation and it was time to venture up to Chipata one last time for my yearly meeting, thanksgiving, and costume party that we Zambian PCV's call provs. Provs is a semi mandatory meeting where all volunteers get together in the province and discuss PC issues and news. Its also a time to meet new volunteers, say goodbye to others and make merry at the Thanksgiving and the costume party. Our theme for our district specifically was 'scared straight' which entailed a costume of a prisoner nature. My sister and I were on the hunt for costumes and even went as far as visiting the Zambian prisons to ask about borrowing a real authentic jumpsuit. We were turned away, but only because our timing was off as the official in charge of authorizing such a request wasn't present. The rest of the day we scoured, hunted and bribed clothing store owners for specific articles we thought would be the most convincing. It was a bitter sweet day but ended up being more successful then we had thought. The party was fun, there were babies, lord of the rings characters, puns, prisoners and most importantly Carlsberg and rum. A memorable experience said best through an assortment of pictures taken by Maren herself.
The following day was Thanksgiving and a few of us partook in a friendly game of touch football. It was quite a battle but all entirely too much fun with perfect weather. Some of us had scrapped knees, some of us scrapped egos, but in the end we shook hands, had a beer at the nearest bar, then retreated back home for the Thanksgiving feast. We dressed in our finest, drank, made merry and stated what we were most thankful for. My sister and I both submitting comments about how thankful we were to have each other during this special holiday event. It was a sentimental heartfelt confession that made every volunteer in the room envious and miss there own siblings back home.
When provs finally came to an end, my sister had made a deep mark on the hearts of all Eastern Province volunteers - both with her skillful photography skills and compatible personality that so many bonded with and adored. Many people approached me and voiced how much they enjoyed her presence and how they didn't want her to go back to Paraguay. Plans were even discussed about a heist in getting her to stay. Even she seemed a bit sad she was saying her goodbyes so soon.
We packed our bags one last time and headed for Lusaka. We got a last minute hitch towards the evening in the back of a Truck with a Indian Muslim who voiced his entire life story stop by stop until we reached Lusaka a little after midnight. Our last day in Lusaka was spent at a Saturday Dutch market eating good food, shopping for last minute gifts for her friends and family in Paraguay, and watching all the batman movies on the couch at a friends house. It was relieving to be a little lazy after so much travel. She would need it before her big venture back home.
When we woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport, we both reflected on some of the highlights of the adventure that we had just experienced. So many laughs, smiles and enjoyment was had and not a single thing went wrong. Our goodbyes were short and unemotional but sincere with nice things said by each of us to each of us. It was a real treat being able to see a family member and despite my initial feelings about not really minding if I do, or do not see any of my family during my service as I had felt when I first came to country, I realized I never knew how much I missed her(and others back home) until she was here. I have a renewed longing for all those back home now - friends and family alike. I never thought that I would miss my family so much, but because of seeing her, I now look forward to that trip back to the states to see friends and family in a less then years time more then ever.
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