Shopping on the Road

We didn't stop to do any shopping on the road, but the variety available is amazing.  Here is a photo journey of just some of the items that were being sold by the side of the road.  Regions definitely dictated what was available.  Sorry for the shaky photos, snapping them from the passenger side of the car as we sped back to Chingola created some challenges.

Those stacks by the side of the road are charcoal.  I tried to capture a photo of one of the earthen coking ovens, but wasn't quick enough.  This is the charcoal Tom purchased for bbq when he made his trip two weeks back.  The charcoal is "caged" in sticks, then wrapped with plastic on the bottom.

Another section of the road had hollowed out gourds.  I was tempted to ask Tom to stop, but we wanted to get off the road as soon as we could.  As it was, we drove the last hour in the dark.

This is at one of the "truck stops" ... I've enlarged the photo so you can see the women carrying heavy trays of fruit on their heads.

While we did our furniture shopping in a mall and regular stores, you can buy couches alongside the road.  One place between Chingola and Kitwe must have well over 500 sets.  They sit outside, rain or shine ... In this photo there are also some gorgeous African fabrics.  Maybe another day!

More furniture, must be a more upscale shop as they have a tarp canopy.

Mostly along the road were fruit and vegetable vendors.  This market was quite long, stretching for probably 500 meters.  The prominent produce were watermelons, tomatoes and butternut squash.  While it is fashionable to eat in season now in the States, here it is just part of life!

And some stands are single families plying their wares.  Often when a trucker has stopped to make a purchase, or someone else you will have at least 5 little kids crowd around, each holding a tray of the same type of fruit.  Purchase from one, and ever hopeful, the others will try to get you to buy theirs as well!

This vegetable stand was on one I spied on the way to Lusaka, just past where the "shortcut" between Kitwe and Ndola takes off from the main road.

Along the way we also could have purchased live chickens, 2 litre bottles of honey, roasted corn on the cob, rattan type furniture, tin "toys" ... It is never quite the same, but always something can be found to buy.  When we have more time we plan to stop and boost the more local economy.

These are the rural open markets.  In the little cities there are plenty of others.  Most of those sell used clothing (from the US, Canada and European countries).  I saw a huge selection of used toys, all spread on blankets on the ground, and being perused by several customers.

Along the main street of Chingola, in front of the regular stores there are vendors.  One day Mary and I walked past a display of women's sandals that absolutely reeked of moth balls.   Unfortunately, after we managed to get past without passing out the young man selling them ran after us with a pair to see if we had perhaps not noticed them.

On any given day there are people who sell used books, counterfeit cell phones, used clothing, used carpets, linens, shoes, you name it.  If you have ever dropped give-a-way items into a collection bin where you live (unless you know it went to an established charity) it likely will find it's way to one of these outdoor markets.

Lusaka Trip

Here are some photos of our trip to, around and home from Lusaka.  The purpose of the trip was to get the remaining furniture/furnishings we need.  Most of the list was taken care of, either by finding the item, or deciding we didn't need it.  There are still a few pieces to secure, but we did make progress.

The big news is that we now have FREEDOM, in the form of our own vehicle.  We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka.  Here are some photos of the dining area, where we enjoyed breakfast, and a buffet dinner the first night.  We had some grilled crocodile, quite tasty!

The waterfall wall in the background is quite noisy, but cuts down being able to hear other table conversations!  There were Christmas decorations all over the hotel.  The upper left corner of the wall there is a tree with plenty of tinsel.  Note the satchel hanging from Tom's chair.  This was to haul around out cash.  In the room, with over 100 million Kwacha:

These were 20,000 and 50,000 notes.  I had to have a guard escort me from the bank to our car when I withdrew it from the bank in Chingola!  My huge purse was so full I couldn't zip it shut.

Here are some views of Lusaka from our hotel window.   The view of the parking lot contains the Nissan Patrol we ended up buying.

The burnt orange SUV is the vehicle we purchased.  The woman selling it had retired as Deputy of Finance for Zambia, and was moving to Washington, D.C. on Sunday.  Timing was perfect for both of us!

The neighborhood surrounding the Intercontinental Hotel is filled with the embassies.  If you use Google Maps, and write in embassies, Lusaka, Zambia you will see what I mean.  I can't quite make out the flag, but it looked like it was a red background with a blue cross on a white backdrop.

This was the side entrance to the hotel.  While we were there WHO was hosting a conference, so there were quite a wide range of dignitaries visiting.

Manda Hill Mall is where we began the search for furniture.  Fortunately, after being a bit dismayed at a lack of selection and quality in the 3 furniture stores we found Kubu Crafts.   One of the non-furniture items we found was a Nativity set!  It was too cute to pass up.

Mary and I are riding in the back seat of the sedan from Chingola.  KCM provided our driver, Thomas, and Prisca, who assisted us with buying the furniture and arranging for it to be delivered.

This is the entryway to the new national stadium being erected below.  We are not certain why the Olympic rings are on display.  

The new stadium is huge!  It appears to be larger than Reliant in Houston, where the Texans play.  The roof will open and close as needed.  

Look for more posts.  This one is getting long, and I think it is time to do more unpacking of the items we purchased!

And Monkeys on the Back Patio

A few more pictures of the monkeys:

We believe they are the Malbrouck monkey.  As far as some of the more "colorful" body parts, we are not planning to verify.  But, if you come visit, you are most welcome to investigate.

One last one actually on the roof.  He was busy eating whatever was in the food trough, also known as the gutter.

Reassuring Words

Or not!

We had an incident the end of last week involving people who were outside our home late at night.  Mary sleeps at the far end of the bedroom wing from our room.  About 1:15 am she heard loud speaking, what to her sounded like arguing, just outside her bedroom window.  Soon after, she saw a short line of people walking by using their cellphones to light their path.  And, then she heard two of our door being rattled.

She was pretty shook up, but is a teen that keeps things in.  Fortunately, I asked her how her night was, and she let me know.  Her report was analytical, but I understood completely that she did not feel safe, even with all the security bars on door and windows.

I related this to Tom, who then passed it on in a terse email to company security.  In turn he was copied the various emails showing that each person down the line, including the company that is contracted to provide security for this housing compound was aware and seeking to learn what had happened.  The majority of them were basically, "noted, boss",  "boss, noted", etc.  The key here is to keep rolling the blame downhill.

The next day a white van rolled up in our driveway, and about 6 individuals got out, and started to walk around the front of the house.  I went out, asked who they were, and then was apprised that they were the "research" team.

It all boiled down to the fact that they pulled the two guards out of their beds, looked at their logs, then said that Mary was just imagining things.  Here in Zambia, she had three strikes against them believing her story.  First, she is only 16, second, she is female, and third .. she is American and is prejudiced.

Tom and I completely trust her word to us.  She was not making up anything.  And we were proud that she did not back down, but quietly related the story, answered their questions, even if the "team" wanted to just say nothing happened.

And here are the reassuring words, from the head of the security company concerning the guard who was on duty that night.  In essence he said that he has known this guard, and he has worked for him for about 5 years, and "hasn't stolen anything, yet."  That makes him a good guard.

Mary and I both did a double take.  And as she said later to me, "Yet!  Does that mean they are a good guard until they get caught stealing from us?  That makes me feel real safe right now!"

The guards were admonished not to walk close to the house, and not speak loudly.  Maybe they should add not to turn their durned cellphones and radios up so loud, either!  We are in a secure area of the city.  But, gosh, can you imagine if I had insisted they fire the two guards what sort of "help" we would get in the future?

Mary now knows not to try to go it alone, and to come immediately to our room if she feels at all uneasy.  And this is exactly why we bought a wall safe.  Our stuff isn't nearly as important to us as our persons, though.  We'll be on the look out for a small dog for inside the house, so we have an alarm.

We are off for the big city, Lusaka, tomorrow morning in the hopes of finally getting the remainder of the furniture for this house.  I'll take pictures, and post when we can.  And hope the guards don't steal from us while we are gone!

Keys

During our Emirates flight from Houston to Dubai I discovered "Downton Abbey".   The head housekeeper carries a wad of keys with her, and when we arrived in this house the thought of how many skeleton keys I would need to carry depressed me.  It takes all three of these to lock up the front doors at night.

 This batch is for the kitchen doors, and servant's quarters off the kitchen courtyard.

Every single door has it's own key... and there are a LOT of doors here.












This box has slowly been whittled down as we determine what each of these keys will open.  It is like living in a mystery.

The Cement Pond Outback

A crew arrived with a pump yesterday, and they turned this:

Into this:

Tom went out after work to rescue some stranded frogs.  He gave up when one little guy insisted on hopping right back in.

Look how deep it is!

On the first level.

After the lowest step, and it still slopes deeper.

And here you can see how much work still needs to be done to get it cleaned up and ready to refill.

The surface has to be scrubbed clean, scraped and repainted.  The tiles look intact, but we'll inspect to be sure.

Next trip to the city we plan to purchase a pool chemical check kit.  We've been told that routine maintenance can consist of the pool service just randomly tossing in chlorine.  Looks like I'll need to brush up on my boss personna.  That is what it took to get the paint crew to actually do the job they were paid to do.  Of course, if their supervisor had actually made the effort to supervise, it might not have needed to happen.  And oddly, the more demanding I was, the more they wanted to please me.  The quality of work improved.  Perhaps they needed what everyone needs, someone to appreciate their work.  Not to leave with the ugly, here are some more pretty plants.  The purple vine grows next to the pool, and this hibiscus is visible from our kitchen window.

Monkeys on the Roof

Just after I posted yesterday, after the paint and maintenance crews were gone the monkeys appeared.  (The camouflage didn't work.)  Mary and I cautiously took pictures in the front, mostly females with babies and some juveniles.

About 1 hour later we heard a horrendous fight in the backyard ... where the males hang out.  We did not venture beyond the house this time.  One fellow sat on the corner near the top of a downspout, jumped on the roof, and before we could get a photo scampered over to the other side.

Here the little devils are:

From our front door, just across the driveway.  

Mom and baby scampering around the side of the house.

Two males playing on the electric lines out by the swimming pool.  In comparison, they about double the size of the mother monkey.