Sunday, June 17

It's ova, ova (don't forget me)

Topsy is the man.

Every week nathan and I decide on a new "best part" of the trip. Which is a great thing. It started out great and has gotten better since. This is due mostly to the people that we have met along the way. Two posts ago I mentioned Patrick in Zimbabwe. Last post I mentioned Topsy. But those are only the big highlights among many smaller highlights of gret people.

We spent 5 days in Zambia in total, much too few if you ask me. We arrived with the plan to stay for only 2 nights but changed our plans once we got here and met all of these wonderful people. Zambians are the friendliest in the world. Someone called lusaka a big city with a small town feel. I think that is about right. Everyone talks to passerby's, even in crowded city streets. By the last days, we would hear quite frequently someone shouting across the road, "Hey Nathan and Adam!" And then giving us the thumbs up. This is partly due to our celebrity status as Mzungus in an all black city, but also due to the fact that Zmbians are just plain happy, friendly people.

On our second night in Lusaka we met sydney and his wife martha (I think) whon invited us for dinner. Sydney (as well as Topsy) is an artist, a writer and actor to be exact, and was anxious to talk about screen3writing. I offered him a few helpful tips for outlining a story. He listened very carefully, as did Topsy, and I could tell that they were taking some serious notes. Both Topsy and Sydney are very active in their hobbies. I think that they will be very successful in their craft sometime very soon.

They served us a traditional dinner that was much like the night before only instead of fish we had beef. unlike the fish, I couldn't even try the beef. It had a smell that I would like to forget. I hope they didn't take offense.

In Zambia it is the custom that women greet men by getting on their knees and offering their handshake. It is also not allowed (or at least not proper) for women to be in the sme room as the men while eating. So in the cold night (actually it was about 60 but to them that is near freezing) Martha ate outside while we sat and talked about film, writing and politics.

The ngiht was great and finished with us discussing the mindframe of Zambians. It was an excellent discussion, one that shed a lot of light on some interesting things for me. Mostly, the Zambian, and for the most part the sub saharan African, does not have any faith in government or even progress. Politicians are all the same. They promise change, and promise improvement but as soon as they gain power they steal money for themselves and ignore their people. No one is immune to this corruption. it is Impossible to imagine a leader that could govern Zambia without becoming corrupt. In this sense, there is no use in even hoping for anything better. Africa will always be Africa.

I mention that the people do not feel a strong urge to rebel against the government when it is corrupt or to try to form any type of revolution. "But why would we? After a revolution, someone new would just take power and they would become corrupt." It is a fair insight, given the amount of leaders to come through and create empty promises.

After the fourth day with topsy, and fifth in Zambia, we boarded a bus for the Zambian/Malawian border. Topsy escorted us via minibus and dropped us off. It was a sad farewell. I really hope I see him again.

After a fairly uneventful bus ride (every busride is eventful in Africa but this one doesn't have a worthwile story) we arrived in Chipata and went straight to the bar to watch the soccer match, Chad v Zambia. We ended up meeting 3 brothers that were one of the joys of this trip. 3 little guys, two of them no heavier than 120 lbs. They were a riot! As friendly as can be. And funnier than that. We hung out with them for hours just having beer and eating bar b que lamb sausage and t-bone. It was so much fun!

In Zambia, the popular song right now is called "It's over." I am told it is about a guys fiancee dying but the song is a very happy. Ironic? or strange? I'm not sure which. I can't really understand the words but it has a nice beat and you can dance to it. Which is exactly what Zambians do, over and over and over again. In 4 hours, we probably heard that song 500 times. The younger brother, probably the funniest, served the rest of us non stop. He was the one that ran to get the beers, the food, got chairs, did everything. And with a smile. These guys were so cool.

"It's a pity that you guys are leaving so soon. I would love to take you to our ranch, show you our river, take you fishing. It would have been so much fun." These guys were awesome. They even walked us home. At 230 lbs, 4 beers hardly dents me. But these guys were sauced. Doing jumping jacks in the street and singing Zambian songs. "Zambia, the real Africa! Beautiful zambia, the real Africa!" Then, to top off our week in this great country, the youngest one drunkenly turns to me before we part and says, "Don't forget about us." With all seriousness. It was almost sad. Of course I wont. If I were a better writer you could all know how friendly these people are and how much i will remember every second of my trip here.

Endnotes: We missed Luangwa and Vic Falls (the tourist spots) and still I can crown Zambia as my favorite place!

The bus to Chipata was over booked by about 5 people. Of course, the extra people sat right next to me. The sign "Be careful when opening the over head bin, items might shift during the flight" is funny to me now, since there is no door to the overhead bin in these busses which means in a 8 hour flight, bags fall on my head every 10 minutes.

The Malawi border took us about 1 minute and 30 seconds to cross, making it 320 times more efficient than the Zimbabwean border.

We are now in malawi. A tiny country beside a supposedly beautiful lake. Wish us luck. I got the news about the spurs. Glad I am not in the states.

1 comment:

Finan9 said...

oh jean claude. you know, i heard john was producing bloodsport 2: the africa incident. you could try your hat at acting. seriously, sounds like you're having great adventures. things are much the same here. a few new friends to hang out with when you get back. i wont send you any more youtubes, didnt know it was that difficult to pull up. anyway, afi listed a revised top 100 american films last night. they updated it to include the last ten years, and you'll be happy to note that THE LORD OF THE RINGS...or as you like to call it, THE VERY LONG AND POINTLESS WALK was included on the greatest films in american history list. right smack dab at 50, center of the list. citizen kane remained number 1 and godfather snuck ahead of casablanca at number 2. morgan freeman hosted, i think his voice just makes me happy. grayson and ted are going to vegas with sheila tomorrow and i am staying here to write (i'm flying in a new script and 100+ pages into a novella i started when you left), record some voice tracks (i've got a great program on my computer that i can record my impressions on and drag to itunes and then burn and send out to agencies. i'm pretty syked about it). sorry the food's been crappy man. dinner on me when you get back. wherever you want to go, 10 bucks and under. and i'll throw back a beer with you. sorry about the length of this response. probably should have been an email.