THE SEASON FOR CELEBRATIONS

The end of the year always brings lots of celebrations, starting with Andrew’s birthday and Thanksgiving at the end of November.  We celebrated Andrew’s birthday with our trivia team that meets weekly at a restaurant in Harare.  Our team consists of a rotating cast of about 10 characters, including other embassy colleagues as well as a few folks from other embassies, locals, and visiting guests of team members.  We usually finish in the top 4 or so out of a field of a dozen-ish teams, and have even managed to win a couple of times, which earns us a few bottles of wine.  The season finale was last week, where we tied for second and won a bottle of champagne.  Works for me!

Happy birthday, Andrew!

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving at a colleague’s house.  The dinner featured all the usual fixins’, although all with their own African flare.  For example, the cranberry sauce was made from dried cranberries.  And the two turkeys on the table came from Brazil via South Africa.  Our embassy commissary procured a load of frozen turkeys that were trucked in from South Africa… but the truck got held up at the border and ended up arriving to Harare about 24 hours later than expected.  I admit I was a bit dubious about eating frozen turkeys that may or may not have remained frozen during their epic voyage, but they were actually delicious… and everyone present lived to tell. 

A successful, botulism-free Thanksgiving!

We also fit in a trip to Nyanga during a long weekend in November.  Nyanga is a town about 5 hours from Harare in the mountains near the eastern border with Mozambique in an area called the Eastern Highlands.  There are waterfalls, misty mountains, and lots of peace and quiet.  The first day, we woke up to rain and no electricity (the latter of which is pretty par for the course), so we lit a fire in the fireplace, worked a jigsaw puzzle, and watched the rain… which was a nice change.  The second day, we woke up to sunshine and a hike out to the top of the escarpment showed that we were actually on TOP of the clouds.  We went for an a lovely hike to take in the views before heading back to Harare.

Waterfall views on a hike in Nyanga.

Rock outcrops dot the Eastern Highlands.

I headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a training class the first week of December.  I was there for almost a week, which mostly consisted of meetings in windowless conference rooms.  But I was able to get out for one afternoon, so I hired a driver to show me around town a bit.  Addis felt like a bustling metropolis compared to Harare – traffic, construction projects, people everywhere!  A bit of a shock to the system, but a great chance to experience a very different kind of Africa.

Cool carvings in the hillside outside Addis.

A tour of the Mercato in Addis.

Need something altered?  This lineup of tailors stands ready.

Recharging with some Ethiopian coffee.  Those slightly wild eyes attest to the potency.

When I returned from Addis, we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary at a local animal sanctuary called Wild is Life.  They take in orphaned and injured wildlife and try to release them if they can.  Those that can't be released stay at the sanctuary for guests to learn about them – and get up close!  We got to feed a few of the giraffes – so fun – and they had several baby elephants – so cute!  A guide walks the small group around the grounds and talks about the wildlife.  In between and at the end, guests get to sit on their patio with cocktails and nibbles and watch as the sun goes down and the animals roam around.  A memorable way to celebrate our anniversary!

Everyone smile for the camera!

Elephants!  And baby elephants!

The pangolin - a highly endangered (and very long-tongued) anteater-meets-armadillo.

The kudu herd turned up at sunset.

And then we come to the holiday season.  Harare is decidedly unfestive – no holiday lights around town (or any lights, really, since the power is almost always out), no holiday displays in store fronts (because there aren’t that many stores), no holiday music on the radio or movies on TV (because there is only one state-owned TV station in Zimbabwe).  According to one local, this is not always how it was, but the dire economy has made for a pretty austere holiday season this year.  Fortunately, Andrew and I have become pretty good at figuring out how to make our own fun, so I’m sure this holiday season will be no different.  We got the house decorated for Christmas before Andrew had to head back to the states for work for a couple of weeks.  He’s back now, and came bearing a suitcase full of Trader Joes’s snacks and goodies.  Peanut butter pretzels!  Christmas come early!  Thank you, Santa!  We’ll celebrate Christmas Eve tomorrow as we make the rounds to a couple different colleagues’ houses, and then we’ll host several friends for Christmas dinner at our place. 

Our place is ready for Christmas.

From our Zimbabwe home to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

CAPE TOWN BIRTHDAY

October marked five months in Zimbabwe, and I was starting to get antsy for a change of scenery.  As my birthday was also in October, we decided to observe the occasion by taking a week off and heading to Cape Town, South Africa.  A direct flight from Harare to Cape Town on RwandaAir had us in a whole new world in under four hours.  Cheap (and amazing!) food and wine!  Well paved roads!  We celebrated both with equal enthusiasm.

Heading out for a boat tour of the waterfront, with obligatory sparkling in hand.

A lovely way to see the Cape Town waterfront.

We didn't just drink wine - we also drank fancy coffee!

A stroll through the colorful Bo Kaap neighborhood

We started with a few nights in Cape Town itself, and fully immersed ourselves in all possible tourist activities.  A few loops on the Cape Wheel (think London Eye… but on the Cape Town waterfront)?  Check.  A boat tour of Cape Town harbor?  Yep.  A walking tour of some of the historic neighborhoods?  Done.  A hike through Kirstenbosch botanic gardens and up (and then back down) Table Mountain?  You bet.  (Although that last one almost killed me.  The Table Mountain hike took about four hours and was almost exclusively steps… and a few ladders.  I felt every bit of my 29+20 years for the next several days.)

The skywalk trail in Kirstenbosch botanic garden.

View from (almost) the top of Table Mountain.

Even with all of those things checked off the list, there was a ton that we didn’t get to do – Robben Island, museums, and so many great restaurants left unvisited (for a reason…  Alas, I brought a stomach bug from Zim with me to Cape Town so wasn’t able to enjoy solid food for a few days.)  Cape Town is absolutely beautiful with the ocean surrounded by mountains.  With so much still to do, and with such a gorgeous backdrop, I know we will be back.

Hard to beat the views along the Cape Peninsula.

We managed the first few days in Cape Town without a car and just used Uber (Uber! Another source of excitement!) to get around the city.  But for our last day in Cape Town (and our onward journey from there), we rented a car and drove down the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point.  It was a gorgeous drive and the weather could not have been more spectacular.  Oh, and did I mention there are penguins on the Cape Peninsula?  That was a major highlight.

Good advice.

Watch out!  They are (apparently) vicious!

One of these things is not like the others...

Pretty sure this was one of the nicest days at Cape Point ever.

The Cape Point Lighthouse, and some helpful directions.

The road along the Cape Peninsula was a Big Sur-esque model of engineering.

From Cape Town, we headed inland to the western cape wine country.  We spent a couple nights in a town called Tulbagh and then headed to another town called Franschhoek for a few nights… and sampled lots of the local wines in both spots.  The valleys were beautiful!  Steep mountains, green valleys, vineyards, birds.  The wineries were pretty spectacular too - posh architecture and expansive views of the valleys.  And the wine was delicious - and cheap too!  I mean, we were doing serious research so we would know what wines to buy if we ever see them for sale in Zim.  (Even though most places we asked said they did not export to Zimbabwe... because nothing exports to Zim.)  Perhaps our steadfast research will benefit you.  If you ever see Glenwood, Boschendal, Le Lude, or Haute Cabriere labels, give them a shot.  (We actually found some of that last one on the shelves of the embassy commissary.  Score!) 

The Tulbagh valley.

Rijks - the hotel/winery where we stayed in Tulbagh.

Andrew doing serious research! 

The view coming into Franschhoek.

The grounds at Boschendal.

Views of the winery and Franschhoek valley.

Fog rolling over the Franschhoek mountains.

Our hotel in Franschhoek had a Nellie-like pooch named Bella.  Bonus!

The tasting room at Haute Cabriere.

Sunset at Haute Cabriere...

...with some brut rose?  Don't mind if I do.

And more sparkling at La Lude?  Don't mind if I do that either.

A memorable birthday in many ways, and we can’t wait to go back to see what we missed (and to continue our wine research).

ALL WORK AND ALL PLAY

Sunset in the Zambezi River Valley

Two months since my last blog post???  The time is flying by.  Just like that, I’ve been on the job four months and our tour in Zimbabwe is 1/6 complete.  Somehow, the time here seems to be moving more quickly than our time in Belize.  Could be because it takes so much longer to get things done here – things that seem like they should take a day can take a week, so that makes time pass more quickly.  Why do things take longer, you ask?  Alas, the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe presents daily challenges.  Electricity is off for as much as 16 hours a day.  We are lucky because we have a generator to fill the void, but most Zimbabweans are up in the wee hours of the night to take care of chores during the few hours they have power.  Gas (or petrol, as it’s called here) is in short supply.  Most gas stations are closed at any given time, and those that have fuel also have lines stretching for a quarter mile or more.  

This is what a "fuel queue" looks like.

A couple months back, the government announced overnight that U.S. dollars would no longer be accepted as legal tender, but there is also a shortage of physical “bond notes” (the local currency) and the highest denomination of those bills is ZW$5 (the equivalent today of about 25 cents).  Everyone is reliant on debit cards or “EcoCash” – a kind of bitcoin-esque electronic currency – to make purchases, but that can be challenging when there’s no power for the card readers or no cell service to allow for the electronic funds to change hands.  In the last few weeks, traders have quietly gone back to accepting U.S. dollars – often, quite literally, under the table since, in theory, it is still illegal to conduct business in U.S. dollars.  And the government has no mercy on folks who act out against them.  State security agents regularly abduct and torture members of the political opposition and activists who dare to protest against the government.  And my job is to report back to Washington on all these events.  Makes for never a dull moment at the office.  Also makes for a good reason to take advantage of all opportunities to get away from the day-to-day realities… and go on safari!

We had an extra-long local holiday weekend in August, so we headed up to a national park called Mana Pools along the Zambezi River on the northern border with Zambia.  It took a 5-hour drive and a 1-hour boat ride to get there, but it was soooooo worth it.  We stayed at an amazing “glamping” resort right on the river with amazing guides who took us out on game drives in the mornings and afternoons to see all the incredible wildlife.  And we saw everything – lions, leopard, elephants, water buffalo, all manner of antelope and birds.  Fair warning – lots of safari photos below.

Hippos!

Elephants!

Tweety in drag!  (Or a lilac-breasted roller, if you prefer.)

Tweety in flight.

Our guides were amazing at spotting creatures.

Hello, water buffalo.

Awwwww...

Living his best life.

We also visited a few spots closer to Harare, including a little spot called Balancing Rocks that has all sorts of huge stacked granite boulders, and a smaller game reserve called Pamuzinda that has no predators, so we were able to go on foot – and on horseback* – to get much closer to the animals.   

These stacked rocks - or kopjes - are scattered all around Harare.

Yee-haw.

Post-ride gin and tonics - definitely more my speed.

(* First time on horseback for me in probably 30 years.  It was a great experience to walk amongst giraffes and other creatures… but I walked like Hopalong Cassidy for the next 24 hours and was reminded why I hadn’t been on a horse for 30 years.)

Another highlight of Zimbabwe so far is without doubt the weather.  We’ve had one cloudy day in the four months we’ve been here.  The temperature is perfect, no humidity, no bugs!  So in the rare moments that our generator is off and it’s peaceful outside, we get to enjoy our wonderful front porch and yard.  We have a gardener who keeps the grounds in tip-top shape, and he even planted a vegetable garden when we moved in two months ago that is paying off big time.  We’re swimming in lettuce at the moment, and about to be up to our eyeballs in tomatoes.

Best looking vegetable garden ever!

Hopefully it won’t be another two months before I get another post up.  But if so, at least you’ll know what’s keeping us busy.  It’s all work and all play down here.