As this will likely be the only entry I post from Zambia, I feel compelled to write something even if it's not terribly interesting. I've now been plugged into the internet for three hours, fifteen minutes.

Zimbabwe won't allow one red cent... or in their case, red $500 bill... out of the country. Understandable, I suppose, since there's a crippling shortage of currency. So Matt and I had to dump all our Zimbabwe money before walking across the Kariba Dam into Zambia. Matt picked up a beautiful walking stick that looks more like a staff from a sci-fi movie. It's hand carved, beautiful and not easy to tote around with our luggage. He's gone to try to ship it home.

"A little overwhelming."
It's so strange being back in the backpacker tourist circuit again, after nearly a month of solitude in Zimbabwe. Walking into Chachacha Backpackers was kinda like entering a Manhattan cocktail party after being stranded on an island for a year. A little overwhelming.

But I think we've warmed a bit to Lusaka. It's nice to have a few amenities again. This is our first decent internet connection since South Africa... and why I'm still here three hours later. Also nice to be able to talk about and eat food without feeling guilty.

We also ran into Dave from Miami again. We first met him in Masvingo near the Great Zimbabwe ruins. He's the first person we've met doing a similar trip to ours. He left South Africa and is headed for Turkey. We'll be going about the same way and on about the same timetable as far as maybe Egypt.

We have tickets for a very early bus in the morning to Chipata, a town on the border with Malawi. Since Zambia's a bit pricey and Malawi's dirt cheap, we'll probably head right on across the border. Malawi's supposedly quite beautiful, too.