Traditional Batswana House

Traditional houses in Botswana, called rondavels, are round and are constructed from cow dung and mud. Today these houses are intergrated with more comtemporary buildings. I am told that they are very cool and comfortable to live in.



Traditional Cooking Area

How close is too close?

On the drive back to Gaborone we saw 2 elephants and a giraffe on the side of the road. Rob gets so excited when he sees animals and wants to take so many photos. When we saw the first elephant he had me hanging out the window taking
photos while he drove, getting progressively closer. I guess we got too close because the elephant started shaking its giant head and mading terrible noises. I was so afraid that it would charge the car! Luckily we were able to drive away. We have now established boundaries regarding how close Robert can get to wild animals!

Rob taking photos of Rhinos

Warning from the Hotel

Safari!

We saw so many amazing animals on "game drives" and water cruises in the Chobe national park, the Rhino Santuary, and even on the side of the road!







See more photos of animals on Rob's flickr site.

Baboons!

When Olga and Caroline came to visit us in Canada, they spoke frequently about the problems created by Baboons. We could not believe their stories about Baboons coming and stealing their porridge, pot and all!
We knew that Baboons were about...

We knew that Baboons were about...


But didn't see any on our drive from South Africa to Botswana. Finally we got to see some when we went on a hike in Gaborone

Oodi Weavers - A Women's Cooperative

We went to visit a cooperative of women weavers in Oodi, a small village outside of Gaborone.



The weavings were beautiful and each one told a story about village life. They take months to make. We purchased this weaving (held by the artist.)

First day in Botswana

Olga came to meet us at the South African Botswana boarder. It seems almost surreal to be here with her. We met her a year ago when she came as a visiting scholar to our university. Now we are in her country seeing the things and meeting the people that she has told us so much about.

Cher and Olga

We are taken to an elaborate surprise birthday party and everyone seems to know who we are! It is in the most beautiful location, a tent (with AC!) set up in the garden of a hotel. All the women are wearing halter tops and light skirts or pants. I am freezing in my jeans and fleece jacket. We left Colombo during the beginning of the warmest season of the year and I am having trouble adjusting to this cooler climate. “But I thought it was cold in Canada?” everyone asks as they see me shivering. Clearly I am not the rugged Canuck they expected!


Cher and Olga's Daughter Daphne


Rob and Olga's Son Tefo

I am looking forward to dancing in this tent, in this garden, but unfortunately Batswana time runs later than Sri Lankan time and most of the guests arrive late. By this time the birthday boy arrives at 10:30, it is 2:30 am in Colombo and I am falling asleep at the table.

We are staying at Pako’s (Olga’s eldest son) flat. I wake up to the sound of birds quietly chirping and realize that the vocal cords of birds in Colombo must have evolved to be heard over the honking horns and screeching brakes.

As I write this the sounds of an African choir, accompanied by drums and a guitar drifts in the window. I try to record the sounds on my ipod for Suzanne.

First Impressions of Africa

As we drive out of Johannesburg on our way to Botswana I am surprised by the extent of open space and the tranquil environment. There are few people and cars and miles and miles of open fields. I feel almost under-stimulated after the busy chaotic nature of Sri Lanka, where one city blends into the next, roads are full of people, cars, tuks, cows, cats, and dogs, and lined with busy, cluttery shops and homes.

Stopover in Singapore

We have an 18 hour layover in Singapore. We rented a transit hotel for 14 hours which was expensive but worth every penny. We got to relax, have a nap, shower and use the hotel facilities, which included a gym, pool, and hot tub. It was really nice to enjoy all the services in the airport, without having to haul around a bunch of luggage or worry about losing our passports.



The gym was in a different area of the airport than our hotel room and we had to take a short subway ride to get there. It was strange to be running around the airport in our gym clothes!

Leaving Lanka

It is my last day in Sri Lanka and I am absolutely heartbroken. I try to take in everything I can and lock it away in my memory.

The intense heat of the day
The echoy sound of the call to prayer as a backdrop to squawks of crows and barks of dogs.
The last gains of sand from Hikkadua falling out of my shoes.
Chilies burning my tongue and lips for the last time.
The look on Arosha’s face when I say goodbye.
The palm trees and bogenvalia visible from the gym window.
Russell, fresh out of the shower, smiling and waving from balcony as I blow kisses from below
My shadow against the pavement as I zip through the streets of Colombo on the back of Suranga’s motorbike.
The sound of Thusana’s kiss in my ear.
The kindness of Sajee and Raji's gift
The smell of Surgana’s cologne as we drive to the airport.
The ring tone of my Sri Lankan cell phone as friends call to say goodbye.

A good night’s sleep

Our last night in Sri Lanka we were up past midnight packing, etc. I just got into a deep sleep and Rob started shaking me and yelling “get up! get up!” “get out of bed”. “Why?” I asked. “There is something in the bed!” he said. I leaped up thinking of snakes. I asked what it was. He said “ants!” The bed is full of ants! I asked, “what should we do?” Then Rob said “I think I am sleepwalking,” crawled back into bed, and was snoring within 30 seconds. (He has a history of sleepwalking.) I however, was wide awake for quite some time! ARRRRGH!

Nightmares about going home

Lately I have been having nightmares about going home related to shopping. For example, in one dream I go to the Bay to buy a birthday card for our niece, Emily. I finally decide on a card, turn it over to find the price tag, and am horrified to learn that the card cost $6 Canadian. I refuse to purchase the card, telling Rob that we can buy a pair of pants for $6 in Sri Lanka!

Last Hurrah!

We took one last road trip in Sri Lanka with Suranga and Indika. The first day we traveled to Nuwara Eliya – most definitely my favourite place in Sri Lanka. On the way we visited Suranga’s brother, Udeni, who is a doctor in a nearby town.


All the way in the car, Rob wore his animal masks and when we passed a group of people, Indika would slow down and Rob would stick his head out the window and make animal noises. We found that most Sri Lankans perfected the chicken mask over the frog, elephant, and monkey masks.


We took Suranga on his first hike EVER – lucky for him we didn’t have enough time to do the 3 hour hike to Worlds End that we had planned and he was dreading. Instead we went on a much shorter hour long hike up a mountain, where we ran into a gang of monkeys who threw seeds at Rob’s head.

We then drove to Hikkadua, a beach community on the South coast, and picked up our friend Kamal along the way. Kamal is a Hikkadua party boy and he knew all the best places to go. First he took us to a roti cafÈ where we sampled many different types of roti, including chocolate and banana roti which was the absolute best! Then we went to an outdoor nightclub with live drum performances. Dancing outdoors to live drum music was definitely one of the highlights of my time in Sri Lanka!


We spent the next day snorkeling and hanging out by the pool. I saw lots of fish I had not seen before including giant parrot fish.

Living on the Edge in Colombo!

I have been progressively “living on the edge” since I came to Sri Lanka. First it was not wearing seat beats. Not only do most Sri Lankans not wear them but some people think that you are more likely to die in a car accident if you wearing a seatbelt. They are commonly removed from vehicles all together. Then it was driving in tri-shaws, which seemed extremely risky at first but I soon got used to them and would not think twice about riding in one. Lately we have been riding on Suranga’s motorbike without helmets! Good thing that I am going home – who knows what I might do next!

Colombo meeting

As we rush to pack up and tidy up of lives in Colombo, Rob is busy planning the next phrase of our trip. He needs to arrange to visit 5 universities in Norway, Finland and Sweden. One university is in the north of Norway, above the artic circle. He sends an email to the woman he has been told to contact. She writes back and says that she is currently out of the office doing some work in Sri Lanka and will get back to him when she returns. Rob writes back that WE are actually in Sri Lanka! We meet at the Gallery Cafe for drinks, only to discover that Signe lived in Canada for many years and considers Canada her second home. She recently visited our university and knows many of our friends and colleagues from SFU! We take a photo of the three of us, vowing to take a similar photo in Norway and Canada.

Strange events such as this one seem common in Sri Lanka, such as Suranga’s mom recognizing Rob in a shop in Nugegoda before she had ever met us - recognizing him from a photo she had once seen. Finding out that our neighbour at King’s court was a good friend of Kumari’s mother. Learning that Shareen’s niece lives 5 minutes from our house in Canada. People here will tell you that Sri Lanka is a small place and that is why there are so many people who know each other and there are so many coincidences. However I think that there is something more than that. It is like every one and every thing is somehow connected in this magical place. In fact, the word “serendipity”, the art of making accidental happy discoveries, comes from “Serendip”, the old Arabic name for Sri Lanka.

Goodbye (for now) Party!

Had lots of fun partying with friends at our Goodbye (for now) Party!

Slimeapple

Yet another fascinating Sri Lankan fruit.