We are expecting company around 10 am, so at 9 am Njale began pushing Anita and I to finish. I have two boxes and Anita has one. We loaded everything into the car and headed to the post office in Moshupa. Because it is the end of the month, and because folks in Botswana are paid at the end of each month, and because the post offices are also locations were bills can be paid, she expected the post office to be very busy. We were lucky, there were only a couple of customers ahead of us. However, when the post master saw our boxes, taped shut and with clear labels, we were told that they all needed to be wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. When we groaned and complained, he agreed to provide the string, but we had to provide the paper.
We had him weigh the boxes so we knew how many pula we needed. The air freight was quite expensive, but after thinking about a possible six month wait for ground transport, we finally decided that the shorter arrival time was worth the higher price. So while Njale went looking for brown paper, Anita and I made significant withdrawals at the local ATM. My two packages cost approximately 1500 pula or around $250. If we are lucky the packages will make it to Maryland and Pennsylvania by the time we get home.
Njale told us that if we were inside the post office before it closed at 10:30, we could stay until the packages were mailed. So there we were, in the post office, rewrapping each package with brown paper, taping the edges of the paper since it was not wide enough to completely cover the boxes with one sheet, and allowing the post man to tie the string. Then it was black marker to address (specific locations for 'to' and 'from' addresses), and purchasing the stamps. We will be the talk of the town for a while, because not too many people send packages of that size to America when the postage takes as many stamps as our packages did. My two packages are literally covered with stamps because none of the supply were of a value higher than 5 pula. Anita's package was a bit lighter, and by the time hers was weighed, the post man found some higher value stamps.
Brian's friends, Curt Hanson, his daughter Annie, and Bob Williams and his wife arrived right around 10 am. Refilwe called to let us know, and we asked them to be patient while we finished at the post office. It was after 11 by the time we arrive. They were about to leave, but stayed to chat for another hour or so. Both were amazed at the cost we were willing to pay to mail the packages, until we explained how 2nd baggage is being charged by most airlines these days. Since Anita and I still had 5 airports to visit, we figured the money we would have spent for another bag and the extra baggage fees would have been in excess of the money spent to ship the stuff back.
After our guests left, we were fixing lunch on our own. I reheated rice with peri-peri sauce and made a salad with lettuce, onion and tomato. Right now everyone is sleeping, so I am reading on the porch. The computer is in Njale's room, so I wouldn't be able to use it even if she were awake.
Jim called to see how our safari went - talked briefly about the bush camp that is being built (with hopes of having it available by next season) and our night drive from yesterday. I had called him earlier in the day to ask he reconfirm our flights to Johannesburg and onto Cairo for Monday. We could find no one at South African Airlines, either at the airports or at the telephone numbers we had that was willing to reconfirm the flight reservations. Isn't it ironic that it took someone in the US to reconfirm for two people located in Botswana? Jim reminded me that we needed to choose seats to Cairo as soon as we get to Johannesburg.
Anita and I fixed dinner - smoked ham, chicken and chili beef sausages and home made waffles. We had talked about waffles earlier in our visit and Njale and Refilwe seemed interested in trying them. We evening found some syrup in one grocery store. Njale had an electric waffle iron, so we were all set. Since neither Njale nor Refilwe ate an entire waffle (maybe 8" circles), we don't think American waffles will be made in the Botswana Trennepohl household with any frequency. The syrup is like a dark Karo; we also offered jelly, honey and peanut butter, explaining that Americans use waffles as the bottom for ice cream desserts or to put chicken and thickened gravy on top. Lots of chicken is eaten in Boswana but with little gravy such as is popular in the US. I fixed waffles with all the batter I made and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer, telling Njale they can be reheated either in the toaster or microwave.
Still no internet access, so I'm happy I asked Jim to post a comment on the latest post from Botswana letting folks know that we are leaving soon for Cairo, where we expect no service, and then on to Cyprus where Internet access is possible either through Liz's brother or through George's sister's husband.
Our bedroom looks very empty with only the stuff going on to Cairo and Cyprus. We are officially halfway through the journey today, August 30th.
Note to comment question : Channels on the satellite TV service in Moshupa include the following languages - Setswana, English, South African, Arabic, Hindi, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, BBC, CNN, lots of sports from around the world, and movie channels in many of the languages. When service was available we were able to watch some of the Olympics and Democratic convention.
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