More Yoga.

It does seem like I’m talking about yoga on here a lot?  I’ve made a really special connection with a lodge here in Zambia called The Royal Zambezi (www.royalzambezilodge.com).  If you ever come to Zambia, I will take you to this magical place. 

I’ve taught a couple of yoga retreats at this lodge and did one again last month.  All of them have been great but this was just over-the-top good.  I’ve already raved about the lodge, but I also had an amazing group of powerful, interesting, courageous women who connected really well with each other and were just that fun to be around!  I am not the most flexible or most profound and definitely don’t know all there is to know about every aspect or limb of yoga but I love teaching yoga. Being in the company of such great women reminded me that we are all great teachers and also hopefully great students.  Thank you, universe, for a much needed weekend. 

Lamu Yoga Festival

I finally got out of town in 2019!  I was feeling a little blue…we call them the Lusaka blues here.  I love Zambia and am quite content but breaks are a necessity.  I suppose that’s true anywhere you live. Anyway, I had heard about this yoga festival from a friend that takes place off the coast of Kenya on a little island called Lamu and was intrigued.  It looked legitimate although I had just watched the documentary on Netflix about the whole Fyre Festival (if you haven't watched you definitely need to!) so was a little bit skeptical about flying to some remote island for a festival.  But, I’m here to say that we survived and there was actually a semi-organized festival (I mean we are in Africa so I was expecting a minimal amount of chaos). 

To get to this island we had to take two flights and a boat ride.  There aren’t any cars on the island.  But there are lots of donkeys.  The majority of the island's population is Muslim and we saw some of the most beautiful mosques.  The yoga classes were sort of spread out throughout the island so you never felt like it was too packed and it was fun to see and experience a bunch of different spaces and classes.  It was very hot so most of the classes were pretty sweaty but it was manageable.  I took my first Acro Yoga class (so fun!), learned how to do a little Thai Yoga massage, played around doing some SUP Yoga (this is where you do yoga on a surf board) and then did some fun flow classes.  It really was a great week despite a few minor glitches and I’d recommend checking it out if you ever make it to this side of the world (www.lamuyoga.org).  I did learn that Kenya is quite the hot spot for yoga (much more than Zambia) so if I ever need a little yoga fix I know where to go!

We also spent a couple of days in Nairobi which was interesting.  That city is hectic!  It’s just so big.  It took us several hours to navigate the city (although we were stopping to shop along the way) and I enjoyed seeing another part of Africa.  If you don't already know this…Africa is huge! :) 

Almost a decade in Africa.

I have spent almost a decade in Africa.  I left the states in January of 2010 and I'm feeling quite sentimental about this for some reason (just wait ‘til I actually hit the 10-year mark).  That’s a long time.  When I got on that plane in 2010, I never thought that it would lead to this…that I would make a life for myself so far away from my family and friends.  There are things that I have definitely missed (and I’ve probably written about these on here at some point) but I also can’t imagine being  anywhere else right now.  I decided to stay in Lusaka for the holidays and enjoyed some quiet time with a few friends and this is just what I needed.  I’m ready to start the new year…and lookout 2020.  You never know what’s around the 10-year corner. 

London. Paris. Washington DC. And Back to Zambia.

It’s September!  How did that happen?  I haven’t posted here since June.  I just came back from an amazing weekend of teaching some yoga and figured it was time to get back on the blogging.  It’s always difficult to go back in time though and figure out what I should tell y’all on here (because I know you have been anxiously awaiting my next post).  But I’ll pick out a few of the good bits to share.

At the beginning of July, I went to London and Paris.  Not so bad?  I met a friend from the states there and we made the most of our 5 day holiday.  We shopped, ate lots of good food, and did an incredible amount of walking (to shop and eat).  I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and it was mostly lovely to just hang out!  I did manage to get stuck on the train back from Paris to London for many long hours (where they only fed us Twix bars for some odd reason), and then missed my flight back to Lusaka.  I eventually got back but it was a real process. Sometimes I have to remind myself how much I love traveling.  Sigh.    

In August, I went back to the states for a wedding!  My friend from Peace Corps was getting married so I decided it was necessary to make the trek back.  While seeing her so incredibly happy was worth it, I can’t say that I love making that journey across the ocean more than once in a year (again, the reminder to myself that I love traveling).  But, I did get to see some amazing friends (including my mom!), spend time in a city I’ve never been to before (can you believe this American had never been to Washington DC before?) and drink an incredible amount of chai tea.     

Since then I’ve been back in Zambia.  It’s getting very hot.  Although I shouldn’t complain.  I now have a lovely air conditioner in my bedroom and the power cuts are minimal.  This last weekend I also got to to lead a lovely group at a yoga retreat at one of the most amazing lodges on the Lower Zambezi.  I’d have to say life is pretty good. 

Saying goodbye.

I visited home in March and got to see my almost 92-year-old Grandmother.  While her body seemed to be failing her, that mind of hers was quite sharp.  She loved hearing about my life and I know, more than anything, she would have loved to come visit.  I wish I could have made that happen somehow and, now, I regret not making more of an effort to send her videos and pictures of the things I was seeing so that she could experience them as well.  I honestly think that’s why she loved this silly little blog of mine (as I’ve mentioned she was one of my few followers) because it gave her a chance to see what my life was like…I will miss sharing a little bit of my world with you here, Grandmother.  I love you.  

Kuomboka Revisited.

When I lived in Mongu in 2013 I had the opportunity to attend my first Kuomboka ceremony.  Kuomboka is a traditional ceremony held in Western Province where the Lozi people move from the plains (which become flooded during the rainy season) to higher areas.  It's steeped in tradition and pretty amazing so I decided it was time for a return visit.  Since I wasn’t living in Mongu this time the logistics of getting to Western Province for the weekend proved more challenging.  Turns out Western Province is kinda far?  Well, me and 9 of my closest friends piled into 3 cars and left town on Friday afternoon in what would turn out to be another great African adventure.  In the first hour, one of the cars broke down and we had to push it to a nearby church and we then piled into the remaining 2 cars.  Delayed by a few hours, we proceeded to drive on some of the worst roads I’ve seen in a long time (I’m talking gigantic potholes which swallowed your entire car).  After almost 9 hours we made it to Mongu around midnight on Friday evening.  Don’t worry because we were still excited to wake up early to participate in the boat ride so that we could see the Nalikwanda depart on its journey across the floodplains.  It took some negotiating to find a boat to take all 10 of us and we still ended up with some random local kids (and apparently a “famous” rapper) on our small boat (which seemed to also have a slow leak and was just probably generally very unsafe) but we did manage to find the Nalikwanda which was pretty spectacular.  

We did make it back without our small boat tipping over or filling up with water so we celebrated by spending the afternoon eating some local cuisine at my favorite local hangout before setting out to see the Nalikwanda “dock” in what can only be described at organized chaos.  People hanging in trees, stampeding to catch a glimpse of the king, and a few random people falling into the water.  But we pulled it off and, man, did I really enjoy having a cold beer at the end of the day while watching the sun go down...I have to say that Mongu has some of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen.

And luckily we only had to drive a short 9 hours home the next day. 

Oh, Zimbabwe.

Over the Easter holiday, we decided to take a quick trip to Zimbabwe.  We didn’t do much planning but thought we could get away with just winging it…I mean we have lived in Africa for a while, haven’t we?  Can't you just show up to another African country and figure things out?  

Well, turns out this is not always the best idea.  Things like visas and money and, well, generally figuring out the basics.  For example, we arrived to find all the ATMs were no longer working so we quickly had to run around and rent a tiny (green as you can see from the pictures) car so we wouldn’t have to deal with cash (since we had none) to get around.  I was nominated to drive since most rental cars in Africa are manual.  With my trusty navigator by my side (and only killing the car a couple of times since I was a bit out of practice with my manual driving) we made our way to our hotel which, despite getting rave reviews, turned out to be, well, not so amazing.  

In the end (after downing a few gin and tonics), we decided trips that aren't perfect are oftentimes the most memorable.  How can you forget falls in the mud, cancelled flights, running over rocks, mildew smelling rooms, and pangolins?  It's always an adventure in Africa which is why we love it!