Flying High

So my father's here and we had an amazing time in Victoria Falls. It sure is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The photo on the left was taken directly above the falls from our helicopter. Below is me and my dad having a great time on our short ride (15 min.) It was a once in a lifetime ride though.

Yesterday we finally got my dad's bags from the airport. Only took five days but they both arrived with all the contents. I was a bit worried. Today we are heading up to Chipata to see my village. We got lucky and are getting a ride from PC in the landcruiser. Public transport is horrible. Funny thing, we were walking in all parts of the airport last night that you would never be able to do in the states. I guess security is not that big of an issue here. I had my swiss army knife in my bag and they saw it and still let me through...oh well. So we'll be spending the next 5 days in the village and then heading up to South Luangwa park for a safari before my dad goes back to the states. We went on the booze cruise on the Zambezi and have been having a great time catching up!

The Invasion

This will be a short post. Things have been super crazy the past couple of weeks. Work is really picking up, I've started working with 6 new fish farmers. Some of them have ponds, some are in the process of constructing them. I have another really big project coming up, more details to follow once things get off the ground. I'm also in the beginning stages of getting a dam built for my village and a new clinic. I'll be sending out more information in the next couple of weeks.

So a funny thing happened about two weeks ago. Rachel and Christi came to my site and spent the night. We were hanging out in my house and I went to get Rachel some headache medicine out of my medical kit. I picked up the kit and found about a hundred ants sitting under it. I quickly sprayed them and went on my way. Later in the night I was getting cold and decided to get a long sleeved shirt. I have my clothes hanging on a wood bar in my room. With my headlamp on, I saw a small ant crawling on my shirt. Next thing I know, I'm pulling apart my clothes and watching thousands of ants crawling all over my clothes. I screamed. (this is not an exaggeration either) Never have I seen anything like that. I started going through my trousers that were hung up and ants were crawling out of my pockets and every little nook and cranny. I was furious. It was late and I was tired, the last thing I needed was to have thousands of ants all over my things in my house. I felt so violated. We took everything outside and shook them off. They even started climbing all over me. I yelled for my Amai and she came over and basically laughed. She said, "Ah, Julie, this is village life." Right, I'm thinking. I was not a happy camper, however she offered to wash everything the next day. I have no idea why that happened, and I hope it doesn't happen again. It was really disturbing.

So as some of you know, my father came here about two days ago. Its been great to see him again. I'll be updating again after our adventures. We are currently in Livingstone where we just took a helicopter ride over the falls. It was amazing. Viewing the falls from above was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Later this afternoon we'll experience it first hand while we walk around it getting drenched. Its so great to have my dad here. We went on the booze cruise last night where we enjoyed many whiskey and cokes :) Good times so far and its been great to catch up with him.

I'll be writing again soon, thanks to all those that are staying in touch. Sorry if I don't get back to you right away. Not much time/money for the internet. But I think of all you often. Staying in touch means the world to me. Thanks!!! Miss you!