4/5/13 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

After a lengthy bus ride and border crossing (Zimbabwe checks everything on the bus, and we were towing a huge trailer of goods), we made it to Bulawayo at 10:30 pm.  A very kind cab driver agreed to take us to the hostel for a fair amount less than the rate for the trip. It took us almost an hour to find it (I’s 10 minutes outside the city center).  The owner of the Burke’s Backpacker Paradise, Adam, set us up in our room, and we slept with no alarm set for the morning.








              A lazy day breakfast, coffee, shower and email checking session later, we planned our next leg of our journey.  We decided it would be most economical to spend a day in Bulawayo, then catch a bus to Masvingo, camp at Great Zimbabwe, then bus it again to Harare for the Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA).

Artist at the Gallery with developmental delays--
she paints with her feet!

                Our day in Bulawayo was awesome! Adam and Vicki, the owners of the hostel, helped us really make sure our plans for getting to Great Zimbabwe were set, and recommended some places to check out in the city for the day.  When we got to the city center, we had great porridge, relishes, beef and chicken, as well as Russians (Polish Kielbasa) and chips for lunch.  Then we went to the National Art Gallery, where they  had a beautiful exhibit about uniting humanity through the Art for Humanity project.  They paired visual artists and poets together from around the world to present art about the realities of humanity.  At the café, we met the craziest most welcoming woman I’ve ever met.  Cynthia is an artist there, and she showed us around all of the galleries and studios there, introducing us to other artists, then got us a ride back to our hostel.   As the self proclaimed Public Relations Officer of the gallery, she decided she had to show us a GREAT time. And she did!

                After dinner, a delicious squash soup made with pumpkin, spaghetti squash. curried canned veggies and a spicy meat substitute, and an ice cold swim, Cynthia picked us back up with two other artists, and we went out on the town.  First, we got chicken at Chicken Inn—“luv dat chicken”—and Cynthia drew portraits of a bunch of people, including the woman behind the cash register.  We got to the club, and unfortunately, it was empty, since it was only like 9:00.  But we had a private dance party… and it was probably good that it was empty, because this club was SWANKY.  Think LA club—huge plush couches, rooftop bars and a pool.  Our slightly dirty clothes and Tivas would have been way more out of place if there had been other people there.

                We took Cynthia home for the evening.  We stopped by her brother’s house, which was beautiful.  He is a lawyer who lived in England for 13 years and just recently returned to Zim.  He was really interesting to talk to about the changes he has recognized in the country since returning. When we (finally) got to Cynthia’s house, Abby and I walked her to her door to show her husband that she was out with American women (a story that may have been interpreted as a lie without proof).  We said goodnight and hopped back in the combi with the other artists she brought along, Gordon and Brian.  They let me drive the combi until it was quite clear that I could easily get us lost.  It was a lot like driving the camp van, only manual.  Man oh man! Miss that van!

                We checked out one more club that was much more packed for ladies’ night.  We watched some dancers, danced ourselves, and had to run before our carriages turned to pumpkins. We needed to be up early to get a bus to Great Zimbabwe the next day.