The Early Skanky Catches the Worm

After a week of camping in the bush we've finally rolled into the symbolic halfway point: Livingstone, Zambia. Home of Victoria Falls - a World Heritage Site for those of you keeping track. We've spent the last two days in transit; rolling across the plains of Zambia with our guy Skank. Fans of Skanky will be glad to learn that we've scored an extra 5 days with him as he's now driving us to Maun, Botswana. But let's not talk about that now - gets me a bit misty eyed thinking our days with him are limited.

To keep thoughts of our break-up with Skank at bay, I've been thinking a lot lately about how we've changed while on the road. I'm not talking about deep, spiritual change. More your garden variety change. For example...

Last night at the campsite there was a television with cable channels. Aside from a random viewing of "Paperazzi" at a campsite in Eldoret and an occassional cricket match, this has been the only non-local television we've seen in close to 2 months. The withdrawal symptoms for me have been noticeable. We settled in to watch a glorious hour of E! Entertainment TV at the campsite. Heaven! About 15 minutes into the show Col and I came to same conclusion: we didn't want to watch it. Is this POSSIBLE? We didn't want to watch TV???

Now I've heard that it takes 30 days to break a habit. This has proven true with my nail biting. I'm now clean. Easy to do while in Africa. But can you detox from pop culture?? I mean, any day of the week before the trip I would have eagerly sat down in front of the tube to watch Renee Zellweger's E True Hollywood Story. Last night I couldn't even make it to her marriage to Kenny Chesney. And I can't believe I don't even want to know what J-Lo named her twins. What kind of monster have I become? Or is this a better me? Hmmm. We didn't say much about it but I know we felt the same way - it just reminded us of things we don't want to be reminded of. I'm pretty sure we'll go back to our tv loving ways when we get home (we are currently maxing out on the TIVO storage) but for now Col and I agree that we'll stay away from the boob tube. One exception: African soaps. They are made with the equivalent of a camcorder and we find them endlessly entertaining)

Some of those things we don't want to be reminded of are the social must-dos we've managed to put aside while in Africa. Like showering everyday or putting on make-up. We've really redefined what clean means. This could be directly related to travelling with Skanky for 6 weeks. Note that we are having dinner with one of his friends while we are down here. The guy's name? Grubby. You can't make this stuff up, people.

Another one of those changes that I've noticed is our reaction to things that we may have found disgusting or absurd before. For instance, Colin said to me the other day, "I had seven frogs in my shower. How many did you have?" This seemed like a very normal question to me at the time. Likewise, when I said to him, "hmmm, I don't know how I got this hippo dung all over myself" he didn't even blink an eye. As a matter of fact, the keyboard that I'm typing this on has a nest of some very large insects I can not identify under it. At one point I may have reacted by running away. Instead I just think "yay! free internet" and let them swarm about.

One thing that still freaks me out is the notion of certain types of bug bites. I think I mentioned the infamous mango worm a few posts back. The insect that lays eggs in clothing, bedding, etc. in humid areas and then the eggs hatch in your face? Yeah, well, I had a mango worm scare the other day. Nothing to worry about, false alarm, but the idea of having one of these is terrifying on two levels: 1) I would have a worm growing in my face and 2) Skanky would be the one taking it out. With his pocket knife. As it turns out the mysterious week old bite that had taken over half of my face has since receded. A relief for me and for those who will be subject to photos of me on this trip. The worst part about it was the swelling and the constant poking of Skanky's finger in my face going "oy! it's really red!" or "yaw, we'll have to keep an eye on it. Does this hurt?" Just for the record, I would have let him take out the worm. There could be nothing worse then knowing it was stuck in my cheek.

Alright, hope that didn't gross anyone out. I promise that our next post will be jam-packed with adventure and absent of bugs. We are gearing up to take advantage of the many activities here in Vic Falls. We may even cross the boarder into Zimbabwe (pending political situation) to go on a lion walk and delight in the Fogo de Chao of game meat. Warthog is supposedly "to die for" but I may just stick to a variety of impala.

Until then...stay away from the mango flies or I'll have to fly Skanky out to take care of them for you!