Day 277 – Zambia

July 9, 2010 – Lusaka, Zambia

What can you say about Lusaka, the capital of Zambia?

Well, it’s a city.

And there you have it.

If my back wasn’t in the state it is, we both would have been pretty content to leave today, but unfortunately we don’t.

After a night where my sleep was constantly interrupted by the symphony of snoring men in our room, Throughout Africa we’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to sleeping in dorm rooms – we’ve met some great people and half the time we end up having them to ourselves any way. Unfortunately, last night wasn’t one of those times, so first thing in the morning Eric and I move to our own private room.

After breakfast, we wander around the downtown area for a bit in order to take care of some “housekeeping” – mailing postcards, going to an ATM, etc.

We also want to look into buses to get us the hell out of Lusaka and onwards to the town of Chipata. And as expected, this turns out to be a lot more laborious than necessary. After 9 months of traveling by public transit, we’re getting used to going to bus terminals and having to deal with sales touts, hawkers and not getting straight answers to straight questions. So now we’re pretty comfortable with having them around us and for the most part, ignoring them. However today we had a first-time experience for both of us…

As we’re standing around discussing our options – whilst being surrounded by 6 or 7 “salesmen” of course – we’re approached by an official with the bus station. He’s in uniform and has an ID badge and asks us if we need a hand. We tell him we’re okay and that we’re just figuring out what to do and then Eric cracks a joke about how if he’s able to get rid of the guys annoying us, that would be alright.

However instead of helping us, he tries to pull a little scam of his own and informs us that we should use the help of our “entourage” or otherwise he’s going to charge us with loitering. The guys hassling us all wait to see how we’ll react – they think we’ll cave and they’ll make a sale – and the “official” waits for us to crumble under the awesome power of his authority and ideally, give him a bribe. However, Eric and I look at each other, look at him and then break out into laughter. It’s not the reaction they’re expecting and none of them know quite what to do. This confusion gives us enough time to walk away, leaving the little weasel behind, sulking.

We head back to the hostel and eventually we’re able to piece together a plan using the scattered bits of information we get from the knuckleheads at the bus station and the knuckleheads at our hostel, and we decide to head to Chipata bright and early – instead of booking in advance, we’re just going to wing it.