Christmas. 2014, and Fish

      Hey all, I know its been a while, (sorry!), but i finally have internet again and Ive added lots of photos to show you what Ive been up too for the holidays and then some.  I got to the house on the 24th where we had a pretty casual new years eve dinner and we just did a lot of prep, along with some shenanigans, for the big day on the 25th.   On Christmas morning we all sat around our charlie brown Christmas tree and did a white elephant gift exchange.  Some of the gifts were absolutely hilarious (wigs, traditional maize "beer, a day old sandwich, maize, a USA jacket, male/female sex soap, to name a few), and our tree was decorated with all the nic-naks from around the house.  Afterwards Zach and I made a HUGE batch of gnocchis with vodka sauce for everyone, which was a big success, and we had some many gnocchis left over 6 of us ate them the next night with homemade pesto.  Also, very delicious. 

Our tree. Our wrapping is a little shoddy, and that pony is the angel, and yes, those are wooden penises surrounding our tree. We normally use hem for condom demos in the villages but, in this case they added holiday cheer. 

       On the 27th 8 of us headed up to Lake Tanganyika, on the Tanzania boarder, which is only 3 hours north of Kasama.  Lake Tang is the second largest freshwater lake, in the world, by volume, and the second deepest.  Its also the worlds longest freshwater lake.  It boarders Zambia, Tanzania, DRC, and Burundi, with Tanzania having most of the shoreline.  There are upwards of 250 cichlid species, 98% of which are only found in Lake Tang and at least 150 of non cichlid species of fish in the lake. 

      For the most part we swam, enjoyed a beer (or two), went hiking, and made some great fish tacos.  It was a great and relaxing mini vaca but it wouldnt be Zambia without some mishaps and misadventures. 

Sunset from the shore upon arrival. 

A small sampling of the shells found on Tang.  Its confirmed we all have schisto now. 

While on our first hike on what we THOUGHT was crocodile island I found this fisherman reading a newspaper outside of his shelter.  I thought the juxtaposition of the two worlds and cultures was so typical for almost everything we do here. 

Some fisherman on the lake.  The fish here are amazingly fresh and its great going straight to the market and then walking back to our grill 5 minuets away to make dinner.  The variety of fish is pretty extensive but, for obvious reasons, most of the lake is pretty over fished.  But, our favorites are the buka fish and the nkupi. I highly recommend both if you ever get the chance.  There are roughly 100,000 people who are directly involved in the fisheries and the lake is vital resource of protein to an estimated 10 million people living in the water basin surrounding the lake. 

Here we are on our boat and what started out to be a fabulous day.  We rented out this boat to take us to the trail head to Kalambo Falls, just on a nearby shore on the lake.  The ride out was great, we packed peanut butter and banana sandwiches for lunch, and we were excited to see one of the tallest waterfalls in Zambia. 

View from the front of the boat.  Let the adventures begin!

That's the village/trail head out boat pulled up to.  We had to hike up to this plateau and then another 10-15 km to the falls. 

Made it! Kalambo Gorge looking out towards the Tanzania side. 

Kalambo Falls is a 772 ft single drop waterfalls and absolutely beautiful

Enjoying the view and catching out breath. 

Maize fields and mangos on the Tanzania boarder.  Its rumored that Tanzania has the best mangos in the world. I must say they were pretty delicious. 

A typical bridge in Africa.  Zambia our side, Tanzania far side. 

Heading back to our side of the lake. Bye Kalambo! And here is where our adventures begin. On our way back storms are rolling in creating some good waves, so we inevitably get soaked, and our driver keeps stalling out the engine and telling us were out of gas (which were not) and wants us to pay him more money (which we dont).  This continues for practically the entire way back, its now very dark, were all very wet, and angry, and instead of 1.5 hours it takes 3 to get back.  We disembark as soon as we can, once again refuse to pay him extra, and instead give him 100 less for being a dipshit, and quickly go back and dry off.  Since its also New Years Eve we cant just sit around and do nothing, so we change, rally, grab some dinner, and dance away our frustrations and the remaining hours of 2013.   Typical Zambia, an extremely surreal and beautiful experience back to back to one that makes you want to pull our hair out and throw your boat crew over board.  A day that will forever be remembered. 

Let the dancing begin!

Happy 2014!!! Peace out 2013 you were loved and at times hated. 

     So here begins the "fish" part of my title.  While rainy season makes work a little slow Im trying to get as much done as I can.  This past week I stocked 4 ponds in 1 day my farmers were thrilled.  BaErnest, my counterpart here, stocked 2 of his ponds with 120 fish in each, I had another farmer in the neighboring village stock 50 fish in his and my head man stocked 50 in his tiny pond as well.  All around a successful day of stocking and it seemed to spur more enthusiasm for digging, since people saw these fish get delivered, and now they want fish too. Lets just hope they all remember to feed their fish since, surprisingly, fish do NOT eat water or mud. 

BeErnest, holding up some of his fish just before release

Close up of the fish.  Sorry for the poor quality. 

Rainy season also means its mushroom season, here's a sampling of what you can find (and eat) in the bush around my house.  I bought it for 2 kwatcha, or roughly 40 cents, and ate it for 5 meals between 7 people. Zambia takes bargain shopping to a new level