November 3, 2007: Harare, Zimbabwe

Oddly enough, Harare is a city in crisis, yet it is the type of population center that many Western cities with transportation congestion problems spend countless dollars trying to achieve. By this I mean it is modern, yet there is relatively little traffic and the city is mostly smog free as a result. There are crowds of people going about their business and bicycles weaving in and out among the throngs, but the gas shortage

The scene while we were waiting in line for gas. Had to pay a massive bribe to get in, too:

automatically keeps the number of cars at a manageable level. And yet, people are desperate.

Our campsite was well outside the city center and featured a number of boulders on which to pass the time.

George showing everyone how it's done:

Me testing the stretch factor of my shorts:

We picked up a new member of the trip, Juliet, while losing another, Andrew, who had been on since Windhoek. It was weird because there was a bit of the "resort" atmosphere (albeit faded), what with the bar and all, and yet, at the same time, we brought the camp managers toilet paper (difficult to come by in Harare) and had to flush the toilets with buckets of water that were outside the bathrooms because the city intermittently shut the water off throughout the day.

One day we went to a climbing area near Harare, but first got lost and drove by Mugabe's compound a few times. Nobody walks on that side of the street because they will get shot (seriously) so I can only imagine what sort of alarms we set off, cruising slowly by in a huge, steel, red truck several times. Somehow we still managed to make it to the climbing venue which featured some cool cave paintings, murderous baboons that Matt B. and I nearly had to fight off, and more slab (blech).

Later that night we had a going away party for Andrew which, once again, featured outrageous outfits and more competition with another Overlander truck that was also at the campsite. No, we're not a competitive bunch at all.

Me struggling to hold my horizontal pole position:

Juliet takes on Henry arm wrestling:

And wins!:

Steve needs to visit a haberdashery:

Not approved business casual wear. Mike gets creative with sequins, climbing helmet, and headlamp:

The inevitable group shot. L to R Back: Jase and Diana. Middle: Mike, me, Henry, Drew, and Juliet. Steve in front:
The inevitable hanging from the rafters shot. L to R Mike Juliet and Diana on the ceiling. Front: Andrew (working the farewell pink dress), me, Drew, and Jase:

It would have been a great evening, except for the fact that a couple of guys broke into the camp compound and stole a bunch of items from a number of the tents while everyone was at the bar. My tent suffered the worst -- not only did the robbers slash my tent on both ends (apparently they couldn't figure out where the zippers were), but they took my sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, pillow, a pair of pants, and beloved Nalgene bottle. I was not a happy camper. Not to mention extremely pissed that the robbers had actually slashed both my rainfly and tent.

Fly slash. And right on my window!:

Mesh slash. Might as well put out the welcome mat for the malaria carrying mosquitos:

At the same time, everything they took was probably what would keep them alive for another few months. Other people lost cameras, shoes, bags, and pretty much anything that was in their tents. Luckily, the robbers dropped a large portion of things, including all my missing items except my Nalgene bottle, right outside the camp walls. Regardless, I left Harare with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.