11 August 2009

11 August, Day 59: Jenny's place

Started off with a nice big breakfast of eggs and toast, fruit salad and such. The fruit for the fruit salad, including papaya, apples, oranges, spanspek, almost everything except bananas come straight out of Jenny’s garden! Later I found out they grow at 18 different types of fruit and vegetables on site. They farm with bees (not too good for Mattie, but at least it’s on the other side of the estate), cultivate their own compost via a wormary (did I spell that right? Big heap with earth worms in it...) and recycle pretty much everything. A real inspirational example of self sufficiency, something the whole world is abuzz about for economic reasons. Here in Zimbabwe, it’s a necessity since you simple cannot buy things in shops anymore!

Anyway, after breakfast I unpacked everything from the Bullet and setup a sorting area outside in the sun. Man, this is a really painful process. It’s like repacking your entire closet every 2-3 weeks and re-arranging everything! What a mission. We also meet Jenny’s son, Gerald, nice guy. He runs the day to day operations of the fishing business. Annelie helps me out with a haircut and a beard trim. I reckon she did a good job and I look partly human again!

In the afternoon Jenny takes us to the only store around, which surprisingly has stock of quite a few items. A few items we missed from our shopping list could at least be bought here, including the two crates of soft drinks we intended to buy here. We can then return the crates and empty bottles for a return deposit. We make a turn at Gerald’s house to say high to his wife and to pick up the e-ticket for Marietta’s flight. Before we head back, Jenny takes us to a high lookout point with a fantastic view of the Lake, just before sunset, so everything is that gorgeous golden colour. There is a small market up there, so Annelie buys a little handbag and I add a bracelet to my growing collection of useless trinkets.

Back at Jenny’s, we finish up with the repacking operation and get ready for the braai. Gerald and his wife arrives a bit later and he asks me about the Bullets rear tires, since the rims don’t match up to the front. I tell him about the punctures in Tanzania and how I now have another puncture. He offers to take the wheel in to have it checked out, since as it turns out he’ll be taking a few tires down to the shop tomorrow anyway. Score! Means I don’t have to do it! Awesomeness, I accept his offer, of course.

Meat goes down a storm with our last bottle of wine I discovered during the repack (something good DID come out of it, then!) And that’s about it.

Highlights: A cool lesson in self sufficiency

Getting my admin up to date, DVD backups and the like

[G & A], out

Lady lady love me

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