First day in Zambia

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First, I have to apologize for no photos. I'm having some technological issues which I hope to sort out soon.

After 26 hours in transit, I finally arrived in Lusaka at about 10:30 last night. The KLM flight from Toronto to Amsterdam was full, noisy and turbulent so not much sleep. The air conditioning was not working on the plane when we boarded so we had about 45 minutes on the tarmack in what felt like a sauna, while they repaired the air conditioning.

Schipol Airport in Amsterdam has a Yotel, a small hotel in the secure part of the airport, where you can rent a small room with a bed and shower, for a few hours or the night. I rented a room for 3 hours and slept like a baby!

Then a 9 hour, 40 minute flight from Amsterdam to Lusaka, again with KLM. A much more enjoyable flight! There were lots of empty seats on the plane and I moved up to "Comfort Economy" which gave me more leg room and a seat that reclined more than would otherwise be the case. I slept on and off through the flight so I arrived fairly rested. Plus, cute young male flight attendants who were very attentive and friendly!

Immigration was slow but then we were greeted by Bob, Claudia, Jane and Peter (who are here for both weeks), and Edna, our local host. Then we were on a bus and on our way to Accam's Lodge, our accomodation in Lusaka for Saturday and Sunday night. A nice cold beer awaited us on the bus and another at the bar at the lodge, before we turned in for the night.

With some help, I got my mosquito net up, although there seems little need since it is quite cool at night. In fact, I woke up in the night freezing and had to put on a sweater and some socks! Beautiful and warm during the day (up to about 30 degrees), but quite cool at night. Killed a spider on my own (!) and then settled in to sleep, with the sound of women singing nearby. Unfortunately, my internal clock is still on Canadian time so, despite the lullaby, sleep did not come easy. As a result, I'm quite jet lagged today and nodded off for a few minutes during a presentation by PAF (People's Action Forum) after breakfast.

I grabbed a 15 minute nap before we took the bus to Arcades Mall. We'll be meeting up for some lunch and shopping soon and tonight we will be having dinner at the home of a Supreme Court Judge.

Looking forward to the rest of my adventure now that I am finally here!

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