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04 August 2007

Dad returns from safari

Dad flew in from Cape Town on Wednesday and just left today. What a nice 72 hours we had together. I was so happy and thankful that he had a fun and safe trip to Africa.

Now you have to understand, he was backpacking. Through Africa. By himself. For three months. With no real itinerary----just destinations in mind. He really saw the place, in a way that most people don't, or wouldn't, or couldn't.

While Dad was gone, every now and then, we'd receive an email from him. A trip report, of sorts. Which didn't really calm our nerves.

Here's a typical trip report. Yes, I did ask Dad's permission before publishing it. No, I am not going to edit it. Here it is, in all its hard-carriage-return glory. It's an editorial nightmare but funny in a Jack Kerouac stream-of-consciousness sort of way.

hello
i cant find a copy of my last memo
i think i left it with my trip on the gorillas
so from there
bad bus ride from the congo borderto ruanda about
150 miles in 10 hours to kigali the capital lush
fields of corn vegs and tabacco city is clean and
organized at least in comparision to kampala or
nairobi very densely populated went to see the
massacre memorial 800,000 people killed in 4 months
tutsis and moderate hutus getting along now
then down to bujumbara burindi this country and ruanda
both frankphone french and very little english
wanted to get to zambia but no roads on the congo
or tanzania shores of the lake tanginyika
so i found a freighter going south in the lake
3 days of sailing ship stopping in the middle
of the night and every 4 hours 1 mile from shore
rowboats out to met it on loading bales of dried fish
some cotton stalks of green bananas piles of pinapples
and people mothers with babies strapped to their
backs lifted on to the freighter 4 to 5 foot wavws
boats bobbing up and down then loading the boats with
5 gallon cans of palm oil for cooking gas dor the
engines and parriffin (kersone)for thr lamps then
people going over the side women jumping into the boat
and their babies handed down by the deck hands all
barefoot held on by the arm like you would a chicken
by the wing then off rowing to shore
got to zambia the 3 days later at mpulungo i know you
dont care but i went over the rail like the rest of
them a group of 200 women baskets of food on their
heads babies strapped to their backs and a carrying
bag for each hand waiing to go back to thier homes in
the congo they have been refugees here for 6 momths
their husbands sent word that it was safe to come back
the rebels had left
going thru immagration they found a perscption of
valium for my back spasms if i needed said it was a
narcotic and illigal in zambia the drug enforcers
took me to another office calls made thru 4 levels to
the supreme commander in lusaks who said to detain me
sent word by phone to chris he has his phone screened
then to the hospital in the middle of the night to
have them fax a copy of the original persription
i left all my stuff in the office the said i would
get robbbed in the jail and as i was walking out the
door for the jail the call came to release me
from the supreme told the district commander that i
needed to catch the bus in 15 mins to lusaka we jumped
in his truck he called ahead to hold the bus went by
the closedbank to the back door got the president to
change some money for me bus waiting the commander
gives me his phone number to call him when i get sfely
to lusaka like he was my son a little irony i guess
fron ther went up to victoria falls higher and wider
than niagra then over to nomibia down along the sand
dunes then up along the coast watching the boats
suck up gravel and diamonds from the ocean floor
namibia organized developed strong german infuence
then down to botswanna also a developing country
from ther up to zimbabwe and harre a beautiful
city but the country is bankrupt us1 dollar equals
150,000 zimbabwe dollars people running around with
bags of money to buy things then down to johannesburg
where i am now the most criminal city in africa
leaving today for madagascar back on th18th
africa is a big country all of the bus trips i noted
were 16 to 18 hours in time and at times back to back
from kenya where i started to cape town is 3000 miles
yesterday i got back from krueger park 4 days i really
enjoyed it
cant see too well the lighting is yellowing
love dad

On Thursday, I took Dad to the camouflage exhibit at the Imperial War Museum. I have this interest in the relationship between war and fashion, and so I wanted to show Dad this exhibit. It was really interesting. Who knew there was so much information out there about camouflage.

We spent a total of six hours at the Imperial War Museum. What an exhausting but fun day. And it was especially interesting for me since Dad could explain all about the planes and tanks and things.

Oh...one thing I really must mention: If you find yourself in South London with some time to kill, I strongly suggest doing two things at the Imperial War Museum: You must go to the "Trench Experience" as well as the "Blitz Experience"....they are both so cool. When's the last time you ever had the chance to walk through a real World War One trench? A trench is way more than just a ditch.

Yesterday I took Dad to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for the Sailor Chic exhibit, which they state, is "An exhibition celebrating the enduring influence of nautical styles on fashion."

Now this is my topic. I really wanted Dad to see this exhibit.

If you ever find yourself with time to kill in Greenwich, it's really worthwhile, going to the National Maritime Museum. It's a beautiful campus, and the museum is quite well done. There are also some nice sofas and chairs, hither and thither, where you can sit down and rest, with your knitting.

By the way, knitters out there might be interested to hear that I just read (on the Sailor Chic website) that there's a knitting event scheduled at the National Maritime Museum. This is what the program states:

Stitch n Bitch
Sunday 28 October
14.00 – 17.00

Learn how to knit or put your knitting skills to good use at this relaxed and friendly knitting afternoon in the Museum. Free. This is a drop in session, no tickets required.

I also took Dad to the National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square. This is my favorite gallery in London. It's nothing but portraits.

I specifically had to lead Dad through the English Civil War wing, where I did my best to explain the seventeenth-century paintings. It was all pretty fresh in my mind since this was my topic of study for the spring semester.

Last night, Dad and I took in a West End show, a small production called The Agent, about a literary agent and his writer-client. We were on the third row; it was a small theatre but a real nice experience. I love going to the theatre.

All in all, we had a great, yet exhausting 72 hours together in London. Today he left for the airport, and back to Denver. With him he took some items I've finished for the never-ending Christmas Mitten Project. I have but one pair of mittens remaining to knit, for my nephew Harrison.....

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