Zam-tastic

Thursday 27th March

My breakfast was almost as good as yesterday's, cold pizza. I had a few cheeky slices last night but saved it for breakfast and was very happy I did so. In true Jo fashion, I was welcomed in the morning with yet more sweets from home. Incidentally yesterday it was starburst and today was fizzy candy and coconut chocolate to add to Sunday's fizzy shoelaces (Jo must've brought a suitcase of sweets over from England!)

Jo had the morning off so we were able to go around Choma and do some filming. We went to a few different locations that really take in quite alot of what its been like cycling through Africa so I hope we can make a successful short video that I can use in the future for various things.

We had a quick drink and as time was getting on I said my goodbyes or "see ya tomorrow" as the case was, and hit the road towards a town called Zimba. The road was amazing and today really encapsulated the whole reason I chose to cycle Africa. I have a few of these "moments in time" where everything in life is just amazing. It makes me want to close my eyes and fly down the hills but i've done that before and got the scar to prove it (not the Kenyan incident, one ages ago) anyway, I didn't close my eyes but I just took some huge breaths and realised how blessed I am in life in general. Family, friends, experiences, people i've met, where I am, what I'm doing, the weather, the road, Nigel's current condition, just everything really. I'm thankful everyday but I particularly enjoyed this moment in Zambia today.

The road did help make a huge difference to my mood as I wasn't in constant pain for hours. Instead, I could actually take in more of the surroundings and show genuine happiness throughout as opposed to grimacing through some of the pedalling and showing happiness when I finished! I had a quick stop in a place Kalomo, today was a short day compared to Tuesday. The stop was good, I enjoyed approaching towns that were getting more and more civilised the further south I got. I've had my fair share of the other parts of Africa through Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya and so now I was lapping up tarmacced roads, supermarkets and the odd fast food outlet.

I arrived at Zimba in no time. Happiness makes the wheels go faster and I had soon found the only "backpackers" in town. It wasn't really a backpackers and it wasn't really cheap either, but "Trekkers" was good enough for me as I was another day down and only had a short cycle tomorrow into Livingstone. My room was big, had two double beds (at least this time I wasn't charged for two beds) had an ensuite with a bucket of water ready for me in the bath and it also had a TV...with no plug.

I had an extremely cold bucket shower with the water that was already poured in the bucket before I realised that the hot tap actually worked! Then to save a bit more on the budget, I cooked some noodles in the room and almost caught the second bed on fire with a bit of a ball of flames which also nearly turned Beirdre to ashes. 

After that I tried to catch up on this blog. The last few days and evenings have been absolutely manic in comparison so I was happy for a slightly quieter more relaxing end to the day just to get my breath back before this weekend which will undoubtedly be another crazy one!

Another great day to add to a great week so far and hopefully tomorrow and the weekend will continue the trend!