We just completed another seven day work week – 60+ hours. The painting is finally mostly finished. Some more trim and doors and the ever-present ‘touch up’. But this will have to wait until we return from Namibia! We couldn’t have accomplished all this without another visit from the Pretoria group and Parks’ gang. They really did a number on the yard – hardly recognizable now – and the Pretoria guys actually painted the entire exterior, sans trim. It was worth the two cases of beer!
Park’s group cleared brush, cut trees, and hauled it away. As usual Parks was a mini-tornado, so much so that I started calling him, ‘poloholo’ which the kids told me means ‘animal’ in their native tongue. It quickly caught on and became the rallying cry. I hope Poloholo Leshaba isn’t insulted. Connie got the girls started painting doors and trim inside. I don’t believe any of them ever painted before and I spent most of today undoing their work.
But as I mentioned earlier we’re done for the next twenty days. Tomorrow we go to Pretoria to deal with their bureaucrats to extend our visas and run errands and shop. Tuesday AM we will leave for Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park and the Kalahari Desert. The park covers parts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. From there Connie has mapped out a trip that will include Windhoek, The Skeleton Coast and possibly Etosha National Park in Namibia and the Okavanga Delta of Botswana. This is what we came here for!
Gabi left today for the US to meet Terek, ‘the Egyptian’, who is associated with the Tampa Zoo. Everyone is concerned about her since she isn’t yet 21 and he is in his 40’s. Alan has upped her value to at least five camels. Connie feels somewhat responsible since she interceded with the US embassy to get her entry papers. Time will tell.
