We ended up sleeping a million times better last night than any night in the previous 2 weeks and it was well needed considering our ambitious second day of driving. We rather ambitiously aimed for Masvingo by early afternoon; no easy task considering we had to pass through the Plumtree border post from Botswana to Zimbabwe. We quickly repacked the car early in the morning and were back on the road by 6:30. I decided that I wanted to pick up some Pula before leaving Botswana just so we had access to local currency immediately when we crossed back into Botswana in 2 weeks time.
Once we picked up some currency at a petrol station under construction, we stopped at another station just down the road to fill up the car before our long journey. While filling up Jenny reminded me that the last item we needed for the car was an oval sticker with a BW printed on it to designate that our car was a Botswana registered car. It turned out that these stickers are very hard to come by, at least if you try to pick them up anywhere between Francistown and the Plumtree border post. Jenny drove the first leg of the trip until we reached the border post and stopped at several other stations in an attempt to find one of these stickers to no avail. So we decided to have a go at the border post without one.
When we arrived at the Plumtree border post we were both immediately glad that we had chosen to avoid the Beit Bridge post. The border post was almost empty and the only cause of a delay was the vast amount of paperwork that we needed to fill out concerning the temporary export and import of the car. We also needed to buy a visa for my American passport for Zimbabwe and opted to buy a double entry visa because of our planned return to Victoria Falls in a few weeks time. According to literature I had read (and I must have been wrong) my visa was supposed to cost $115 but only cost us $45! The only other charge we had to pay was a car emissions fee of $55. In the end the border post was very pleasant and cost us a moderate amount with no bribes, unlike what we had read and heard about Beit Bridge.
Once we continued our drive we were very very grateful that we had been vigilant with our forms at the border's and our supplies for the car. Within the 100km to Bulawayo we were stopped by no fewer than 10 police roadblocks wanting to see our temporary import permit (TIP) for the car and checking to see if we had the required safety supplies. I handed over the driving to Dan for the rest of the trip once we stopped for lunch in Bulawayo. We tried to find a restaurant called Sisters that I had been taken to by my parents quite a few times when I was younger. It was listed on our sat nav but once we got to where it was supposed to be we couldn't find it nor did anyone know what we were talking about so we found another cafe. Dan convinced me to order a delicious pina colada and for lunch I had a chicken mayonnaise sandwich and Dan had a burger.
After about 5 more pointless police check points we arrived in Masvingo at about 5 in the afternoon. On the way there we passed a very dead and long abandoned bus on the side of the road, and as we passed by we realised that it was a Stagecoach bus! Those are the busses that run around Scotland, we have no idea what one was doing on the side of the road to Zimbabwe. Our phones still have the South Africa sim cards in them and they refused to connect to make a phone call or send a text message until I tried Kerry's phone number again when we drove into Masvingo and got through to Graham!! He gave us directions to his house, but it turns out that we were already past the specific turn off that he was talking about so we got a little lost. We stopped off at a bottle store and Dan went in to get some drinks while I figured out on the sat nav where Graham had been talking about. We eventually found their street, Flame Tree Avenue, and we're driving slowly down it to find the stone wall with black gates when Laura and Graham drove down the road to rescue us!
We had some drinks with the family and caught up, as the last time I was here was around 10 years ago! Kerry and Graham have not changed a bit but Declan and Laura are, obviously, a lot older than I remembered and it took me a little while to get used to that :D The Kyle Boat Club on the Masvingo dam was hosting Guy Fawkes night and the Nish's were extremely kind and got the two of us tickets to attend with them. Before leaving at 6:30 we met the two English cricketers that are staying in the cottage behind the house, Ben and Pete. They are here for a few months to play with the team in Masvingo.
The boat club was about a 30 km drive away and we arrived just as the sun was setting. We got some drinks from the bar (which was very cheap) and stood on the porch overlooking the lake as a few of the guys tried to light some early fireworks. These early ones tended to explode on the ground for some reason and we only hoped that they figured out what they were doing before the real display was to start. Once the sun had properly set the real display began, and I have to say it was quite impressive for a friendly gathering on the lake. Near the end of the display they lit their Guy Fawkes effigy and it burned and exploded with amazing vigor (they had planted fireworks inside the effigy). When the fireworks, and the fire, were finished we retired inside for some more drinks and waited for the food to be ready.
The food took another 30 minutes or so and didn't disappoint. it very much reminded me of the meals that I used to eat at the picnic grove attached to the Lutheran church I used to attend. When we were well and truly fed, and after Jenny and Laura jumped on the bouncy castle, we sat outside for a few more drinks before retiring for the night. Jenny had volunteered to be the DD for the night and Declan and Laura drove back with us. On the way back to the house we were searching through my iPod for some songs that only drunk people would appreciate. The song we took particular affinity to was the Lonely Island Boys "I'm on a boat" which we played at full volume when we drove to the house for the night. Not sure it was appreciated by all but it was a great way to end the evening.
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