April 30, 2025
Our day began with some iPad learning games for the boys while I tried to do our UK ETA applications only get a message the site was down after spending 30 minutes on both the app and online portal. Hopefully we can get it sorted before we head to London in 10 days.
After our breakfast at the hotel we planned to do a home school session before heading into the small town at 11. When we arrived back at our room we were greeted by a large bug which always gets Ollie jacked up. We knocked out home school in the room and then got the shuttle to town.
Our first stop in town was the post office to mail some post cards we did for home school back to the US. The stamp for each was a shocking $6.25. In Cape Town they cost the equivalent of $1, though I don’t think they have arrived yet so maybe the higher cost will get them there.
In general Zimbabwe, perhaps just Victoria Falls, has been silly expensive. At first we thought it was just tourists being ripped off for things but even the grocery store had crazy prices for things.
After the post office we went to the open air market where vendors were selling clothes, fabrics, and carvings out of wood and stone. Each vendor has some similar things but we let the boys pick out some small items. Lenny got a little elephant made from metal and beads as well as a necklace that looks like a tooth but is really carved from a giraffe bone.
Ollie had his sights set on a wooden chessboard where the pieces were the big 5 animals except for the pawns which where hippos. Two vendors that we saw had these and the first would not tell us a price right away. The second vendor’s opening offer was $150 so as we left his stand we told Ollie he would need to spend his own money on this if he wanted it. Also the he had $308 so this would be roughly half his money for the whole trip. He was undeterred and also knew which board he wanted.
We walked back past the second vendor, who didn’t have the exact board Ollie wanted. He pressed us for an offer so I told him $50. He came back with $80 but Ollie stepped in and said he didn’t want that board anyway. Back to the first vendor we went…. Ollie pointed out the board he wanted and the opening offer was $160. We told Ollie to make him a counteroffer and said something quite low, I think it was $20 then quickly revised to $24. The vendor ignored it and looked at Kayleen and I. We told him we would just go buy it from $80 a few stand away. He slowly came down as we rejected everything he tried until we got to $85. Probably still too much but it was bigger than the one the other vendor offered for $80.
The board was supposedly made by the vendors partner, who was also there, out of ebony and olive wood. We closely examined the pieces as we left and noticed they were all slightly different so it seemed unlikely a machine made them. Hopefully it was really made by his partner but if not at least Ollie got to do his first negotiation and we will play a few games of chess. We tried to explain to Ollie you don’t need to be mean and it isn’t a fight just a discussion so both people get what they want. Who knows if it stuck at all.
After leave the market we went to the Three Monkeys for lunch where the most memorable thing of the day occurred. I’m still laughing as I write this.
There was a tall bottle on the table with a skinny spout filled with clear liquid, like what is normally filled with olive oil back in the states. We debated what was in it and eventually landed on either vinegar or simple syrup. Doing a smell test we thought would revel the answer. I tried to smell it but don’t have a good sense of smell. Lenny wanted to go next so I held the bottle out and he tried but didn’t give us any good answers. Ollie then wanted a turn so I held it out for him. He must have been determined to get the answer because he put his nose so close to the spout when he took a whiff I saw bubbles in the bottle. When I looked up at him I realized he had sucked some up his nose. We quickly tasted it and confirmed it was vinegar.
Ollie proceeded to run laps around the restaurant while crying, moaning, and sneezing. We kept having him suck water up his noise to try and flush it out which would lead to a lot more boogers and sneezing. Ollie was worried that the vinegar was going to go to his brain and mess it up which Kayleen assured him would not happen. It was hard to comfort him and address all his concerns when we were laughing so much. Kayleen held it together far better then I did.
Ollie made a full recovery before we left lunch and then after a quick session in the hotel pool he and Lenny took a very bubbly bath. It is a toss up if bubble baths or room service are their favorite part of hotels.
The boys were after snacks before our next adventure. Kayleen offer a pear to which Ollie responded “a pair of what? Chips?”. Lenny took the pear and Ollie took nothing. We headed out just before 4PM to get to our sunset cruise on the Mighty Zambezi River. On the bus ride there Ollie was keen to talk about how we could grow pumpkins in our backyard in Hoboken in a hanging planter. We all discussed how we needed to make them a hammock so they did not fall off when they got heavy hanging in the air. Also how we would stop the squirrels from eating them. Ollie suggested putting rat snap traps all over the tree while Lenny wanted to get a robot to monitor and defend the pumpkins.
We were not sure exactly what to expect for the cruise but it was a large boat with two levels. Our table was on the top level which gave us a better view. Before we even left the doc Kayleen asked if something in the water was a crocodile which I said I don’t think so. Shortly after it was confirmed it was a croc so the whole boat started to snap photos.
It was a calm slow ride but pleasant for everyone. They served drinks and some snacks that included hamburger sliders. Ollie has never touched a hamburger or slider in his life but devoured them once Kayleen referred to them as “crabby patties”. The power of branding…
We saw a large herd of hippos in the water which was fun but we had seen that on safari. It was more exciting when they started to move around and come out of the water a bit. Unfortunately another smaller boat cut right in front of us and blocked a good amount of our view. We could see a bit since we were on the second level but the first level was completely blocked. After a few minutes we heard from below “Hey move it asshole!!!” which gave us a good laugh. Kayleen was able to snap a photo of a big hippo yawn that reveled their massive teeth.
We saw a nice sunset from the boat as we were heading back to the dock. After a quick ride back to the hotel it was time for bed.
