How do you say Thank You??

Ha! I seem to even get teased here! I tried to ask someone that, and he looked at me like I'm crazy and responded "Thank you" with that question sound and real slowly...like I'm a total idiot! haha. too funny.

Today we went on a full day safari. It was an hour bus ride to a point where we crossed the Zambezi River by boat...in the middle of the river you are technically in 4 countries at once!!! Then we got off the boat and we were in Botswana (i got the stamp to prove it!) We had to touch our shoes to this "disinfectant" towel, that was so nasty dirty I have no idea how it possibly does anything. Apparantly it's to prevent the entrance of foot and mouth disease to Botswana (which our guide says is not actually an issue in Zambia, so not really sure about that one) Then we climbed into our safari trucks and those took us to a resort where we boarded a boat for the morning safari. We cruised around on this river and saw an elephant cross the actual river! it was awesome. We saw tons of hippos, crocodiles, Antelope, Impala (like antelope but with kinda curvy horns) and Kudu (like antelope with twisty horns like long spiral noodles!) And of course tons and tons of birds. We saw about 4 elephants on this part and thought we were pretty lucky. This was about 3 hours. Then we went in for lunch and it was awesome...I ate Impala stew! (and yes, I took pics of the real impala, and the Impala on my plate, so that I can compare on here whenever I can finally post pics! hehe) Then back into the jeeps and on into the national park for the land safari. We have some kids with us, and they decided to try to count everything we saw. They stopped counting elephants well over 100 and same with hippos, kudu, and impala. We also added warthogs (Pumba!), Merekats (Timon!), Monitor lizards, baboons, and lots of giraffe to the list. Unfortunately, there are no rhinos in the park we were in, and we never saw any lions or leopards. boo. So i guess i'll have to return to africa and maybe go to a more controlled park where you can be just about guaranteed to see some of that stuff. maybe not quite as good as the wild, but come on! I wanted to see at least one ferocious feline!

Well, my time is up in the internet center, so that's it for now. Tomorrow is going to be a wonderfully lazy day! I'll update more soon!

Hugs!
Hil

Um...I ran with the bulls!

Toro Toro!! Ok, so I'm not gonna give all the detail about the balcony or the general run...you can check out Joe's for that. But where we differ is where Joe and J. headed off to run. They had considered running all along, whereas LBB and I never had any intentions of doing so. Not even a 4am, sangria induced "why not?" moment. Nope! They went off to get ready to run, and she and I headed for the final stretch to secure a place to safely watch from a distance. We were right there when they put up the fence, and climbed on up and got about the best seats you could hope for! Unfortunately, to make sure we kept those seats, it meant sitting on a piece of wood that was 2 inches wide at best, for over 2.5 hours! Can i just say ouch?? I would post pics, but we both only took our one uses so that'll have to wait. We did get some nice video though. Still trying to figure out how to share that.

Anyway, as Joe points out, there was a mistake in the rockets, but as we were at the very end of the race course, we had no idea. We heard the 1st rocket which is meant to signify the opening of the gates for the bulls to enter the course. We heard the 2nd rocket, which tells the crowd all the bulls have entered the course. And then we saw the runners...we cheered and yelled (Ole! Ole Ole Ole!!! Just doesn't get old) and then the bulls came. Just a couple at first, then some more, then what we thought was the last of them. They even have these guys that chase the last ones with big sticks to keep them moving forward, and those guys were there. We got the video out and took about a 2 minute commentary as one of the bulls fell turning the final corner (at least, we think that's what happened) and then we heard what we thought was the 3rd rocket, which tells the crowd when all of the bulls have entered the arena and it is safe to move about the course. Well, LBB and I had this plan that after that we were going to jump in and run into the arena and jump over the wall into the stands to watch. So we climbed down, got into the course and I turned to start running. Then everything kind of becomes a blur. I don't really know what made us aware of anything wrong, or how long it was, or what was said or anything. I just remember turning around and seeing a bull charging right towards us!! I know I warned LBB as I ran away and toward the fence. I could have sworn there were 3 but the boys said 2...regardless, there were more than one, and hence...We ran with the bulls. :) WooHoo! We're pretty much rockstars. Oh, and the boys did the whole thing too, so I guess they're pretty good, too. ;) But really, total adreneline rush and LBB and I still keep looking at each other and saying "We ran with the bulls". AAHH!!!

Ok, well, my little relaxing layover in London before heading to Africa is coming to an end. Time to get cleaned up and head for the airport. I'll try to post again from there on the rest of the trip!

Viva San Fermin!

Wow! That´s all I can say! look at all the people!!! and that cloud in the distance? Champagne!

Here we are in our traditional garb. Above is what we saw when we arrived in the old city...this was about 11:15am and at this point I think we had just located our first drink. Pretty sure the rest of these peeps were drinking all night. You get there and everyone is shaking up champagne and throwing it in the air or have water guns filled with wine... the first 3 guys to look at me said ¨very nice!¨and promptly poured champagne\wine\you name it all over my head and my shirt. Then I just laughed at them b\c I had been forewarned and therefore wore a non-see-through-when-wet top underneath my whites. smart hilary!

We worked our way into the crowds to try to catch the beginning of the parade, and actually ended up right in the middle of the CRAZY town square. I mean, you can hardly breath there are so many people. I don´t have pics of that now b/c I took them on my one-use camera to avoid ruining my real camera. Anyway, more people than you can possibly imagine. The crowd starts singing and jumping and you have to do it too b/c they are lifting you with them it´s so crowded! We saw the rockets go off which signify the start of San Fermin, and then everyone started chanting stuff. Apparantly a fight broke out behind us, so Joe shoved LBB and I to the side and we worked our way out of the craziness and to the side streets, where everyone moves along chanting something, and they crouch down like a bull and sing quiet, then they jump up and down a bunch. Then they scream for Agua to the people on the balconies and suddenly buckets of water are coming down from the sky. Nice b/c it washes off all the wine, champagne, beer, mustard and ketchup that has been thrown at you over the past hour, but kinda cold and surprising. to the left is a pic of the alley we went through. YOu can see the balconies above!

After the craziness we wandered around a bit and drank some wine and coke. Yes, wine and coke. It´s the local drink. We put it in pouches b-c otherwise you risk getting bottles broken all over. Check it out -->

Overall it was a really fun day. I´m exhausted but now it´s time for a nap before we get up around 10pm to go in, eat dinner, and party til the bulls run at 8am! It´s crazy! Fortunately, our sweet housemom, which I´ve decided to call her, has her place about a 15 minute walk from where it all happens, so if we get too tired we can come home and take a little nap. Tomorrow morning we have a balcony to watch the bull run! Should be awesome!! Here we are practicing getting out of the way...

So that´s the update! Having a blast and ready for a nap! Hugs to all!!!

Run Hilary Run!

Wow....so I´m in Pamp0lona and the city itself is awesome. We´re staying in a beautiful newer part of town, but we walk about 10 minutes and we´re where the action is. Tonight we went in and tracked down our traditional San Fermin costumes....pictures to be posted soon...then we went for dinner and drinks. I tried the local drink, the name of which i can´t remember, but it´s wine and coke. odd? yes. good? actually, it´s pretty good! after we wandered a bunch and took some good pics and met lots of people. Tomorrow is the beginning of the festivities, so i need to get to bed. but all is good and lots of fun!!! Run bulls run! Hilary is coming!!!! :)

Lucky Duck in London

Day one of the travels was tiring but lots of fun! I landed at 7:30am and after making the trek to my friend's place, Joe and I went for lunch (fish and chips! gotta start out right!) My friend lives in Wimbledon, which is convenient since, well, it happens to be the Wimbledon fortnight (as I was informed it is called. how very British) So we walked down the street and spent a couple hours being teased by the rain. They would deflate the covers, roll them back, get the net up, the line judges would come out on the court....and then there would be a downpour and everyone would run for cover, only to repeat 30 minutes later. After 2 hours of this, the rain finally stayed away long enough for a match to get going. We had some really decent seats (thanks to Joe for saving them while I hid in the hallway during the last of the downpours) and took in about 2 sets of a singles match. Then we wandered around and just checked out the whole facility. It really is beautiful. Made me want to play tennis again. I was gonna post some pics, but I just realized i forgot my stupid camera cord! argh!
Anyway, after that I caught a quick nap, then we met some other friends for dinner, and now it's time for me to get some much needed rest! Tomorrow will be a boring day running errands to start setting up my new life, then on to Barcelona tomorrow night! Hugs to all!!

Change in plans

So i'm gonna just keep this one going a while longer, mainly b/c i'm now in London and don't want to spend my time here setting up a new blog. That being said, clearly, i'm safe and sound in london. Joe met me to help me get to my friend's place and we're thinking about heading to Wimbledon to try to catch a match. Hopefully it stops raining soon! More to come...

Hil