A Relaxing Day in Gaborone

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

We were supposed to be given a tour of a diamond sorting facility today, but those plans ended up falling through. We had been hoping to see this because the diamond industry is the country's greatest source of wealth, but nothing could be arranged. It was probably better this way because we really needed a day to relax, do laundry, and catch up on emails.

At lunchtime, we took a taxi to a shopping center called The African Mall to eat at Nando's, a Portuguese restaurant franchise we discovered in Johannesburg. We've been craving Nando's ever since we had it 2 weeks ago. While we were there, Dena was able to exchange her leftover kwacha from Zambia into Botswana pula. This exchange bureau is the only one in town that will exchange kwacha. Our lunch was just as delicious as it was in Jo-burg, and we felt happy that our craving was satisfied. We walked around the mall, but there weren't many interesting stores.

We got another taxi back to the Main Mall, where our Internet cafe is located. We are starting to feel like we spend more time here than anywhere else in Gaborone. We searched for flights to Cape Town, which we still had not arranged. We couldn't find anything good, so we called Tommie's travel agent and made an appointment to meet her tomorrow morning.

Also, Doug received a rather sad email from his grandfather this afternoon. After four and a half years of battling Alzheimer's, Doug's grandmother is getting very close to the end. She has stopped swallowing food and liquids, and it will only be a matter of days before her body completely shuts down. It's hard to be on the other side of world when all of this is going on back home, but there is nothing that can be done from here. Doug is praying that she can hold on long enough for him to return home.

That night for dinner, we decided to return to News Cafe, where we had been last night with the people from Foreign Affairs. We had a good time and wanted to try more of their menu, so we didn't mind going back to the same place. This time, Doug ordered lamb chops and Dena got eggs benedict, her favorite breakfast dish. It was a little different than she is used to--flat bread and bacon instead of English muffin and ham--but she still enjoyed it.

After our dinner, we folded our laundry and watched some TV. Then it was time for bed.