DAY 176: After so much that had happened since the last Blog entry posting, I seriously needed a day to catch up. And since most stores and banks in Zambia were closed for Easter Monday, it was the perfect day to do so.

That morning at sunrise, I kept the fort. Joyce left early in the morning for a morning walking safari. She was to come back at noon in order to get a flight out of Livingstone, so I kept an eye on her bags in the meantime since the reception desk and baggage storage wasn't open yet. Shelle and Deann were off to go on an overnight safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana, and so I held their bags until storage opened. I bid them farewell for the meantime and went back to sleep.

I WOKE UP ABOUT AN HOUR LATER and did a handwash. Then all morning I was in front of my computer, sorting out photos, typing up entries that I had handwritten before. I took a break about half-way when I saw the bulletin by reception that some money exchanges would be open until noon on Easter Monday, but when I went out, it was only the one I found the day before, the one that wouldn't do travelers' checks. With limited money, I went out to the ShopRite supermarket to get some food. I only had enough to get a box of juice and either ramen noodles or crackers for my cans of tuna. Ramen or crackers? Crackers or ramen? What was I in college again?

Yes; I opted for the ramen. (Later, I realized I made the right decision; there was no can opener in the kitchen.)

After my starchy lunch of powdered chicken flavor goodness, I sat outside on the lawn and continued to handwrite the past couple of days in a lounge chair by the pool (picture above). I took a break about half-way for a dip, dried myself off, and continued writing. I used my last meal voucher ticket for the roast beef dinner at the bar, and then vegged back on my bed with my iBook again.

If I didn't have Blog obligations that day, it might have been a pretty relaxing day of just doing nothing by the pool -- the one-more-day extension of a five-day public Easter holiday since Holy Thursday. If only America could extend Easter weekend with "Easter Monday" as well... "Real Africa" may not have a lot of things, but at least they get the Monday after Easter off.