Waterfall Wednesday

Good news. I did not fall into Victoria Falls.

Today I started my day doing therapy. Since we are a larger group here at HIZ-PATH we had to travel to Livingstone in two different trips. I was placed in the second group, which means I was able to start my day doing therapy in the Havens. I was totally all right with missing out on a few hours of Livingstone to be able to stay with those children longer. We were only there for half of the morning so that meant toddler time! I worked with Sam. Now Sam is one of those children who likes to talk whenever I pick him up to go to therapy and then is silent the entire rest of the time. Today was the same as always for him, but at least he talks to me on the way to therapy. We had a nice session and at the end of it I was able to help with feeding time in Haven 3. Today I fed a sweet boy named Nathan whom I call dinosaur. He is extremely clumsy, always wears onesies, and looks like a dinosaur. I love it! I fed him some mashed potatoes and some sauce on it. It was adorable and he kept making dinosaur faces. It has been rumored that after this meal it is the best time to play with the kids and have good interactions so since we had already packed for the trip and had time to spare Ben and I stayed behind for a little bit. This might have been the best idea I have had today. I was able to play with all of the kids including the ones who are sometimes brats. One of these children is named Katy. Now Katy and I have a special bond that she does not know about; she was the baby my roommate worked with whenever she came to Zambia 2 years ago, so I have heard about and loved her for the past 2 years. My mission upon arriving here was to have some amazing photos and videos of her for Cassie and today I succeeded. I seriously almost cried whenever I left the Haven because I know how special it will be for both of us whenever I return home. Upon arrival back to the house we ate a quick lunch and then loaded into Khaki Jackie for our 1.5-hour trip to Livingstone. I started out singing and being slightly energetic when the journey began and by the end I was asleep as well as everyone else in the Land Rover.

After arriving to our amazing Protea hotel I wanted to wander around. We went to some of the shops close by to see different things to buy. I must be a girl for a moment and say I am so excited to go shopping! Now back to the hotel. It is absolutely beautiful here; it is almost like I am not in Africa anymore. After wandering around for a few minutes it was time to head to The Royal Livingstone for High Tea. I was not sure what all this would include before I arrived but I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel where the tea was served was amazing. I would have to say the nicest place I have seen in Zambia. We were seated outside on a little porch where we could see the Zambezi River not too far above where Victoria Falls begins. Since we still have to shuttle two groups everywhere I was able to go in the first group this time, so we sat outside. I decided I wanted to sit in these chairs that had embroidered monkeys on them. So Ben and I sat down at the little table next to everyone else and looked at our tea menus. I ended up ordering Lemon Leisure tea; it was surprisingly good considering I do not particularly like hot tea. On top of our tea we were also had a dessert buffet, talk about heaven. I ate so many wonderful desserts tonight but my favorite was some chocolate cake of goodness. It was delicious. I felt like I was at a proper tea party with my beautiful teapot and teacup, I took many pictures. Whenever we finished drinking our tea, the monkeys began to attack the area for sugar. One came up to our table and stole some sugar in turn breaking the pot holding it. I was quite sad but I really wanted to go take pictures with/touch a monkey. So we headed out towards the water to take pictures of monkeys. My favorite picture is of a monkey and me both sitting in the grass about 5 feet apart from each other; it is priceless! We then watched the sun set over the Zambezi and headed to Victoria Falls. I was in the first group to go here too. Upon arrival Cari, Kara, Shanna, Ian, Mark, Tyler, and I decided to head down where we could see the mist better and actually get wet. Getting a little wet is an understatement; I pretty much had a Victoria Falls shower. We were all freaking out and loving it. It was almost dark but a full moon so it was slightly terrifying but so amazing we did not care. All I kept thinking over and over again was how great our God is and how this displays his power and might. Words cannot describe how cool it looked seeing all of the mist coming up from the falls. I could not believe how beautiful it was. After freaking out some more and taking some hilarious mist pictures, we then lost Ian. He wandered off, which lead us to a 45-minute search for him. We were not happy at all but finally ventured back to the top of the falls to see if he was safe, thankfully he was safe and sound. While we were there tonight we saw the Lunar Rainbow. This is whenever the full moon reflects off of the water causing a rainbow in the night. It was so beautiful to see it when we were down in the mist getting soaked. After staying there for quite a while taking photos and hanging out, we finally returned back to the hotel. In case you did not know, there was also a lunar eclipse in the southern hemisphere tonight so we sort of watched that as well. Whenever we finally arrived to the hotel I was starving so Ben, Dr. Tullos, Ian, and I ventured to the pizza/burger place right across the road. Ben and I had a pizza, which was nice but we were still freezing. We headed back to the hotel to finish watching the lunar eclipse and then head to bed. Tomorrow we are going on a safari!!! I cannot wait to see all of the animals! Until next time.