JANUARY 1, 2010: A rare BLUE MOON beamed over those last crazy days of 2009, and now the events of this new year are off to a wild start! Last minute preps are in order with packing and getting ready for my first 2010 WINSLOWART Radio Show on the day before I leave for South Africa! After a myriad of shots and boosters, today I took my first malaria pill and hoped for the best!

No problems so far, and let hope things go that way. It good news all around for a woman who does not eat meat and worships fresh fruit and vegetables: my niece in Botswana tells me that they can eat all those things AND DRINK THE WATER!

I have been warned by the TRAVEL FOOD POLICE against eating anything familiar and it put me off a bit, having spent plenty of time traveling in other countries. Regardless, I was prepared to eat a lot of rice and cooked gruel, and willing to do so. But I am getting ahead of myself, and you deserve the backstory of this journey, as they say in the movies.

Read the rest of Part I...

JANUARY 4, 2010: My travel agent may be on to something with this airport hotel plan. She feared the fog might strand me in Monterey on the morning of my flight to South Africa, and begged me stay near SFO the night before. Monterey Airbus was great and even picked me up for the convoluted trip, stopping first at Marina (no takers) Prunedale (no takers) and San Jose International (one departee).

Unfortunately, when they dropped me off at the place where my shuttle was supposed to arrive, every hotel but mine showed up. When I was the one remaining person on the platform, I scrambled across the street, down the escalator and out to the taxi stand, located on the lower lever. Finally a medium I understand, except that my cabbie was very angry when he learned that my destination was about one mile away! Didn I know that he had been waiting in the queue for two hours? Didn I know they had a shuttle?

I smiled in the backseat and gave him a good tip.

Read the rest of Part II...

JANUARY 7, 2010: Gaborone is warm and balmy on Thursday morning, and I can actually open the large windows that overlook the Grand Palm Hotel and the city beyond. It is quiet and peaceful here, with no obvious guests strolling in the beautiful garden or swimming in the pool below. I can see a terrace where they serve food, and a table for two awaits one of us for some late breakfast.

For me, there was room service with fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt, and a lovely woman who smiled when I paused about the tip. I know the currency is in Pulas, but have forgotten the amount per dollar in the confusion of the two day journey from San Francisco to Johannesburg. Given that, everything else was almost perfect, schedules met, flights on time or early, and a joyful reunion with the bride and groom!
We landed a little early in South Africa after the dreaded fifteen hour flight...

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JANUARY 8, 2010: Maybe I am adjusting to the ten hour time difference, or maybe I am just excited to look at my new wedding costume, but at 6:30 AM I am out of the room and downstairs to plead for help with my internet connection. The only fly in the ointment seems to be that I can’t hook up and read my e-mail. I have promised to keep in touch, especially with my brother, who is going to feed my mom with daily excerpts of the trip.

Ah, the plans of mice and men, no such luck. I follow the directions and try repeatedly to log on, but NO DICE...

Read the rest of Part IV...

JANUARY 10, 2010: The promise of a beautful day was dampened by rain this morning, but according to the wedding traditions of Botswana, this is a good sign. The light showers were a boon to the monkeys who played like maniacs outside on the roof of the restaurant, and swung from the fences that surround the tennis courts. It made me smile on a morning that had some

dicey prospects at best, the foremost being that we had a sudden bout of terrible travel illness with the mother of the bride, and had tucked her into bed after midnight with hopes that she would sleep and recover...

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ANUARY 10, 2010: Nothing prepared us for the scene at the Tlotlo Conference Center, best described as pure estatic bedlam. Outside the entrance, a group of tribal dancers dressed in brief costumes with bare bellies performed in a chanting rhythm, their legs covered with a sheath of white shells that made that chinking sound you hear in the movies. Chinka Chinka Chinka and boom boom boom, someone had a drum, and soon I noticed it was attached to the legs of the male leader...

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JANUARY 11 AND 12: The days after the wedding were filled with sightseeing and shopping, since we all had many requests for “a little something” from Botswana. Colleen and Kenny took us to two unique local artist/craft stores on the last day, and we gorged on fabulous bracelets and...

Read the rest of Part VII...

Surprisingly enough, the next morning we departed en masse from the Grand Palm close to the appointed hour. Kenny and Colleen had parked their car at the Gaborone Airport in anticipation of their flight home from Joburg that evening. We piled into the big van for one more trip, reversing our journey of arrival. This time we were prepared and sailed through the Customs Offices...

Read the rest of Part VIII...