Odds and Ends

I'm sitting here suffering through the effects of another huge African lunch (more on that with pictures later). It's midway through the second day of the conference. After another bad night of sleep I nevertheless rallied at 6:00 so that I could do cardio and lift weights. It's funny how slavish I am in my dedication to working out - if I had only done this when I was young or even younger it might have actually made a difference. Had a nice chat with the young taxi driver who conveyed me to the conference center. I gave him my theory about how everyplace I go in the world people always make two claims about their country - that, one, they are the nicest people and best cooks in the world, and, two, that they are the worst drivers. He wasn't so sure about the latter (and being a taxi driver he was in a precarious position in answering that one) but mainly agreed with the former. The Zambians I've met have been unfailingly nice and polite, and the guidebook said that they were famous for their warmth and hospitality. I met a nice German woman last night at the reception who has travelled all over Africa and she assured me that Zambia is boring. This led to a discussion about the lives we choose to lead wherein we can make statements like that and we're not even trying to sound self-important (for instance, I caught myself one time pointing that my fourth visit to Petra was my favorite - and thinking back on it it just sounds pretentious, although it was in response to a question). Anyway, she said that Tanzania was her favorite part of Africa, which would have made my good friend Trish smile. Actually, I'm beginning to warm to Africa - and was even thinking yesterday of coming back and doing a Zambia/Namibia/Tanzania trip just as a vacation - and I would have never thought that possible before this trip. So, I guess the moral of the story is that one person's boring is another person's comfortable.