Out of Africa

Well hello there.

Africa was every bit as awesome as we expected.  Due to our grueling travel schedule on the way back home, we have been in five countries within the last 24 hours:  Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, and finally the U.S.  Got a bit of the ole jet lag going on, but we wanted to say hello to you peeps and let you know that we are back, safe and sound.

Home sweet (temporary) home.

Of course we went straight from the airport to Starbucks this morning where, to my utter delight, I discovered that my lover the pumpkin spice latte has returned!  I got a venti and told myself it was to stave off the jet lag.  However, if SB offered a size larger than venti, I would have ordered it.  I'm just sayin.

I am happy to report that we made it through all of our travels and adventures with no major health problems.  Though we did discover that after taking the malaria pills (malarone) for about a week, it does weird things to your stomach.  It's not too bad, but it causes some discomfort for a couple of days, enough to make you think that something's not quite right, then it goes away.

Let me just say that it is a weird thing to totally avoid fresh fruits and vegetables for two weeks.  When they are at your disposal, it's no big deal.  But when you are faced with a variety of them and know that you are not supposed to eat any of them - at all - your senses actually become heightened and you feel deprived as you stuff your face with breads and other carbs.  It actually got to the point that I could walk into a room and smell fresh fruit from several meters away, before I could even see it.  At 4:00 this afternoon (which is technically 9:00 p.m. on our jet lagged schedule) we joined the senior citizens at Outback and literally stuffed our faces with salad and meat.  G didn't even use salad dressing, people.  He goes, "I want to enjoy the full taste of the vegetables."

Otherwise, there were no snafus, no unpleasant surprises, no crazy dangers, not many iffy situations.

The animals were amazing - God truly delighted us - and the people were among the nicest I have ever, ever been around.  They took the terms "hospitable" and "gracious" to a whole other level than I have experienced.

As it happens, we packed all the right stuff with us, and ended up using almost all of it.  The layers of clothes were a good idea, as we passed through some chilly parts and some incredibly dry and hot parts.

More to come in the next few days!  At this point we are busy doing laundry, loving on the bun bun, and sleeping heavily.  Thanks for the prayers and thoughts!  In a way, it feels like we've been gone and out of touch for forever.  In another way, it feels like the whole trip went by in a flash.