April 17th, We went to the local market in the township where the locals live this morning.  We bought beans, tomatoes or potatoes, something nonperishable because we will be having lunch with a local family and it's important to bring something for them.  We also had tea with a local family this morning and they told us about their lives.  They are from different tribes and had to go through a long ritual to get married.  He's 44 and she's 43 and they have been married for 26 years.  Three grown children.  He told us that when natives turn 65, they are sent back to their villages to live.  That answered Beverly's question because she had commented on the fact that there aren't any "old people" around. 

He had been in the tourism industry for a long time but now buys used clothing from Zambia, cleans it all and resells it.  I gave him my 3 BSU t-shirts.  I figured I wasn't going to barter with them because I hadn't seen anything I really wanted and he could use them. 

It was on to lunch after that.  We divided up into groups of 4 or 5, so Beverly, Gretchen, Stella and I were together.  The lady who hosted us in her house is divorced with 4 grown children.  She said that she does those lunches 2 or 3 times a week when the tourist season is high and once a week when it's lower.  She began by washing all our hands.  Then she and her daughter brought out the food.  There must have been 8 or 9 different dishes, all food that they eat on a regular basis.  Kale, polenta, two kinds of beans, Mopani worms, and 3 others that I can't remember.  She had silverware on the table but said that she would like us to eat with our hands like they do.  First, you take polenta and roll it up a little bit, then use it to scoop up the rest of the food with.  Oh, she had kale with peanut butter as well as the plain kale.  I just couldn't do the worms.  The others did, but I just couldn't go there.  Reid had some on the bus on the way here and most tried them, but it's not for me.  After lunch, she washed all of our hands again.

A group of neighborhood children had gathered while we were having lunch.  They were fascinated with us.  One of the girls, maybe 6 or 7 years old, kept looking at me through the door.  She finally said "photo?"  They wanted pictures taken.  Gretchen had been using her IPad as her camera so she got it out so they could see the pictures.  One little boy, about 4 or 5, didn't want his picture taken, but after seeing the picture he was right in there.  Stella let them push the button her camera and they loved that.  It was fun.  We had a great time. 

After they picked us all up, we were comparing notes in the bus.  The groups that had men in them were served by the woman of the house on her knees because it is customary for the women to serve the men first and from their knees.  One woman in our group was quite incensed over that but it's their custom.

Later that afternoon, we went for a cruise on the Zambezi River.  More hippos and a beautiful sunset.  Then we went to a very nice place for an outdoor buffet dinner that was courtesy of Jenman, the outfitters that had not done a good job on the first day in Botswana, with the broken down vehicle, etc.  And the drinks were included, as Stanley said "drink until your lungs hurt because the drinks are on them."  We saw crocodiles on both river cruises.  I think I forgot to mention that.