6.5 hour bus down the Crotatian coast is a Very Good Idea.
It remains a mystery why to this day it still hasn't occurred to anybody to put up a big board with departure platforms anywhere in Zagreb bus station.
It's a huge station, and every time I have to go ask at the information window where my bus is leaving from. Pro tip: if it's a busy time, do not leave this to the last minute.
(happy to be back in the land of krompirusa though, eh. Even mediocre Croatian bus station 'burek krompir')
🗁Added 38 photos to album Zimbabwe, May 2019.
Last couple of chill days in Harare. Random cafe stops, cooking for Elizabeth, excellent Indian food at Spice Lounge (including really spicy chai), and sorghum sadza at Gava's. Then, depart.
Week in review: 6 - 12 May
- Chilled with Elizabeth and friends.
- Went to Lake Chivero Nature Reserve and got chased by a rhino.
- Toured Harare markets and cafes, saw balancing rocks, and the Botanical Gardens.
- Watched the sun set from a hill in the south of Harare.
- Enjoyed a 5 day wifi outage and 3 day power outage. It's cool I didn't want to do any work anyway.
- Visited Sprout Coding in Dzivaresekwa and then joined them for a braai in Kuwadzana; chatted about web dev, encryption, hacking, privacy and surveillance. An inspiring bunch!
- Watched the sun set from Domboshava.
- Chill Sunday BBQ.
🗁Added 22 photos to album Zimbabwe, May 2019.
Chill Sunday. Adventure cancelled due to lack of fuel (in the whole country) so I joined Elizabeth and co at church again, and then we had a long, drawn out bbq at Andrew's house, including a jump in the pool. We ate and chatted and played board games into the evening. The power went out due to load shedding (coordinated turning-off of parts of the city, semi-accurate information about when this happens is on the electricity provider's website).
🗁Added 179 photos to album Zimbabwe, May 2019.
Some Saturday morning market touring, followed by an extravagant lunch at Pistachio Cafe, probably the place with the most explicit vegan options in Harare.
In the late afternoon Andrew drove Elizabeth and I to Domboshava, a breathtakingly beautiful granite hill and national monument about a 45 minute drive north of Harare. We climbed about and watched the sun set. There are cave paintings there too, but we didn't find them before it was dark.
🗁Added 24 photos to album Zimbabwe, May 2019.
I spent a morning with the tutors from Sprout Coding in the suburbu of Dzivaresekwa, learning about the programme, listening to them prepare as a group for the start of term the following week (when they go into schools to teach young children Scratch and Woof) and chatting to a few of them about web development and git.
Ate lunch at Gava's, finally getting a taste of delicious Zimbabwean food. The veggie option is just what comes on the side of all the meat dishes - sadza (or peanut rice), greens (canola/rape) and beans. But it's enormously filling in itself. And a whole french press of local coffee, plus chilli to top it went down really well.
Got home to find the power finally restorted, so I could make dinner for Elizabeth, Sarah and Andrew.
The next day I met the Sprout Coding folks again, this time for a braai (bbq) in Kuwadzana. The tutors came out of their shells more and we had good discussions about hacking, encryption, privacy and surveillence. And the food was great (sadza and greens).
We ate dinner at Little Eataly, the only option for me being pasta with tomato. It was really good though. Then we made a half-assed attempt to socialise at Tristen's bar, where there was supposed to be a gig of some kind, but it was just full of drunk dudes who wanted to chat and I was too tired, so we went home.
🗁Added 50 photos to album Zimbabwe, May 2019.
Still no power. Went to some markets with the Fin and the Russians where I bought tasty snacks and tea, and in the evening we climbed up a hill in the south of the city in time to see the sun set. From the distance, Harare looks almost like a modern and functional city.