Palama!

This is going to be a long post because I finally found a computer that has working internet and it won't kick me off in 30minutes.

I don't think people in America realize how hard it is to get on the internet in a third world country. This is what it takes for me to write to you:

I woke up at 5AM this morning. I took a bath and rehung my laundry from yesterday (because clothes can't "sleep" outside since they will get stolen) then I made my breakfast and fed my cat. Then i got dressed and walked the mile down a mountain to get to the bus stop.

Then I waited at the bus stop for 10 minutes before a Kombi arrived. okay let me tell you about these Kombis. Picture in your mind the most decrepit looking van you have ever seen. It has missing doors and seats. It's windows don't open or are made out of cellophane and duck tape. It smells of gasoline and goes 3 mph up hills. That is a good Kombi. more often that not i ride in the bad ones. also they blast horrible basotho music (accoridians and yelling need i say more) and drive back and forth along the same route trying to pack 20 people into a van that sits 12. once you cant breath, hear, or feel your legs they finally begin the 50km drive to the capital. also since i am white there is usually 19 pairs of eyes on my the whole time. sometimes they ask me for money.

then once i get here. i am dropped off at the taxi rank which is a field filled with makeshift shacks and other kombis and taxis. its smells. its hot. people hassle you. and today a tiny basotho dwarf grabbed my breast as i shimmed past horse poop and ancient piles of trash.

then i walk 2 miles to the peace corps office. which internet may or may not be working. and this time the doctor spotted me and made me get 2 SHOTS. in my arm. and my arm hurts now. and i feel dizzy.

so thats what i have to do to write on this little blog. oh and palama is what they yell at you from the kombis it means "ride". like "do you want a ride?"

in other news. yesterday i found out they do indeed have snakes here. they have cobras. http://www.kingsnake.com/elapids/cape_cobra.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cobra

i was coming back from a swim at the moshoeshoe II pool when i noticed my dogs barking at something infront of my door. i walk over and see this huge snake. its ready to strike. probably the scariest thing ive ever seen. i yell for my family. they come running out the door. my mother throws a rock at it. she misses and it comes slithering at a fast pace (faster than i could ever think snakes could move) toward her. my sister comes running from the back door with a shovel and throws it like a javelin. it slices the snake in half. it still moves. we throw rocks on top of it and my mother pounds on the rocks with other rocks. then they burn it. it was terrifying. i just read that it is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

oh and i found a waterfall the other day! it has geodes around it too. cooooool.

heres some photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2411230&id=12307651&l=747264fa97