We have returned to Maryville, Missouri and the joys of high-speed Internet service. The next three or four entries will review our journey home, which included stops in London, Federalsburg, Maryland and Long Island, New York.

As previously noted, Jeff's cousin Carl arrived on July 12 and spent time with us in Shakawe while Jeff worked his final week for Tocadi. Carl was particularly impressed by the hippos that congregated outside our front yard each night.

We left Shakawe on July 29 to drive east across Botswana to Francistown and, ultimately, the capital city of Gaborone. We had to leave the pickup in Francistown for at least one day for repairs, and rather than stay there, we decided to take Carl on an excursion into Zimbabwe. When Carl and I (Gina) saw the bus that Jeff selected for the trip we balked a bit, but ended up riding anyway. After it became apparent that clearing immigration and customs through both the Botswana and Zimbabwe borders would take several hours, we abandoned the bus and took a kombi (a 15-to-20 passenger van) from the Zim border to Bulawayo, arriving at 11:30 p.m.

When we visited Zimbabwe in December, the exchange rate was 2,500 Zim dollars to one U.S. dollar. Because of stratospheric inflation, the rate when we visted in May was 30,000 to one; eight weeks later when we went there with Carl it was 150,000 to one. Despite the food, fuel and commodities shortages resulting from the monetary crisis, we enjoyed the atmosphere as much as ever.

The return trip was accomplished by hitchhiking from Bulawayo to the Zim border, walking the 2 kilometers between border posts, then riding a kombi from the Botswana border back to Francistown.