Swaziland-Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Rev. Cindy was up early for the Anglican church service.  Then she will be attending a BBQ at the Rev Gooday's farm this afternoon.  American Embassy people will be attending, so it is important that she be there.

This leaves Fred and I with a day to ourselves.  Frances, the lodge owner, has graciously offered to drive us downtown for the day. She drops us off at the Mall.  Since the big celebration was yesterday, it is much quieter. The African Fantasy gift store is open and we are able to buy a few things for our family.  We walk to the other set of stores across the bridge.  Then, afterwards, we walk the downtown streets to go to the local handicraft market. 

I am a little nervous and some men call out to us, but nothing comes of it.  We pass behind the fruit and vegetable stands to see a tiny building.  We walk in and it's a cluster of craft stalls. They all call out to us.  We tell them we have to look at everything before deciding.

We settle on a few more gift items.  We feel sad for an old woman who is selling fabric.  We just don't need anything else and we are already pushing the luggage weight restrictions, so we go.

Back at the Mall, we eat at a restaurant called the Phoenix Spurs.  Seriously...the Phoenix Spurs. It is decorated in a Native American Indian theme, with cowboys and indians on the walls.  It feels funny to eat at an Western themed restaurant here in Africa.  They had hamburgers with different sauces.  One of the sauces is "monkey gland" sauce.  Our server tells us that is just a name-no real monkeys were harmed in the making of this sauce!  

Back at the lodge, we meet up with Cindy and we have a meeting with Moosie, a local contractor. He has been the general contractor for our lodge owners. He will drop off a contract in the morning.

I have either bites or some kind of rash on both of my arms and chest and have been basically scratching my skin off. I have heard opinions from bed bugs to heat rash. Frances gave me an antibiotic ointment which didn't stop the itching at all.  Cindy gave me something toxic called "No Itch" which helped but the smell alone is poisonous. She told me, "I hope something hasn't burrowed under your skin and is living there." 

"Gosh. Me, too."

We have tea until dark, then dinner.

Another beautiful day.