9/17/17 Zambia

I don't know what I ate, but I was sick all night.  I opted to stay behind this morning and slept while the rest of the group went for a boat ride on the river.  Dave reported that they saw three pods of hippos and managed to wake them up as they went past both ways.  They saw lots of birds and several crocs.  As they were landing the boat, they spotted a green snake on the shore.  We will have to look it up when we get home as no one was familiar with it.  Dave thought it might be a rear-fanged one by the shape of his head.  I skipped lunch - just had a 1/2 piece of toast with water.  I didn't want to take any chances.  After siesta time, we brought our chitenges (cloth) to the lounge area where we were shown how to wrap and wear them as skirts.  If a woman is unmarried, she wears it below her belly button, and if she is married, she wears it above.  Dave joked that because of the senior age and lengthy marriages of some of the women on this trip, we should wear them just under the chest - that got a laugh.  We then learned how to fold the same piece of material (about 2 yards) to make a variety of head coverings.  We then made peanut butter by using a wooden pestle and mortar to pound the nuts some of the guys bought in the market.  I didn't chance a taste, but everyone said it was very good.  No oils or salt were added.  One of the ladies at the camp showed us how to play nsolo (a strategy game using pebbles and a board with a series of hollows to hold the stones.  I will have to look it up at home to see if we can make one for the grands.  We went for another boat ride in the evening.  We again saw hippos and crocs along with some waterfowl.  I was still not feeling 100%, but better than this morning.  I ate quite a bland dinner - some polenta and butternut squash.  Unfortunately, I did not dare to have some of Vicki's birthday cake.  It looks wonderful, but I am going to be careful until I feel much better.