Local food

Since the start of this week (my third week in Botswana!), I've been regularly eating local food for lunch. It's delicious and cheap (just 25-30 pula, equivalent to $2.5-$3 USD, for home cooked goodness). Apparently, it's not that common for foreigners / expats to be eating from the local food stalls - which I think is a real shame! During lunchtime, you'll see many temporary stalls set up by women like this:

And this is what some of my lunches have looked like (standard carb, protein, veggies):

Some of the more traditional food I've been eating include:

• Morogo: A type of African spinach - super delicious when cooked.
• Pap: Often described as a porridge, but it is much thicker and less liquidy than porridge. I'd say it has a mashed potato texture but without the taste. 
• Samp: Made from grains (sometimes with beans added as well) and has a mushy rice like texture. 

Spots in Gaborone

My daily life in Gaborone is pretty limited to a few areas. Work is only a 10 minute walk away from my apartment so on the weekdays, I don't travel too far. The office is based in the Main Mall, which I first thought was a shopping centre but it's actually mostly outdoors and operates like a market:

In between my apartment and work, is probably the most modern cafe in Gaborone - the Daily Grind. Their avocado on toast is pretty great (even if it's not Melbourne standard). 

 

On Wednesday evening, I was taken to one of the best spots in Gabs for a view - the Yatch Club overlooking the dam. The sunset was stunning. I'm told that the dam isn't always full of water though depending on the rainfall. 

First trip to Orapa / Lethakane

The beginning of week two in Botswana took me to Orapa, where the largest diamond mine is based. This is what a diamond mine looks like - it's the hill thing behind the trees:

One of my clients is a supplier of fabrications that will be installed inside the mine. They were kind enough to show me the workshop and space where the magic happens:

With the food options being either fried chicken & chips or local food, I tried some local food for the first time - which was delicious! I was not brave enough to eat worms, but here they are:

While working in Orapa, I stayed overnight in the small town of Lethakane. Most of the town looked something like this - dusty roads and modest residential houses:

I didn't manage to catch any in a photo but occasionally, you'd see donkeys, goats and stray dogs wandering around as well.

Animal count:

• Cats: 3 
• Dogs: 4 (mostly strays sadly)
• Donkeys: Maybe 4-5
• Goats: 20+
• Cows & bulls: 20+
• Warthogs: 3. They live right beside the diamond mine (past the security gates where there are no predators) and were very cute running around! I am scheduled to visit Orapa around once every month so I look forward to seeing them again. 

First impressions

After about 20+ hours of travel, I made it to my little apartment in Botswana on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, my suitcase was MIA - not the greatest welcoming gift but luckily, I managed to retrieve it today. My driver was very patient in waiting for me at the airport and was a great guide during the ride (he was quite knowledgeable about politics in Botswana).

My first observations of Gabarone is that it is very modern - the roads are in great condition, the supermarkets are well stocked, the buildings are quite modern (compared to other developing countries) and I hear that pretty much everyone owns a car. On the other hand, I've come across many small things that aren't quite right. Some of the mini struggles I've faced include: no sliced bread in the supermarket, having to boil water in a pot (no kettle provided at my accommodation although I get my apartment cleaned everyday) and having no viable options to satisfy chocolate cravings at 7pm (though this is probably a good thing).

Life is much slower here but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's certainly nice to get away from the busyness of New York city for a while.

Fun fact of the day - 'pula' is the local currency but also means rain because rain is so rare that it is considered a blessing.