David and Nancy's Botswana Blog: The Circus

Clearly, I will be scrambling to catch up on the blog for the rest of our time here! The highlight of the past two weeks was a road trip up to Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls. However, prior to our trip we went to see Brian Boswell's Circus, which is from South Africa. Quirky but cool, the circus had the usual assortment of elephants, lions, clowns, acrobats, human canon balls, and the Chinese unicycle-riding women who balance bowls on one foot, kick them in the air, and catch them on their heads (we witnessed this during halftime at a Sonics game once; a performance that was much better to behold than the actual basketball). The kids were mesmerized, and Willie in particular sat rapt. Unfortunately, photos were "strictly prohibited." The only downside was that the temperature was about 120 degrees under the modest circus tent! A weight-loss circus...

Our Zimbabwean friends, Tendai and Monica, came with us. Their 6 year old son, Ashley, was very sweet, taking apprehensive Willie by the hand and leading him to the pony rides they offered during intermission. Tendai is a taxi driver, who we use frequently, and Monica helps watch Willie a few hours every day while I pretend to work and try to catch up on this *$#!!* blog!