Where are you again?

So: a couple of people wrote me after my last post either suggesting they use google earth to find me, or suggesting I use google earth to find myself. (Find myself?) But first, before we get hung up in satellite photographs, let me orient you, the reader.

Um, Botswana's in Africa. If you can't find Africa, you've got larger fish to fry.

Here's a nice map of the continent highlighting Botswana. As you can see, Botswana lies due north of South Africa, bordering Namibia on its west, Zimbabwe on its east, and Zambia to the north.

Here's another map showing major cities and towns in Botswana as well as Johannesburg and Pretoria. You'll notice, I'm sure, how close Gaborone is to the South African border. Expand the imagine, find Gaborone (it's the one with the little star, folks), and look south to Lobatse. Lobatse was considered as a potential capital for the fledgling republic, but was rejected as being too close to the border. (Remember that the administrative capital of the Bechuanaland Protectorate was actually over the South African border in Mafikeng.)

Depending on who you ask, the Kalahari Desert takes up 70 to 75% of the country. This doesn't necessarily mean rolling sand dunes a la Death Valley or the Sahara. It means a lot of dryish scrub, with little hills and koppies breaking it up. It's actually not that far, aesthetically, from eastern California. In fact, it's eerily familiar. I think I've told some of you that Gabs is like Tucson with donkeys.

(...and the donkeys, my friends, are said to outnumber the people at ratios from 50% to 300%. What's more, according to the UB History Department's tips on life in Gabs: "Donkeys seem to have especially little road sense.")

I will, eventually, get some pictures up. I just don't like wandering Gabs on foot with my camera. My car deal is almost done, however. I am purchasing a 1996 Nissan, but the deal has been dragging on because: a) I can only withdraw so much cash per day; b) my landlord has a buddy in the car business, and therefore we spent Thursday running around used car dealerships in Mogoditshane. Actually, my landlady changed her flight back from Lagos, and my landlord had to meet her at the airport. This meant that, instead of taking me to see his friend's dealership, he sent his "colleague" (employee?), Patrick, to drive me to a car dealerships neither I nor Patrick had ever seen. Patrick is, I would guess, no older than I am. He's a tall, lanky guy who speaks very softly, almost muttering. He was very courteous to me, even though I think we both suspected we were chasing wild geese. I told Patrick about the Nissan, and he didn't seem to find a problem with the deal.

Eddie, the guy from whom I'm purchasing the car, SMSed me last night to ask if he could keep the car another week in order to visit his son in Francistown. (Go back to the maps, folks, and look for a city in the eastern corner near Zimbabwe.) I told him he could keep the car if he knocked P 1500 off the price. Eddie's no fool. I get the car Monday evening.

But all of this to say that I did use google earth to find myself -- or at least the compound where I stay. I had to stash the image here because blogger simply can't handle this shit. If you want to use google earth to look around yourself, look for Gabs at 24' 49" S, 25' 55" E. Enjoy playing, ye google earth fans!