Experiencing the local culture

Kat and I spent the weekend doing one of my favourite things when traveling – just stumbling onto local things that end up being totally fun and interesting despite having no pre-set plans.

On Saturday, we heard some music from down the road and decided to just walk down and see what it was.  We happened on the “Annual Fete” of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.  It was like a county fair, with horse rides, barbecued food, cotton candy, crafts for sale, musical performance and families and kids having fun.  We paid our 6 kwacha to get in ($1.15) and just soaked it in.  We were the only muzungus in attendance, which is always fun.   Kat resisted the temptation to buy a “Catholic Women’s League” chitenge

Kat had heard that there was an evening market at the “Showgrounds”, so we hired Ricky, our faithful backup cab driver to drive us over there.  He showed up right on time in full “Arsenal” gear head to toe – t-shirt, hat, bracelet, car seat covers and jacket.  

The Showgrounds, as it turns out, is equestrian showgrounds, polo grounds a funky craft show and a number of restaurants.  It was SO strange because nearly everyone was white.  You could even buy a glass of Pimm’s as you entered the craft show.  The whole thing felt very colonial and weird – we went from a fair where there were no white people, to a craft show where there were no black people!  We bought a few crafts and had a lovely wood fired pizza dinner at an Italian restaurant of all things.  Definitely did not feel like we were in Zambia.  On out way home Ricky let me drive the cab!  :)

On Sunday, we decided to go walk in search of “Shake Shake”, the local beer.  We finally found where to buy it, by walking into a sketchy warren of alleyways full of tiny bars where lots of men were drinking at 10am (once church was done of course).  It was one of those moments where you try to relax while at the same time questioning whether this was a good decision!  As it turned out, folks were very helpful and we got our Shake Shake, much to the delight of the locals.   

Next stop: the local market, where on impulse, Kat decided we needed to buy some caterpillars to fry up.

So, when we got home, it was time for caterpillars and Shake Shake.  Any Zambian will tell you there is no better combination – kind of like a Canadian beer and a bag of salt and vinegar chips.  Except not quite...