With Us

"Even if you're not a seeker,
still, follow us, keep searching with us.
Even if you don't know how
to play and sing,
you'll become like us;
with us you'll start singing and dancing.

Even if you are Qarun, the richest of kings,
when you fall in love,
you'll become a beggar.
Though you are a sultan, like us you'll become a slave.

One candle of this gathering
is worth a hundred candles; it's light is as great.
Either you are alive or dead.
You'll come back to life with us.

Unbind your feet.
Show the rose garden---
start laughing with your whole body,
like a rose, like us.

Put on the mantle for a moment
and see the ones whose hearts are alive.
Then, throw out your satin dress
and cover yourself with a cloak, like us.

When a seed falls into the ground,
it germinates, grows, and becomes a tree:
if you understand these symbols,
you'll follow us, and fall to the ground with us.

God's Shams of Tabriz says
to the heart's bud,
"If your eyes are opened,
you'll see the things worth seeing."

-Rumi

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Nyami nyami... the river god.

Abby and went for a little hike and saw Victoria Falls from the Zambia side. We wanted to see it from the Zimbabwe side but the visa is $55 and its $20 to see the falls.... lame. I supose it would be good to support Zim... but who is the money really going to?

We did however get to walk on the Zimbabwe side of the Zambezi. That counts right? We rafted 25 rapids for about 27 km... class 2 to class 5. Wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be. It was hot out so all the crocs were out of sight in the river. The ones we did see were ittybitty. We got to swim one of the last rapids and I got a belly full of the Zambezi during that ride. I managed not to fall out of the raft... Abby wasn't so lucky. The gorge is pretty deep so we had to take a cable car up and out. That was the scariest part of the day. Right when we steppe dout of the thing horizontal rain started pouring down along with some crazy lighting. We took an open vehicle back to our camp in the rain and the driver saw an elephant on the way and decided to drive right up to it. The elephant whipped around and looked like it was deciding whether or not to crush us. So through the rain and wind I frantically yelled, "NO, NO, NO, TURN AROUND, LEAVE IT ALONE, DRIVE AWAY!" At which he proceeded to drive closer. I told one of the river guides still with us to tell him no and he finally listened. I survived the zambezi and a sketch cable car and was not about to get killed by an elephant.

In other news... its still ridiculously hot here during the day. Makes your head spin and legs wobble. Abby and I leave tomorrow or the next day for Botswana and will end up in Windhoek, Namibia in about a week and a half... then we figure out our next steps from there.
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