Arrival in Gaborone!!

Well I'm almost there.  I arrived in Gaborone today at about 10:30.  It's the capital of Botswana.  Tomorrow I travel on to Maun and then D'kar.  I've met a few WUSC people (World University Service of Canada).  I was treated to lunch at a Brazilian place and just got back.  It's pouring rain here today which is unusual this time of year, but they say it's lucky.  Pula is the word for rain.  It's also their currency.  And you also say it at the end of a meeting or a speech to wish luck to everyone. 
My hotel room isn't ready yet, so I've not showered since leaving home on Sat morning.  Yeah, nice.  But I did an acrobatic change of clothing in the plane bathroom, which was no small feat.
Oh, and I spent hours and hours touring London yesterday and took almost 200 pics there alone.  My god it's beautiful.  The architeture!!  (top picture)
Lynda, I thought of you when I saw the beautiful old, intricate buildings and when I was in the National Art Gallery.  OK, also when I saw the original Twinnings tea shoppe.
And Lauren, I thought of you at every turn when I saw the incredible fashion.  Wow.  I think I was the only person in London wearing jeans and running shoes.  Comfort was the name of the game for a 8 hour walking/riding tour.
This post will be short as I want to send a couple of emails to let people know I'm safe and sound.
The bottom picture is a shop in the Johannesburg airport; beautiful stuff!  I was only there an hour or two; between London and Gabs (as the locals call Gaborone).

Close call

So, some volcano in Iceland that nobody can pronounce the name of keeps erupting and spewing huge ash clouds into the air.  It brought almost all international flights to a halt for a few days, but things are getting back to normal and with any luck I head to London, England in 2 days, Sat Apr 24.  Fingers crossed.

Pre-departure

Just found out today that for sure, for sure, I'm going to Botswana, to a small town called D'kar.  Now I have a myriad of forms, emails, maps, assignment details etc to organize.
I've just set up a blog (first time ever) and this is my first post.  I hope it goes well.