Saturday, February 25, 2012

Visit to see the Chief

His Royal Highness with his wife
This past Thursday we took a 62 kilometer round trip bike ride to visit Chief Muchinka.  We met up with a villager in Kanona (whom we were introduced to the evening before) first thing in the morning, who acted as our day long guide.  Once we arrived at the palace we waited outside before it was our turn to see the chief while being instructed by his retainer on how to interact with the Chief.  About 20 minutes later we were lead into the palace, where we got down on one knee and clapped in a certain way to greet his royal highness.  We discussed what we were doing in his kingdom, what are goals were as volunteers and what life was like in America.  It ended up being a wonderfully successful two hour conversation.

After meeting with the Chief, our guide took us to Chitambo Village where we saw one of the churches that David Livingstone built as well as a one hundred year old hospital.  We ended up making it back exhausted but safe, despite the fact Lizzy stopped her bike just three feet from a five foot long spitting cobra.