First Glances of the Farm

Yesterday, after teaching, I decided to take the leisurely route home and stop to take a few photos of what I see during my drive from my cottage to school. The first picture is a view approaching D section, where I live. In the front, are newly-planted tobacco crops. It turns out that this is primarily a tobacco farm. Apparently Zimbabwe is a HUGE exporter of tobacco, and now I understand how my boss could be so wealthy. (Friends joked that he was growing poppies – it’s not quite that, but anyway…). Cigarettes are incredibly cheap here, by the way – less than $1 for a pack! This is funny to me, because last weekend when I was shopping for household furniture and things, I found the prices incredibly inflated! It’s too bad I’m not a smoker!
The second and third picture are of my boss’ new house. The first image is a close-up and the second shows the breath-taking view over the Gota dam. Apparently, this house has already taken over 5 years to build. When they started, Zim currency was still around (it no longer is – we use American dollars) so it was incredibly cheap to build. It has taken a long time, first of all, because “This is Africa”, as they say, and secondly, because they have to special order a lot of the materials, such as glass panes as walls.

I haven’t seen the house up close yet, but from Architecture magazine, it’s a pretty insane design! All of the farm workers stare at it with astonishment.
The fourth picture is of a garlic field. I like this part of the farm because it’s not tobacco! It’s also one of the few truly green spaces at the moment. One month before rainy season is due to start, you can imagine how dry the land is and how much the vegetation is thirsting for water.
There are tons more pictures to take and upload, but I’ll feed them to you slowly, to keep you coming back for more. Internet is about to die here, so I best wrap this up!