October 16, 2014 Thursday.  We will be on board all day today, traveling through Zambia. The view looks a bit greener, dotted with many trees sporting new leaves in a rust red color that I suppose will turn green eventually. Again, the countryside alternates between grassy open savannah and lightly wooded areas. So far we have passed fewer little towns where every urchin in the place and many of their elders rush to the tracks to wave and smile and call out to us. I think to them we might as well be from the moon as we float by with our white faces and cameras at the windows of the train. Some of them beg, and yesterday a few misguided passengers apparently tossed candy to them, but then fights break out, so the train director issued a plea to desist. John saw one little boy who managed to climb an exterior train ladder and cling there for about twenty feet even after the train began to move. Most of them just gather at trackside, smiling and waving excitedly. Why are they so thrilled to see us? This isn’t the first time this train has passed by.  At only one point so far have we seen older children, maybe just out of school for the day, and some of those looked either sad or angry as we passed by. Who can blame them? Glimpses of our privileged lives must seem a stark contrast the the reality of their existence.. I asked if children here go to school and was told schooling is mandatory, but not always well enforced. Yesterday in the larger town where we boarded our buses I saw a decrepit building that was the local teachers college and another that was a secondary boarding school for boys. Do girls receive the same education or are they made to stop sooner? Most of the people we have seen seem happy, living together in lazy, rural poverty, but there is no way for us to know what life is like for them or for those we don't see running toward us as the most exciting thing in their lives for months on end. Previously, most of the places where the local people would rush to see us were tiny villages with only a dozen or so huts, but today in Zambia, many are larger towns. I would have predicted we would attract far less interest there, but no, we, the moon visitors, continue to fascinate. 

It is now 6pm and we are still becalmed in the town where the train was to be turned. Up until now, the observation car has been at the front of the train behind an engine and a fuel car, but from now on, the engine is supposed to be at the other end as it is should be. We are just a few cars from the observation car so it will be nice when the view from there improves. The downside will be that our compartment seating will now be backwards, which makes it much more difficult to take pictures as you can't see what's coming without twisting around. Meanwhile, none of that much matters since we haven't moved at all for over three hours.

LATER. I think we got underway around 8pm tonight. This must be normal because we are still within our window, they tell us. We have been warned that tomorrow morning around 8am we will stop in Lukasa, Zambia, where local children sometimes prefer hurling rocks at the train instead of smiles. We have been told to open our heavy shutters and then lower our glass window, then raise the shutters again until we are away from the town. Not exactly terrorists but certainly not the positive behavior we have enjoyed so far.