Pula! Pula!

The currency here is the Pula, which means rain in Setswana. Cents are called thebe, or raindrops. Pula! Pula! (rain! rain!) is also an all-purpose victory cry, kind of a “Let’s Go, Botswana” (similar to the chanted “U.S.A”) used during football games or around Independence Day. Water is a previous resource here, with desert covering most of the country in the west and south. Even in the east though, visiting rural clinics in the dry season, nearly every river bed we crossed was dry, with miles and miles (OK, kilometers and kilometers) of low scrub and patchy trees, with scattered cows, goats and donkeys. You almost never see a real spring green color here, though I’m assuming more will appear as we move into the rainy season. Right now, though, only the fancy hotels in Gabs have green gardens.
There are no lawns to mow and not much vegetation to tend (especially after a big drought last year during which it was apparently illegal to water plants). So everywhere, in cities and rural areas alike, people sweep the dirt in front of their homes and workplaces, sweeping away sticks, stones, and footprints, smoothing the red dirt.