Botswana

I got into Botswana relatively painlessly. The biggest issue was probably walking between the South African border and the Botswana border after disembarking from my bus. There weren't any signs so my group sort of stumbled around in the night before finding customs.
Once in Gaborone (capital of Botswana) I decided to share a cab with a Zambian fellow I met on the bus. However, I didn't have any pula (Botswana currency). I asked a taxi driver where I could find an ATM and he directed me to follow him. We walked through a parking lot and in-between two office buildings where the only light came from the lonely ATM where someone sat in a chair next to it. It didn't feel like a great situation, but made an escape route in my head and went towards the ATM. Everything went fine and I walked back to the guy laughing saying I would never have done that in South Africa. He smiled and said "Hey man, this is Botswana not Johannesburg!"
At my hotel, I discovered a casino attached to it. I played a hand of blackjack for the hell of it. On the deal I got an eight and a six. The dealer had ten. When she hit me again I got an eight and decided that it was a sign I shouldn't pay anymore blackjack so I retired to the bar.
This was a good choice as I found myself in two long conversations while watching the Americas soccer tournament. First, a man from Zimbabwe who told me about as a child white soldiers would give him biscuits on his way home from school to try to get information out of him about guerrilla movements in the jungle.
Next, I talked with an insurance salesman who recounted a story about his time studying in London:
One night out with his friends a British girl starting asking him about Africa. She explained that her view of Africa was a place where everyone lived in trees. Without missing a beat his friend replied "It's true. The British high commission has the highest tree in Lusaka."