Back to Bushara

This weekend we had a fantastic time once again at Bushara Island, Lake Bunyoni, Uganda, about 4 hours (including the slow border crossing) from Kigali. This time, unfortunately, Niamh's family couldn't come, but many others did. Most of them stayed in cabins, but we were in our new lovely gigantic tent, and camping with us were Hazel's family as well as Zoe's friend Miranda and her mother Anne.

I'll post a few photos to give an idea of the time.

This is at the border, bags of "Irish" potatoes awaiting export to Rwanda, I think. Perhaps they just came from Rwanda. Hard to tell.

Counterclockwise from top left: Zoe and Miranda's flying trapeze, the Three Amigas (Hazel, Zoe, and Miranda) held hands spontaneously and frequently, I carved a pumpkin with my assistant, and we got our inflatable kayak wet again, which was a lot of fun.

Above from top left: Zoe proudly displays Kirsti's excellence in facepainting; Snow White's debut; Our tent decked out to receive trick-or-treaters (it actually rained before they arrived); and a gang of happy revelers.

More Puppy Business

Well, we met with the puppies again, and decided on the one currently called Poochie. As I've already said, this name has to go; its not terrible by any means, but it always reminds me of an odious character on an old Simpsons episode, and that's not a fair way to start life. He's brown and black and grey with white patches -sort of a beagle pattern- and has grown tremendously since we last saw him. He is slightly more docile or deferential than his brother, Doggo, who is grey all over. They both bite everything in site and are incredibly enthusiastic. They love to play fight with each other or whoever else they can engage. And they are fairly free with peeing but tend to go more outside than in the house. So we've got some major work cut out for us.

We're going to keep them at Isabel's house for two more weeks of being together and with the older "mentor" dogs, then bring them into our own chaotic home. That gives us a little time to get all the chewable things (less furniture) out of reach, and a little planning time for figuring where everything will go. It also gives me time to finish my puppy guide I'm reading, for whatever that's worth.

We had lunch there and spent a good part of the afternoon playing with Sam and the puppies (including a little kiddie pool time), and the weather really cooperated. At the end of our time there, Andrea's friend and co-worker Nicola came by and agreed to adopt Doggo, too! So they will both live in Kimihurura -our neighborhood- and have some visit time and maybe even occasional shared walks.

One of the reasons it's good they're coming in two weeks, is because we are expecting houseguests starting tomorrow evening (ash-cloud willing). Tanya and Alistair are our British friends by way of New Orleans, and their son Edwin is one of Zoe's favorite people in the whole world. They'll stay a week, including a Gorilla safari for the grownup guests and me, which I'm really looking forward to. I'm sorry I won't have our good camera to bring with me, but I'll just have to remember the experience.

Thanks to Isabel for loaning her camera.

Camping Again

A few weeks ago -over Easter weekend- we were able to get away with some friends for a great weekend of camping. Andrea had Good Friday off as a national holiday, so we took off in the late morning in convoy with our friends Sion, Emma, their daughter Niamh, and their lovely big black dog Griff (actually spelled differently as it's a Welsh name, but I can't for the life of me remember it, as Welsh words make less sense to me than Chinese words). We drove North to the Ugandan border, crossed over into Kabale, through it, and a few miles out of town, headed off the beaten track, and up into the high mountain passes to Lake Bunyoni.

The worst roads were tied between the single-lane dirt roads into the lake area, and the awful dirt roads in our neighborhood. The most time-consuming portion was actually crossing from Rwanda to Uganda. Sion and I handled all the paperwork, and girls and dog stayed in the SUVs. We had one predicted office for passport stamps and visas (efficient, though it ought to be for $50 US per passport). Then for the car there were FIVE offices to go to just for the Ugandan government, including one for security and one separate one for the police. While in the police office we asked the very bored female police officer whether we were required to purchase third-party insurance for their side of the border, and she had absolutely no idea. Strange, but we shrugged our shoulders and bought some (there are at least 3 insurance offices at the border), and then exchanged Rwandan Francs for Ugandan Shillings. So of all our travel from door-to-door, we were on the road about 4 1/2 hours, with a good deal of that at the border.

Then once we arrived at the lake, we dropped off all our gear (and it was a lot) in the transport company's office (a tiny wooden shack with a desk), parked the cars in a lot, then watched porters load all our stuff on a stretched-out rowboat with an outboard motor. With six or eight chickens. Because of Griff, they decided the goat could wait for the next crossing.

We jumped in as well, and were off to the middle of the lake.

Ten minutes later we were disembarking on Bushara Island and climbing through the forest to the reception area.

In the interest of not taking forever to get this out, I'll continue it in another post soon.

Camp Life

We went camping this past weekend in Akagera Game Reserve in Eastern Rwanda, on the Tanzanian border. It took about 2 hours, 20 minutes to get to the entrance, where we checked in with the rangers and gave them a lot of money. Then we drove a few hours in the park to get to our campsite. I don't know if Andrea or I have ever driven on anything remotely as rough or difficult. We really maxed out our big-ass 4X4. The park roads really suffered from lack of maintenance; in fact they often were nearly unidentifiable.

Anyway, we got to the campsite and had to hack down the grass with machetes to pitch tents. The conditions were pretty rough for a campsite; no latrines, fire pits, or picnic tables. We found a dead tree 500 meters away and hacked the largest branches off to throw on the top of our friends' truck before towing the rest of the whole tree back to camp. We had the grandaddy of campfires until late at night, then stoked it up in the morning for a short spell, and still left plenty for the next folks there. That night was the brightest moon of the year (so the astronomers say), and we enjoyed it eating good food, drinking wine and good single malt among one family we were already friends with, and another we now count as friends. And these people know how to camp in luxury, though the conditions were quite primitive. It was so bright and the fire so warm we could have stayed up all night talking. It reminded me of camping in Alaska in July.

The next morning after breakfast, we packed and drove around looking for game. We went to Plage Hippos (Hippo Beach), where we weren't disappointed for hippos, crocodiles, or waterfowl. We saw giraffes, roan antelope, cape elands, impala, a few other antelope types, a small family of baboons, and zillions of birds. We heard hyenas by moonlight, and saw spoor and tracks of elephants, but no such beasts. Maybe next time. When we returned home that night we were utterly exhausted but very pleased. Zoe has asked three or four times about the next time we go camping. I think for her it's all about roasting marshmallows, being together with friends and family, and seeing animals. Who's to argue with that?

Photos at last, but don't get used to it yet.

The iPhoto software has been out of commission on our main computer, and still is, but I've borrowed Andrea's work computer to post a few of our zillions of backlogged pics. So without further ado, here you go.







The first two are while in Amboseli Game Preserve in Kenya, on a lookout point, where we were able to see a family of 5 elephants being led by the mother, several zebras, giraffes, a few warthogs, and many birds. There were some crocodiles not far away, though we didn't know it at the time.
The next one is at a rest stop while en route to our final game park, Tsavo West. We got out to look at the lava fields from the most recent eruption, hundreds of years ago, and still barren and formidable. Interestingly, the volcanic soil is sometimes credited with the reason behind the fertility of the land, and sometimes blamed for nothing growing in the desert near there. Zoe enjoyed throwing volcano rocks.
The next is Zoe proudly showing off her pigtails, and then Andrea and Zoe after finishing reading her bedtime stories.

She's been more into cuddling and has a new habit of grabbing us by the neck, and pulling us into her for hugs and kisses. I'm really into that. Unfortunately, she's simultaneously making serious strides in the art of whining. Oh well.

Here We Go Again.

[Editor's Note: This post is incomplete and will be continued. It's been so long since the last posting, that I decided it's better to get it out there in pieces than wait for the complete package. Besides, the situation with our house changes so much every day that I never know how to summarize recent events.]

Dear Everyone,

Sorry it's been so long. I know the whole point of this is to stay in touch, but I have my reasons for the delay. No, really.

Starting with the last week. We had an awesome trip to Gisenyi, in the northwest corner of the country. It's right on the shores of Lake Kivu, which is not only enormous ("the sixth largest lake in Africa," according to the hotel website), but quite beautiful, as it's in an area that is largely composed of volcanoes, again at 4800 feet elevation. Looking around reminds me alternately of photos of Alpine lakes in Austria and of photos of Hawaii. I hope someday to tell you if it looks like either of the places but in the meantime those of you who have spent time at either can look at photos of Lake Kivu and tell me if the inverse is true.


Incidentally, the first photo was from our hotel room. The second was lunch at a hotel just across the border in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. A crazy place that was literally under siege in a civil war less than a year ago. The last was at dinner at a place called Paradis Malahide, a beautiful rustic inn.

The lake is cool but swimmable and clear and lovely. The sand on the shore is volcanic and contains little porous black pebbles and shimmery soft chips of mica or some soft glassy mineral that shimmers in the sun. Zoe loved stirring up the sand in the shallow water to make sparkles. She did not love swimming in the lake or the pool, unfortunately. She's determined recently that she doesn't like swimming or getting her head wet. We think it's because the water is so cold at all the pools we've seen here. None are heated and the weather here is very mild. We got her a neoprene short wetsuit as her swimsuit, but it's not really enough I guess.

More later. Following this post will be the beginnings of a post started several weeks ago to try to update on the politics of our house.

The Next Week in Our Story (Part 2 of 2)

So I guess I have been procrastinating the second half of this post. I was pretty pleased with the first one, and have been telling myself that the second should be better, and it has been a little daunting. Nonetheless, if I don’t get something on this subject out soon, it will likely not happen at all, so here goes.

The rest of the daily ritual

After Zoe’s (and sometimes my) long nap, the next step usually involved finding something to eat. Years ago, when Andrea and I visited Bangkok, we found street food incredibly good, safe (at least we were never ill), fresh, and cheaper than anything in a vending machine in the US. However, we were on the (rather large) compound of a 5-star resort. That’s not a complaint, but an observation that everything around us was pretty expensive, other than breakfast, which was included. So Zoe ate a lot of banana milkshakes (more like smoothies, no ice cream), and I ate appetizers and salads to keep the prices down. We went to the library a few times, which I will describe later. We went to the front desk to look through the bootleg DVD catalog. We watched a couple movies over the week.

This was the beginning of the low season, and so the place was relatively empty. So everywhere we went, the young Thai men and women adored Zoe and wanted so much to cuddle her or hug her or pinch her cheeks or to get her to say “Sawatdee Kha” back to them. It was a bit reminiscent of Eloise: Zoe and I were like beloved orphans living at the Plaza. By this time in the day, of course, we were rejoined by Andrea, and we were even happier. It was so fun for us to reunite that it intimidated Zoe a few times, and she would just stay silent and shy for awhile. This daily schedule was broken a few times (to my relief) of note.


Then one day Zoe and I were generously invited to participate in the team-building activity of the retreat: a half-day's Thai cooking class at a school nearby. We rode there in the back of a pickup truck with a canvas cover and benches, which Zoe found very adventurous. Then we had a little instruction before diving in with making 5 dishes: Tom Yam (a delicious, chicken soup with really bright fresh flavors and ingredients), glass noodle salad, Pad Thai (the national noodle dish), chicken with cashews, and Penang beef curry. Zoe helped us with prep work (she was in charge of tearing herbs), and took turns cooking. It was really hot, and the ice-cold beer and water flowed like wine. Surprisingly to us, we were on the last trip back to the resort. Every time another bus or pickup was going back, we asked Zoe if she'd rather go back or stay and cook more. She chose well, in my opinion, because we ate very well indeed, and will likely be able to reproduce some of these another time. We also left with a souvenir of a very cheap and very sharp Thai knife. I have accidentally bent the blade several times, but it goes right back and is still really sharp somehow.


The other "excursion" for us was actually within the resort. Zoe and I were again invited to have lunch with the retreat in order to see where they spent their days and to see Andrea some more. We took a shuttle up to the top of the hill where Pimalai's premier restaurants -and views- are. It was good to see some of Andrea's cohorts. It was good to have lunch with Andrea. It was good to eat some incredible food. And it was great to enjoy the views. Then we went back, napped, etc.


The Big Breakthrough

Somehow while we were there we discovered that Zoe is a really confident swimmer. For those of you who have seen her in the water, it is not astonishing news. But during this trip, she went from being pretty good at following drills in swimming lessons to really putting it all together in practice. And she deserves all the credit. I suppose it helps that we swam at least once every day we were there.

One of the last afternoons, Zoe and I were splashing around on some of the steps leading into the pool when she had the idea to jump from the steps, pushing off, and to swim underwater to me. The first time she did this I was about 4 feet away, and astonished. I lifted her up and told her how great that was. She responded by jumping out of my arms and pushing back to the step. She immediately turned around and did it again. I think we could have continued in this manner for a few days without eating or sleeping if it had been up to her. I gradually stepped back a little further from the steps to about 6 feet away. And I gradually started more practice with kicking and moving her hands, but she just likes to be underwater and moving. When Andrea met us and got in the water, we kept going, but also swimming underwater from Mommy to Daddy. It was really a rush for all 3 of us.


All in all, a great week. To learn how the trip back to Kigali went, read the first few paragraphs of the first Thailand post in reverse order. One notable difference was that we had several hours in the Addis Ababa airport, and actually had fun. We went for breakfast then did a lot of duty-free shopping (a lot of looking, a little buying). The Ethiopian duty-free ladies love Zoe and gave her a stuffed animal/backpack that she loves. Then we came home, and now we are all back to the present!

The Next Week In Our Story (Part 1 of 2)

Well, to continue our little series of flashbacks, I should tell the tale of Thailand.
After one week exactly of life in Kigali, we boarded a plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We then spent some quality time in this airport before heading off to Bangkok. We then had a great time (no sarcasm, it's a wonderful airport) there before heading off on a small jet for Krabi, Thailand. Then came the van, followed by a boat, then another van, then a ferry. Then another van, and then we arrived at the Pimalai resort.
Then, we really knew we had arrived when the staff nudged us into comfortable couches and gave us cool wet towels for our hands and faces, and tall glasses of lemongrass juice for our throats while we endured the wait of checking-in. We were surprised to discover that -since we were accompanied by a toddler- we had been upgraded to "VIP" status, and placed in a private beach house.

When we were shown through the door of this place, our jaws dropped. It was between 50 - 100 feet from the ocean, depending on the tide. It had remarkable views of nearby cliffs and the sunset. It had several decorative pools and gardens. It a few gorgeous rooms, and a luxurious bathroom. It even had fresh tropical fruit and cookies waiting for our enraged stomachs. We gobbled these down, ordered room service, bathed, and started enjoying our jet-lagged selves by promptly falling asleep.

Waking the next morning meant breakfast first of all. Part of our stay there included a breakfast buffet that I have rarely seen the likes of. It was (by my taste) and excellent offering of things we find traditional for breakfast such as an omelet bar, fresh-baked breads and pastries, bacon, sausages (strange for a part of the world that's 80% Muslim, but business is business), yogurt, cereals, fresh tropical fruits and juices, with really good coffee. We especially loved the fruit selection. But then there were the other foods that reminded you of where you were. Boiled rice porridge with fish and a compliment of 6-8 spicy condiments to add. Roast duck with sesame-pepper sauce over rice. Crispy chicken. Tomatoes steamed with spinach and garlic. Wonderful curry dumplings and steamed buns and shumai. My mouth is watering thinking of it. Don't worry, readers: I won't go into this detail over every meal we ate, but this is the first thing we say our first day here, and the first thing we say every day. I don't miss many meals, but I definitely wouldn't be caught dead missing one of these.

Anyway, then Andrea had to go to work: meetings all day with other like-minded researchers. And Zoe and I went to get serious about playing. Our first action of the day was to take some bread pilfered from the buffet down to the koi pond to get some fish fed. Then we had to decide between morning at the beach or morning at the pool. Zoe did enjoy a few mornings at the beach, but generally found it to be too "messy," and preferred the pool. She defintely did well with both, and we had our fun. Then it was back to the house for a quick bath for Zoe. Most days she would dry off by lying in her underwear on a towel on our bed, watching Cartoon Network, while I took my shower. She was invariably asleep before I stepped out. So I would read or try to read your emails or watch more cartoon network or write notes or just join her in a nap. Not a bad first half of a day at all.

I think I will have to abridge this post as it has already grown longer than our entire stay. I will post the second half of the story soon.