Pointe Noire, Congo Travel Blogs

Oh Give Me a Home.....
Nov 25, 2008

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday.  It's the best thing about America, I think.  And although I tried hard to ignore it's coming and passing, it has struck me like a 2 x 4.  A wave of homesickness startling in it's intensity ...

Hometime, Downtime
Nov 3, 2008

This weekend was the first one in a month or so that we actually spent time at home, usually we try to get out of Pointe-Noire for Sunday at the very least.  But this weekend we stayed in town.  Saturday we visited with two lovely ex-pat ...

Buying wicker furniture
Dec 26, 2008

We recently had an interesting experience buying a piece of wicker furniture, a chaise lounge for the sweet bare terrace that wraps around our apartment.  Our friends had had two made for them buy local craftsmen, so a few weeks ago Ann-Mary and ...

Oscar's Entry (with Henry's comments)
Aug 23, 2008

Dear everybody, I made a real castle (photos to follow!). We're still unpacking. Workmen are helping us down in the school. I'm helping unpack the boxes, too. We went out with Davina to a restaurant. I am trying new food. I had some french ...

UUgh
Jun 11, 2008

I should mention that we aren't moving from Cambridge to Pointe Noire, first, we are moving home, to our house in western Mass. Yes, two moves in six weeks.  I am trying to rid myself of everything unnecessary.  How do you do that with toddlers?& ...

Just another day
Oct 30, 2008

There are things that you get used to in Africa, like your kids' skin ailments, and washing your hands a thousand times a day.  Also watching your kids play in the sand and dirt and then take a big handful of snacks and shove them in their mouths ...

Independence Day
Aug 15, 2008

Today was Congolese Independence Day, 48 years free of French rule. Our boss, Tony took us to a party he was throwing at a local restaurant for his employees. The food, once again, was delicious. We were even given our own Schlumberger tee shirts (what ...

Before We Begin
Jun 6, 2008 (2 photos)

... , antibiotic cream, pots and pans, books, it just goes on and on.  We received the offer to go to the Congo to open an International School which teaches in English on Monday, my husband's last day of graduate school classes.  We signed and ...

Rainy Sunday
Dec 7, 2008

Instead of going to the "secret beach", we stayed around the house most of the day because the rains rolled in around nine o'clock.  We thought there might be a break in the weather, but it only rained some more until about one.  We've been ...

Saka-saka
Dec 5, 2008

Our maid/nanny made us a treat this week, a local dish called Saka-saka.  It is a hodgepodge of leeks and scallions and other greens, with fish and eggplant and (we think) peanut butter...it may sound strange, but it all comes together for a rich ...

Pigs in the 'hood
Feb 3, 2009

So we have some pigs who live in the neighborhood.  They used to be less visible, spending most of their time up on the rise above the swamp dump land across the street.  Then they had babies and suddenly Lyle was all electrified anytime we ...

Stratified Life
Sep 17, 2008 (5 photos)

... I don't mean to wax philosophical, but I used to think that we, as people, could actually change the world through our own actions. Congo makes it real that it's a much bigger problem than that. And besides, what am I gonna do? NOT haggle at he market? ...

All coming together
Jun 12, 2008

Our travel arrandements have been made and our appartment has slowly benn emptying out.  Friends and family have come to claim everything were giving away, either to keep or to take care of for two years, which is a generous offer.  Time is ...

Getting Better all the Time
Sep 7, 2008 (4 photos)

... us: Int'l School Pointe Noire AM Cloutier (or) David Potter C/O Schlumberger Logelco INC Zone Indutrielle De La Foire BP 602 Pointe-Noire Congo DHL delivers directly, might be expensive, but Adam sent us a big stack of our mail for $11 using a ...

Getting around Pointe Noire
Aug 7, 2008

Well, the smell of the generators continues to annoy me, but I got my first look at the market today. How effing cool. Packed, jammed, crammed, teeming. Everywhere you look there are these beautiful women in these crazy patterned cloths made into the ...

The Cape WhoooHooo!
Jun 17, 2008

            The kids last day of school is tomorrow, then we go to the Cape for a week with Auntie Lou, my best friend, and then we move home, temporarily.  The Cambridge apartment is in ...

Another big day at the beach
Nov 23, 2008

... don't have to pay the excessive customs and bone charges that are otherwise part of the way of doing business here in the Congo.  Speaking of which, we have finally had our requisite run-ins with the police while driving in town and minding our own ...

Food Fetishes
Jan 31, 2009

So food is one of the few forms of entertainment available here, and it's also a bit of a battle to maintain and refresh the supplies of staple foods at home that make life hum along with a greater sense of normalcy.  I finally made it to the local ...

Shabbat Shalomq
Sep 13, 2008 (7 photos)

... his legs with the incoming tide. This morning we tried a new fish market on Magali's recommendation (she of the other Pointe-Noire blog, working on the Pointe-Noire survival guide website, and our substitute teacher-new best friend) and picked up some ...

Back in the Congo hood
Aug 26, 2009

Our arrival was immediately Congolese -- we'd only received two landing cards on the plane, but the not-so-helpful gentleman in the glass booth at the airport needed four. Then two baggage cart entrepeneurs descended upon us, and it turned out we needed ...

At Home in Pointe Noire
Aug 5, 2008 (2 photos)

My family, our dog and almost all 28 pieces of luggage made it safely to our new home here in Pointe-Noire. It is an ungentrified little city peppered with villas and mansions. There seems to be little infrastructure: few paved roads, unconvincing ...

David's first entry
Aug 10, 2008

... . We were out there at the crack of dawn, just us and a small crew of caddies. Apparently, most of the expatriate world in Pointe-Noire is out of town on vacation. In addition to our caddies, we get a sweeper who carries a broom and sweeps the "brown". ...

Congo (Fr+Pt)
Mar 27, 2009 (12 photos)

... sempre a mesma frieza na resposta. Acabou por deixar cair e deu-me um cantinho para passar a noite. Objectivo do dia seguinte: Pointe-Noire, a 30 km da fronteira com Cabinda. Ainda era um esticão de 350 km, algo ambicioso para quem só tinha feito 30 km ...

Sunnier days
Aug 19, 2008

Our road doesn't really have a name, but the Schlumberger van drivers know it as Villa 27 (Ven Set, excuse my poor french spelling). There has been significantly more sunshine these last few days, but still not overbearingly hot. I'm hoping that the ...

So Long, Farewell, Auf Weiterzen, Goodbye
Sep 28, 2009

... a short time.  And that is exactly what happened to us.  Angela and Klaus have abandoned all of us here in Pointe-Noire for such trivialities as dependable electricity and water you can drink from the tap.  It was sad to see them go but ...

Canning the guard on Christmas Day
Dec 26, 2008

We got back from our xmas bbq gathering at the beach around 6 o'clock.  At 7, one of the two guards on duty came upstairs to complain that the other guy had gone around to the back porch to catch a snooze.  This is a guy we have been growing ...

Halfway through the school year
Feb 4, 2009

... to make sure anyone is doing their jobs, so they don't.  Apparently before the civil war there was a school here in Pointe-Noire that trained people in service and that there was a generation of professionals, but they're gone, some to the Villa ...

Dental Floss
Dec 14, 2008

... dental floss for a long time, and my cavity rate has gone down accordingly since I was a teenager.  Since living in Congo, however, I have had occasion to increase my admiration for the slender waxy string.  The first time it came in handy was ...

Been a long time
Jan 5, 2009

A Lot has happened since last I wrote.  We met the US Ambassador to the Rep of Congo at dinner with our client company's other Americans.  He told us some hilarious stories about topics as varied as Madonna, mice-on-a-stick (20 for a buck!), the ...

Making progress
Oct 19, 2008

... Regis and Nathalie from France; Georgina and Danel from Canada; David and Fiona from Australia; Magali and Madenga from France and Congo; Elke and Kelia from Germany and Congo.    We've been pushing our boys to eat more food and a wider variety ...