Hotel Residence Saint Jacques Brazzaville

6th - First impressions of the Congo's scenery is savannah on rolling hills with little villages in between. We did a lot of sand matting in the morning as the roads are pretty hopeless, so we had to get up at 6am to ensure we could cover a decent distance today. Around 9am we hit tarmac then saw a bridge, so we all had a bath/shower in the river. Then....the tarmac ended a few 100m later and took us back to sand. Bogged quickly nullifying the shower we all had 30 mins ago ...

<br> Congo<br> The tarmac road literally transformed into a sand track at the border from Gabon. Our first couple of days were long and challenging as we made our way toward the tarmac road over 200km away. In the first couple of days we had to stop regularly to dig out the truck and bushcamp on the side of the road - first time on the trip we weren't able to find side roads in which to set up camp, so literally put our tents along the side of the road.<br> We got used to ...

... he does not remember, because we'd have to medicate him. The way he yells out in his sleep... Its like someone had got him by the limbs and is tearing him apart. On a lighter note, if you ask him quietly to give you money, he will pay up, and not have any recollection of doing so. ha ha. But yeah, now at least I am not alone at home. Dawn and Panashe do argue a lot though. Its been a while since I have been around arguing siblings. Em already tired of them ...

... them ridiculously low wages. There is so much money coming into this country. A lot of money and it all goes to those on top. At the supermarket, we bough some juice, bread, apples, a courgette, a green courgette like veggy, a few potatoes, a green pepper, some marg, fish and chips and some pre-cooked beef and banana chips. SO about 12 items. It cost $US99. Ninety nine American dollars. That is $NZ165. (dont bother checking, I know because I had to bring in $US100 in and ...

... and restaurants in town are closed, and I spend the afternoon wandering around in downtown Brazzaville, it feels pretty safe, I even go to the port where the ferries leave for Kinshasa, but no more trip scheduled for today, and all offices are closed, the place has a ghostyfeeling, I dont stay long.More interesting is the second port closer to downtown, its the place where the big barges arrive, loaden ...

... Congolese suspicious. They seem to think she's Nilotic too. None of this will change anything, but I found it a fascinating window into local thinking. This morning Jacob and Justin came to the hotel about 9:00. We drove about 45 minutes to see a member named Generose, who had treated us to a meal on a previous visit. It had rained hard the during the night so the potholes, some of them stretching all the way across the road were full of water, sometimes ...

... again how happy they were to have personal contact with a Church pastor. The Mukendis had to leave for a funeral after about an hour, but they were very pleased to find out where we would be meeting tomorrow. It will be a very happy time, I'm convinced. After they left, Jacob and Justin discussed the local situation with me; the needs of the people here. The main need was to have some legal status so they can meet. Churches need government recognition here ...

... hit by up to four power-cuts a day (candle sales are booming; my laptop battery is foutu), and a series of mind-boggling news reports (a radioactive river, an attempt by the ruling ...

... drive fast. Since they have diplomatic immunity, when they hit someone on the road, they can't even be arrested." He went on with other examples of how locals feel the UN has just come in and taken over. It took over part of the airport strictly for UN use, it has several large building compounds surrounded by walls, barbed wire, with machine gun-armed watch towers manned 24/7. I could understand the frustration. At the conference center I found the rooms were typical of ...

... comments end here, that we need behave ourselves, that we shall Interconti-Kinshasa as our hotel and then the next day will have a garden party with the ambassador, that an excursion to the cataracts was pre-arranged, that we shall have a guided tour around town, a shopping time at the bazaar and enough time to take advantage of the swimming pool of the Interconti. That's it. Off you go. And we did. (to continue)