Malonda Lodge Pointe Noire

... today. The antibiotics that I am on seem enough to choke a pig: 1000 milligrams three times a day for 8 days. The drugs have done well on my throat, but are doing a job on my already vulnerable digestive system. I try hard to stay healthy and safe here, but it is really just an uphill battle. Bathrooms here are usually pretty poorly equipped. You can expect to find a toilet that won't ...

... for Chevron but I am not working for them. He started getting all mad at me for having passed in front of him earlier and didn’t make too much sense. Well, I surely didn’t know someone was going to wait for me at the airport and help me with the whole process of going through customs, immigration and catching my next flight so I was a little surprised. The help was welcome though. He calmed down a little and took me back to where I came from, outside on the tarmac, and ...

One of the small joys of being back in Congo is the lovely sound of our neighbor's dog. Once he gets going he can bark for hours. Our first night last he barked from 2am until 6am. Today he woke me up at the crack of dawn, and is still barking his head off. I have never hated a creature that I have never met as deeply as I despise this dog. As I type this I have a punchy, sleep-deprived 4 year old ...

... l'accueil et je prends la route. Juste derrière, un camion qu'arrivait du Gabon et que venait charger le manioc pas très loin de la frontière. Monte! La mission aujourd'hui c'est de faire la route déserte de 38 km jusqu'à Nyanga. Si je peux me faire avancer davantage tant mieux, mais cela s'avère un tout petit peu compliqué car la route est tellement éclaboussée que seuls les poids lourds se lancent dans l'aventure et à la frontière le mot que circulait c'était ...

... of an explosion the next week and then we were getting what you'd call hot air coming through the blowers. So they re-attached the hose that blew off, and we were back to lukecold air, which we figured we could live with. Then we had a flat tire - discovered in our driveway, luckily, since we couldn't find a jack or tire iron in the car. So our friend Angela brought her tools over and the guard took care of it for us. But ...

... tear in one of the bills and we had to give her a different one. At this point I walked away with the kids and let Phil and David work it out, sincerely afraid that I would end up assaulting her. No one is trained to be a server, they just take girls off the street and there are no managers in sight. No one is on the floor to make sure anyone is doing their jobs, so they don't. Apparently before the civil war there was a school here in ...

... and across the swamp to wherever they live. Probably in the thicket, but it's hard to know. Logic would say that someone owns them, but it's hard telling not knowing. One time, Lyle went out and surprised two of them in the road, and one of them got stuck trying to dash back over the wall (as opposed to going through one of the gaps in the wall), his forelegs on one side ...

... were gone. But this week I saw another couple of rows of them and I figure that that was the real last of them for a while, so I bought up another twenty cans. Because all the foodstuffs come in huge containers by ship, prices tend to be pretty high. For some reason, it's hard to find non-sugary non-chocolatey breakfast cereals except for about eight different varieties of corn flakes. The boxes of Kellog's brand, normal family ...

... f a sudden, it's Garth business in the fr*nt, party in the back Br**ks singing Am**ican Pie, **** me in the ear, s**i*usly. I try really hard n*t t* swear *n this bl*g, but s**i*usly. H*w much can *ne Am**ican with any sense *r taste at all be expected t* take? The *nly saving grace was that we didn't have t* listen t* the wh*le ******n thing. Then he sings Sh*ut? Isn't Otis Day still alive? Let him sing his *wn Am**ican ic*nic s*ng ...

... over to some friends' house for a late swim (Camille and Kevin, just arrived from Canada via Houston). Then the boys will go home for dinner and bed with the nanny, while we stay for dinner and adult conversation. Tomorrow it's up to Phil and Melanie's beach house. Not a bad routine overall, but we are certainly looking forward to another break from the routine when we head to Cape Town at the end of next month.