Images from the COE: One

From my exam room, I can see this tap behind the building that children seem compelled to battle. This child lost. 

The way home

If there is one thing a group of bleeding-heart, tree-hugging ex-pats know nothing about, it’s auto repair. 

So when Cary’s Toyota Surf (which he had just picked up from the mechanic the previous morning for the trip out of town) started spewing black smoke from the tail pipe about 6 km into the 12 km dirt “road,” we buckled down for a long day.  To be fair, Cary’s car gave its best, tolerating an extra kilometer with some rests and even an ill-advised attempt at a duct tape repair before completely dying 5 km from the tarmac. Because there was clearly no cell phone service, we had a lucky break as our new friends Rafa and Emily came zipping down the road (in a Corolla!) and gave Nora and Emily a ride to town to arrange for a mechanic to help us.  Eventually,  the lodge manager, Innocent, showed up to tow Cary (with an old piece of rope and a pickup truck) down the rest of the mountain and lead us to a mechanic (three mechanics, actually) who proceeded to diligently work on Cary’s car for the remainder of the afternoon.

And that is the story of why a group of 11 expats spent the afternoon outside an abandoned building in the tiny town of Ntchisi.  And the photos explain why none of us minded. 

Did you just say, "Mm, cheesy"?

Our October trip was a weekend of wilderness at Ntchisi (rhymes with “Mm, cheesy”) Forest Lodge. The good news is, our new front shocks (i.e. Brody's monthly salary) on our new (read: 1995) 2-door Rav-4 held up on the several kilometers of rugged, dirt road leading to and from the lodge. We were skeptical on the way there, not only about the shocks, but about the label "forest reserve." On that 10 km dirt road there was one tree, a few farming villages and lots and lots of dust.  However, the lodge was beautiful and walking through to the other side, it was obvious it was situated just on the edge of a hill overlooking treetops in deep valleys.

We did 2 main things while there: eat and hike. The hike, again, was unexpected and unreal. One moment, we were walking through dry, crunchy hilltops and the next moment, we were ducking under vines of the rainforest.  Our guide,  Eston, 71, demonstrates how to take full advantage of these vines. Andrea's gymnast temptations get the better of her, too.

We were transported back to the Peruvian rainforest we visited last July. At one point, Andrea muttered, “I swear that’s the same fuckin’ tree we saw in Peru,” as though we were the dupes in some long con of global ecology.  It may have actually been the parasite that takes over the tree from the outside and leaves the actual tree rotting on the inside that disguises all the rainforest trees and makes them look the same. In any case, global ecology is out to play some wicked prank and it is working.



Brody, too, was taken by the hiking spirit. Turns out, what he thought was "hiking" is really backpacking and he actually likes hiking which is more like "walking with some tricky parts." He wore a bandana (Brody's hair issues deserving of a separate blog). To most of us, this screams "I am a douche." To Eston, our guide, it apparently screamed "I carry a knife" the inaccuracy of which disappointed Eston greatly when he was trying to show us a the insides of a rubber plant.










In a full circle of bizarreness, the hike ended to watch the sunset on a big rock in what felt like the dry mountain Colorado air and including an encounter with an actual pine tree with actual pine cones on the ground. Turns out, there is a pine tree farm near by, you know, next to the rainforest, so that's normal and everything.

Dinner at the lodge was delicious. Goulash. With a wet cupcake for dessert. Brody loves wet cupcake. And the room was as comfortable as they come in Africa, with a king size bed (well, two twins pushed together) and a shower that is warm...  made especially luxurious because that wasn't a bat flying around the room all night, but just mice in the wall and ceiling having a party, or staging a military coup. We ate a giant English breakfast in the morning (turns out English people love beans and floppy bacon) and got our kicks playing Bananagrams since ex-pats LOVE games (we belong with these people!)  We set off for home unprepared for the surprise adventure that lay ahead... 

Images from the Academy: One.

A typical classroom.

Moonlight Safari on Horseback

i.e. Night Mares.

Before we can blog about October's monthly outing, we needed to write about September's in Kuti which is as described in the the title. Whatever you are picturing is likely infinitely more romantic and exotic than the 2 hour long [mammoth-size-horse] pony ride we actually experienced. Except for that these lights made us look like care bears (or Iron Man?) which is cool probably beyond imagination.