even congo wouldnt take me

so the last week in rwanda i decided to head over to lake kivu in eastern rwanda and cross into congo. i had met some americans working for an agricultural NGO called one acre fund (http://www.oneacrefund.org/) near cyangugu and arranged to stay with them and see cassava cultivation. i was generously welcomed to the home, bird-watched, swam in the volcanic lake, and enjoyed great meals at their expense. all in all a successful two days i must say.

bike taxi to the lake

bus ride through the rwandan teafields

after two days with the one acre fund folks i headed to the congo border with 35$ in rwanda francs in my pocket, the established visa price. at the border i approach a group of pakistani UN peacekeepers and ask about ATMs on the other side. they ask what i'm doing and i say vacation. they laugh and say they are heading out of a mission and i'm going on holiday. at the checkpoint i was told that the visa is 50$ and i said no it's not. they ask where am i staying, and i respond how am i to make reservations without internet or phone numbers? next they say i don't have the right stamp in my passport. after a heated argument where i complain that i'm willing to come to your country to spend money and you are making trouble, i am asked to return to rwanda with the escort of an armed policeman. thank you, congo!!!

the view of congo from my hotel room

rwanda dinner. cassava ugali, upper right, is a sticky dough used to sop up stew. sardine stew in a tomato sauce and cassava leaf greens.

solar dryer

the hitch in the processing of the cassava was the drying before milling into flour. traditionally it's laid in the sun and left until dry. to increase drying capacity they had built a greenhouse and elevated drying racks out of poly tarps with a poly cover for rain protection. unfortunately they didn't understand that air circulation was as important as heat (sun), so i fiddled with an improved design that used old woven poly sacks, which was a bust. then i built a prototype scaled solar dryer designed by dennis scanlin, a professor at app state. it works by allowing radiant solar heat to penetrate a transparent cover (in this case old corrugated fiberglass that was lying around) and heating a black metal surface that absorbs the heat. cool air is drawn in through the bottom and is convectively heated by the metal as it rises through the mesh shelves that hold the cassava, thus decreasing the drying time (in theory).

work in the developing world faces inherent problems, one of which is the language barrier. just showing up at a impromptu carpentry shop with a set of plans and a dumb look wasn't enough. after endless explanation and drawings i decided i would have to show them by demonstration. next, acquiring materials is an ordeal. this hardware store has only two sheets of plywood and half a can of paint. this store has 20 nails and a two metres of hardware cloth. after a day and a half of squabbling over "m'zungu" (whiteman) prices i began to build, often with a crowd.



the crowd gathers


frame coming together

fiberglass cover and flat black painted absorber bottom.

mesh drying racks

still skeptical huh?!


my best helper and i after a job well done

taking pre and post weights

world cup whirlwind

i wasn't planning on going but while waiting for a friend at the hospital I saw a travel agency and decided for curiosity sake to see how much a ticket would be. To my astonishment rwandair had a 500$ round trip promotion. I couldn't pass that up, out came the plastic and 10 hours later, russ and I arrived in Johannesburg. Everything immediately buzzed of excitement too hard to describe.

on the flight down i noticed that it was really foggy just past lake tanganika on the rwandan congo border. what i thought was fog turned out to be smoke, the entire flight over congo, namibia, zambia, zimbabwe, botswana, and south africa was smoldering from what i assume (you know what they say about assuming) are agricultural fires for clearing land.

lake tanganika (rwanda, burundi, congo border)
somewhere

zimbabwe?

This trip was blessed with divine intervention from the start, as we arrived without hostel reservations but promptly ran into folks we had met in Zanzibar a month earlier who were waiting on a free shuttle to their backpackers hostel momentarily. they called ahead and there were two cancellations after turning away 58 people during the day. My aussie bunkmate at the hostel immediately asked if i wanted a ticket to the us v ghana game. Mission accomplished. I spent a very cold night (30F) there (this is africa right?) and in the morning joined the group going to pretoria, an hour north, for the chile v spain game. We arrived in the capital, a cool bustling city, reminiscent of a us college town - think madison, wis - booked a guest house and walked the two blocks to the city center and stadium and watched the brazil v portugal game in the city square on a huge screen tv. The crowd represented the united nations; flags and faces covered in paint and beer. Every other conversation in a new language.

jill and i in hatfield square in pretoria before chile v spain

chileno goading spainish supporters

girls with spainards

spainards

chilenos

hatfield square was packed

I was unsure of the ticket scalping situation as fifa had instituted regulations to deter fraud but given the half-empty stadiums they were facing I think they relaxed. Regardless there were no tickets to be had after 2 hours of my most obnoxious american efforts. 10 minutes after kickoff I heard a motorcycle policeman, of all people, was selling tickets, even with my sub 10 sec 40 speed I couldn't catch his bmw. I turn to leave and see a south African guy with a ticket. It's for a "partially obstructed view" seat 80$ face value, I offer 50$ and he hands me the ticket. I run past my fellow scalpers beaming like charlie with the golden ticket and find my seat. I keep walking lower and lower til I'm at the second row at the 18-yard line. Apparently the view is "partially obstructed" by the players heads cause I can see their nosehairs!!! david villa, fernando torres, gerard piqué, carlos puyol, andres iniesta, yup all there 50 feet away. Unfortunately my chilenos lost 3-1 but still it was worth 50$. *pictures to follow

June 26 2010 will live on in infamy: us v ghana in the round of 16. We rented a right-handed car and because no one drove straight drive I was given the duty of driving 7 Americans to rustenburg. We had heard that the stadium was outside of a crap town and to plan three hours of traffic to get to the park and ride. after an hour of fruitless searching for accommodations we found an apartment complex 2km away from the arena in an admittedly sketchy area. That settled we headed to the bar packed with americans and led the promenade to the stadium vuvuzelas ablaze!!! The game was significantly less remarkable a 2-1 result in extra time. African humble pie for dinner. I'm all for african success as long it's not at our expense. 30 minutes we were in bed dabbing our tears on our frigid thin comforters.

"wait a second this is gonna be cool right?"

why did i decide the gay ultimate warrior look was a good idea?

russ and i gettin ready

it was fun before the game

the crew





Next day the group split and russ and I headed to jo-berg for the argentina v mexico game. we arrived and immediately booked a hostel and caught a ride to soccer city with three mexicans two hours before the match to hustle tickets. Incredibly there wasn't an ATM outside this massive modern complex. dejected we started to walk the mile back to the shuttles back to town when someone asked "y'all need tickets?" two Americans let us have their extra tickets until we get inside and we watch a great game, arg 3-1, with the eventual champions, I predict, you heard it here first folks.
The next day I caught a flight back to Rwanda with my zanzibar people who crash at the house for two day before returning to arusha, tanzania.
All in all an amazing(ly expensive) weekend.



traditional south african breakfast, braai, meat meat more meat. great for a hangover and to drown your sorrows after an american loss the next morning.

russ looking a little rough the next morning