We invited Ben for breakfast, first to be neighborly and because he is a nice guy, but also because several bananas got squished on the way home and Connie made a batch of her soon-to-be famous banana pancakes. Then Ben and I went to the center to paint while Connie did laundry. We decided on smaller loads more often as it seems to take longer for clothing to dry here than in Kalinzu.
The painting is reminiscent of DeWildt – the molting brushes, the (probably toxic) enamel paint, the cobwebs and wasps – and just as unpleasant. And like DeWildt, it is muzungu work. The natives wouldn’t even help move the picnic tables we use as scaffolds, let alone pick up a brush. We finished up the white paint inside (not the work, just the paint) and began on the outside red oxide. We will need more of both so we have a bonafied reason to go to Masindi tomorrow.
It rained hard this afternoon but we had bathed this morning so it was mostly wasted. Three Italians, Guido. Enzo and Timme, came in from their forest walk. They are circumnavigating Africa in a Land Rover they shipped from Genoa. But they are doing it in stages and storing the truck during their returns to Italy. They have been forced to travel with armed guards through Somalia and northern Kenya but haven’t had any problems since they picked up the Land Rover in Djibouti.
When they arrived Ben went into the forest to fetch a guide for them and saw a (deadly) puff adder which lead to a discussion on snakes, another of Ben’s passions. At 24 he is quite the naturalist and, if his herpetological exploits continue, is unlikely to ever see 30.
As promised Sally and Joseph dropped by with two 5-gallon water jugs and a handy pump; 20,000/= for the pump, 9.000/= for the water. I think we will lunch there tomorrow on our market run and also check out the internet.
