In the absence of Petsmart and bridges...

Just as I sat down to write a quick blog, Asad ran into the house with a huge goat horn hanging out of the side of his mouth. It looks ridiculous. I'm not quite sure how he aquired such a treasure, (I'm a little scared to find out) but lately it has proven to be his new favorite toy and I find it lying around everywhere. In fact, the only way we can get him to play fetch is to throw the goat horn across the yard. Goat horns. Who knew? He couldn't be happier though.

Anyway, I don't have anything terribly interesting to write about today and certainly don't want to digress into describing everything my dog attempts to drag into the house. Bryan and I are heading out of town tomorrow to (hopefully) attend a traditional ceremony in a nearby community so I wanted to write before we left. I'm not sure how long we will be gone as details on the occasion are proving hard to come by, but hopefully I will have more interesting things to describe when we get home.

It's been an incedibly pleasant week. You wouldn't believe how cool and wet it has been lately with the rains coming more and more frequently. If you popped in for a visit right now you would think I was the biggest liar in the world for complaining about the heat of a few months ago. On the mornings I have to put my fleece on while eating breakfast I almost doubt my memory too. The hill behind our house is so green now it looks like something in an exotic golf course. The other day we drove out of town and passed through a small village by a stream meandering through rolling hills. I swear it looked like an image from an alternate reality - like a Scottish countryside colonized by Africa years ago. It's downright bizarre - and so beautiful.

As welcome as the rain has been, we did run into our first complication because of it a few days ago. We had made a trip out to a village about 50 kilometers away to visit a friend who and moved there recently, and ended up spending the night in his home. When we got ready to leave the next day however, we found the river we had easily crossed in the ATV the day before was now swollen and rushing with brown water after a night full of rain. We spent about an hour on the banks of the river calculating depth, velocity, inclines and power, and weighing how much we wanted to get home before dark against how stupid we would feel if submerged our vehicle in a seasonal river for six months. After discussion and critical analysis with a handful of curious soldiers, herdsmen and a few women passing by to get water, we finally decided that there was a good chance that the river was at its lowest point until the dry season begins again, and if we wanted to get this thing home before Thanksgiving, this was our shot. With the help of amused onlookers, Bryan dug out a new path down the river bank to a shallower point of entry into the water. My job was to stand out of the way and video the whole thing, while praying to high heaven the whole time that it would work. I wish so badly our internet connection would allow me to upload the video here because it really is amazing. Needless to say, we all made it home, a little damp, but pretty impressed with our little beast of a machine. She may not be a Land Cruiser, but she can hold her own.
However, it has rained hard every day since we have been back so I can only imagine what the river is like now. When we go back tomorrow we are planning on just leaving the ATV on this side of the river, and crossing on foot. She may be a beast but there is no reason to press our luck!

This picture was taken on the way in - before all the rain.