This weekend I succeeded in making myself battered, sore, bitten and grazed. It was worth it!
The DRC boasts Africa’s most active volcano. It towers over Goma at 3,470m high and in 2002 flattened the city when it blew up. The Volcano is also the main tourist attraction in Goma, and last weekend I climbed it.
I cannot really say the experience was fun, or that it is necessarily one to repeat. But -Oh my! You have to do it once, just for the view from the top. If you have ever sat gazing mesmerised by a fire just think how much more captivating is the burning hot lava of the crater and the roar of the volcano beneath you.
I went with Loyse, my friend from work. I now have a range of French phrases associated with body parts being in clouds and hurting feet which will continue to expand my dinner party conversation.
The climb took us 5 hours. It was uphill all the way. Loyse, demonstrating her Swiss roots, noted that the Congolese do not go in for the European windy footpaths that allow a gradual climb. No instead they go for the shortest distance between A and B and ignore anything that gets in the way. I was glad that we took advantage of the relaxed child labour laws in the Congo and hired porters at the bottom. I don’t think I could have carried myself and a tent to the top.
The porters are fantastic they and the guide can climb this Volcano up to three times a week with fully loaded back packs while wearing Wellington boots or flip flops. (If you have any spare climbing boots at home send them to the DRC park commission.) The money you pay them generally goes back to supporting their families or for paying for schooling during the week. Two of them were practicing geography homework on the way back down.
The scenery was breathtaking. You start with an hours hike through forest before moving onto the lava flow of 2002. At the bottom this is lots of loose rocks, each ready to twist your ankle. As you climb, the rock becomes denser, and the loose stones become more infrequent. It is a bit like climbing over a large dragon. The stones are red and black with ripples and cracks from where the rock cooled. Halfway up you reach the start of the 2002 lava flow. As you go above it the vegetation gets older and you return to forest. The trees are all really short as you are so close to the cloud line. The last bit is the steepest, all up hill and vegetation dies away. And then you are at the top looking back over Goma and down into the crater.
We climbed up on Saturday, camped at the top, and then made the decent on Sunday. If you want to experience an uncomfortable night try sleeping at the top of a volcano. You are above the clouds, and even in Africa, that means it is chilly. I took with me every warm piece of clothing I had and borrowed jumpers from others. You would think that four jumpers, two pairs of trousers, three pairs of socks, a sleeping mat, ground mat and tent would be enough to keep you warm. You would be wrong. I am not sure what kept me awake more, the cold, the rocks or the wind. I do know that morning was a welcome relief.
On Sunday we started back down. In parts my legs decided that they had done enough work for one weekend and so let my bottom have a go instead. I gained some great scrapes due to those pesky loose rocks. Going down is definitely easier than going up. I learnt that gravity is my friend.
In all it took us 5 hours up and four hours back down. I think this was due to the perfect conditions more than our physical fitness. The guide decided we were lucky. We had beautiful weather on both days - no rain, not to hot. The crater was clear and we even saw a blue monkey on the descent.
It has been three days since I got back. This morning was the first time I woke up without my legs hurting. We have been providing great amusement amongst our friends for our John Wayne walks. Those who have been up and lived to tell the tale are sympathetic, others just laugh.
I have three weeks left in the DRC. I filled my flight request in today for the 18th August. I am currently playing at FC while Helen is away. This is proving to be great fun. I generally get to order large amounts of cash and then refuse to pay anyone who cannot provide me with things signed in triplicate. Tomorrow I get to talk to the drugs supplier about certificates and start the Goma fixed asset verification – it is almost like being at work! If anyone wants to take up the reigns once Helen leaves then contact GOAL they are currently recruiting - must have some financial background and want to climb a volcano.
Wednesday 25 July 2007
Tuesday 10 July 2007
The DRC mellows
I’ve made it to week three. On my original plans I should be getting ready to pack my bags and head over to Malawi, instead I am settling down for (at the latest count up) five more weeks. And I’m really looking forward to them. It would have been a shame to leave now. I have only just started to know everyone’s names at work and more importantly in the pub. Plus I am getting more confident in my absolute lack of French and have come to the conclusion that speaking English slowly with the odd French word thrown in for fun is a lot less confusing for everyone than making them struggle through my bad pronunciation or for that matter vocabulary.
I have not given up on learning French completely. Helen taught me lots of kitchen implements while making an omelet this week. My French now extends to being able to describe omelet making in great detail. A useful conversation filler! This weekend I am going shopping with Loyse (My lovely Swiss flat mate who does HR for GOAL here) so I am hopeful that I may be able to extend my repertoire to fabric buying at the market. My polite conversation will make me an asset at any French dinner party.
The last two weeks have seen me continuing to ticking at work. Thankfully the 2006 audit is almost finished and I just need to submit a final report. The work is a little dull but my main bugbear is that, here, 2006 is a longtime ago. Next week I start reviewing 2007 to see if things have improved and whether the controls they have introduced actually do what they say on the packet.
Not everything is work. Last week I attended a UN award ceremony. The troupes receive a medal for every 6month term they serve in the DRC. Most terms are for a year. This time the award ceremony was a little special as the unit was also receiving a general recommendation from the UN secretary general for their actions during fighting earlier this year. The day consisted of a parade, speeches (thankfully in English), and then a cultural display and lunch.
The cultural display was very unusual as it consisted of four dances performed by different troupes. My favorite was the one where the guys waved silk scarves while wearing colourful pajamas. This may make more sense if I explain that the troupes station in DRC are an Indian regiment. Lunch was curry and ice cream. Hurray for the UN who are the sole providers of ice cream in the country!
This weekend instead of packing my bags I will be making a cake, watching the Wimbledon finals (if electricity is returned), going to the market and trying to find out if Pimms has made it to the DRC by trawling through the ‘Jesu’ shops in town. (All shops in town generally have Jesu somewhere in the title whether they are the tailors or the general convenience store.)
If anyone has a good cake recipe that needs only basic ingredients please send it on. At the moment the only cake recipe Loyse and I can remember is the four part milk, sugar, flour, butter combination with chocolate chips thrown in for good measure. A carrot cake recipe would go down really well.
Internet was down this weekend so you can have the follow up email too.
The weekend was great fun. Learnt absolutely no French (nothing new!) but did manage to have a dinner party for 9. Not bad when the cooker does not work! We originally expected four, but Joanne (lovely irish friend with Concern) was out with friends and brought them along too. Thankfully she did give us a couple of hours warning – at least long enough to double the pasta, cut up some more veg and dash to the office for a couple more plates.
Cake was a huge success. A fruit tart for Saturday (in the style of M&S) with pie base and custard/mouse middle and fruit on top. I think Loyse was concerned with my original plan custard and fruit! Plus how do you cook a mango? But I put her fears to rest when we found packet mouse and left the dessert in the freezer. I have managed to win the Swiss over to cold fruit pie – Hurray.
Made chocolate brownies for a friends Sunday BBQ. I have finally worked out who uses the recipes on the back of packets – I do! Hurray for the coco powder people they made me many friends at the BBQ.
Pimms has not made it to the DRC – To bad!
I have not given up on learning French completely. Helen taught me lots of kitchen implements while making an omelet this week. My French now extends to being able to describe omelet making in great detail. A useful conversation filler! This weekend I am going shopping with Loyse (My lovely Swiss flat mate who does HR for GOAL here) so I am hopeful that I may be able to extend my repertoire to fabric buying at the market. My polite conversation will make me an asset at any French dinner party.
The last two weeks have seen me continuing to ticking at work. Thankfully the 2006 audit is almost finished and I just need to submit a final report. The work is a little dull but my main bugbear is that, here, 2006 is a longtime ago. Next week I start reviewing 2007 to see if things have improved and whether the controls they have introduced actually do what they say on the packet.
Not everything is work. Last week I attended a UN award ceremony. The troupes receive a medal for every 6month term they serve in the DRC. Most terms are for a year. This time the award ceremony was a little special as the unit was also receiving a general recommendation from the UN secretary general for their actions during fighting earlier this year. The day consisted of a parade, speeches (thankfully in English), and then a cultural display and lunch.
The cultural display was very unusual as it consisted of four dances performed by different troupes. My favorite was the one where the guys waved silk scarves while wearing colourful pajamas. This may make more sense if I explain that the troupes station in DRC are an Indian regiment. Lunch was curry and ice cream. Hurray for the UN who are the sole providers of ice cream in the country!
This weekend instead of packing my bags I will be making a cake, watching the Wimbledon finals (if electricity is returned), going to the market and trying to find out if Pimms has made it to the DRC by trawling through the ‘Jesu’ shops in town. (All shops in town generally have Jesu somewhere in the title whether they are the tailors or the general convenience store.)
If anyone has a good cake recipe that needs only basic ingredients please send it on. At the moment the only cake recipe Loyse and I can remember is the four part milk, sugar, flour, butter combination with chocolate chips thrown in for good measure. A carrot cake recipe would go down really well.
Internet was down this weekend so you can have the follow up email too.
The weekend was great fun. Learnt absolutely no French (nothing new!) but did manage to have a dinner party for 9. Not bad when the cooker does not work! We originally expected four, but Joanne (lovely irish friend with Concern) was out with friends and brought them along too. Thankfully she did give us a couple of hours warning – at least long enough to double the pasta, cut up some more veg and dash to the office for a couple more plates.
Cake was a huge success. A fruit tart for Saturday (in the style of M&S) with pie base and custard/mouse middle and fruit on top. I think Loyse was concerned with my original plan custard and fruit! Plus how do you cook a mango? But I put her fears to rest when we found packet mouse and left the dessert in the freezer. I have managed to win the Swiss over to cold fruit pie – Hurray.
Made chocolate brownies for a friends Sunday BBQ. I have finally worked out who uses the recipes on the back of packets – I do! Hurray for the coco powder people they made me many friends at the BBQ.
Pimms has not made it to the DRC – To bad!
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