better a bumpy road to where you want to be, than a smooth one that gets you lost

 

A friend of mine told me that the road between Juba and Torit would be like riding a horse…I can tell you it was more like five hours on an angry bull!  X5s need not apply… Every season the roads are treated to a fresh coating of sand, rock and mud; only for the rains to wash away the majority of it.  Add a few military and cargo trucks and you have a very traitorous jaunt between two of South Sudan’s state capitals.  Repairs continue on a ‘volunteer’ basis…that is, one guy with a bucket of cement every 40 miles or so.  Simply ‘going through the puddles’ isn’t a good tactic either; you never know how deep those rabbit holes go.  We didn’t, but the poor souls stationary in 3-wheeled tragedies were all too aware…!

This country is beautifoool! It’s good to finally see more of it.  All along the road runs alternating patterns of civilian and military settlements.  While the SPLA barracks resemble quickly thrown up hay shacks, the civilian settlements comprise of tenderly crafted huts from the usual mix of mud and straw.

Despite what a wise man from Skyros told me, goats DO NOT run from the paths of vehicles here!  With each settlement, the sight of a vehicle brings a sea of waves from the children while women continue with the work… men with the resting.

With a sore ass and numb everything, I finally arrived in Torit late last night at the Merlin (Medical Relief International) compound.  But the irony of being surrounded by the hoard of mosquitoes that have infested the interior of this place, whilst medical professionals look seemingly un-phased, is not the relaxing end to the day I was after at all.  Neither was the choice of Big Brother Africa over the Chelsea – Arsenal game but you can’t win ‘em all!  I had sleep to catch up on and a Ministry of Peace to teach mapping to…but thanks to a thunder storm to end all thunder storms, the sleeping part'll have to wait for another night.

ps. Happy Birthday Daddio, they don't have Jameson here anyway =)