day nineteen: back in paradise?

I don’t think I’ll get tired of taking on the rough road back through the scenic side of South Sudan.  The drivers certainly won’t…one small error of judgement and you could be stranded for days.  With each passing you can see the cost of unfortunate faults.  Livelihoods and livestock don’t survive particularly well when stranded on deserted roads.  With every truck stumped in the mud you tend to find a few goats lying waste on the side. 

another unfortunate

But with death there is also life and my favourites happen to be the tiny swamp butterflies that sit by the puddles that cover the crevasses.  The sound of land rovers soar them into the air as they turn from green parasitic-looking beasts into a brilliant array of yellow and white winged beauties.  You could spend the whole journey taking photos of the largest flocks of them, but that’s a quick-fire way to nausea.  Then again, so is stopping for lunch at the halfway trading centre, despite how hungry you thought you were.

swamp butterflies!

Arriving back in Juba and any previous feelings of isolation quickly disappear…my internet comes with a cable, and there are people staying where I stay too!  I head to the nearby Ethiopian place, mainly for their aromatic meat and injera, and it turns out Juba even has pub quizzes!  I was feeling happy in my little ice box back in Torit but its amazing how quickly the little things like variety eating and an Oxford accent become like extravagances… I have to keep reminding myself that it’s only been 19 days since the Bonnieland.

But you can imagine how little I cared to be told that it may be a while still before I head to Khartoum.  The skyscrapers in the desert can wait while I indulge.