Fountain and River

I worked most of the weekend, so was thrilled to get out of the office/guest house/same old lunch restaurant and finally see something else in Juba. What we saw was a 'resort' called Oasis, which has one of the best fountains I've ever seen:

Yep, that's a gorilla spewing water out of its mouth.

We sat and watched the Nile flow quite rapidly past us, but unfortunately there was no breeze and we got stickier and sticker as we sat in the shade. Sweatiness aside, it was a very pleasant spot to sit with a Tusker or two (or three), and the below photo made me wonder if once upon a time a certain captain had had a few too many Tuskers too...

I've only got a week and a half left in South Sudan - I'm hoping to get out to one of our field sites later this week, but then will depend on the security situation. Otherwise, it looks like I'll have a grand total of 7 photos from South Sudan!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Here's a birthday song just for you!

Cat, the cat

This is Cat.

Cat was my friend Marion's cat (Marion used to live here but left the wilds of Juba a while ago), but she's a communal cat now. I'm assured that she's been vaccinated for rabies. Cat is ridiculously friendly, not very cat-like at all. Whenever I sit down I can bet that within a few minutes, Cat will be on my lap, purring away happily (and causing me to overheat completely).

She's also a bit naughty, as I often find her shut in the kitchen, curled up on one of the dining table chairs...can't blame her, it's nice and cool in there. But she's a pretty good sport about it and will usually follow me out, or at least not bite me when I pick her up to put her outside again.

Cat is a much better cat than the 6+ other cats of various sizes that roam the compound. They're all scraggly and look like this:

Crazy eyes.

So now you've just about seen as much of Juba as I have: the road, the restaurant, and the Cat!

VaMP

There's a great little spot for lunch not far from the office. It's known as the VaMP cafe and fast food restaurant (yesterday pork chop, today ham & cheese toastie). What I really like is that VaMP stands for "Vegetable and Meat Pharmacy".

It's not "Vegetables, Meat, Pharmacy" where you go to pick up your groceries and your prescriptions, but the place you go to have all your carnivorous or vegetarian lunch needs dispensed (no prescription necessary).

A photo

This is what my neighbourhood in Juba looks like - very sandy and dusty, with rocky roads and barbed wire, and plastic bottles strewn everywhere. I haven't seen any other parts of Juba yet so I couldn't say how representative this photo is...we'll just have to wait and see.