Rainy season

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13 November 2011, Mongomo

Well, it has proven that this is the rainy season with rain every day and most nights for the last 3 or 4 days. And this after teasing us with the outlook of an early end with sunny days and no rain for several days. Oh well. It is the rainy season for a reason.

And as you can see from the date, it is Sunday again. This time there are no trips into town planned...there was but it was canceled...as it seems that nothing will be open anyway. Today is election day with the people voting on a few constitutional items like limited terms for the president, etc and something about water and electricity.

I had walked to the patisserie down the road (which I have discovered is really French in heart and spirit, as well as in croissants and coffee) but they were closed this morning. I just tried them again and they were still closed. Bloody election time is inconvenient. I could taste the chocolate croissants!!!

Well, work has moved along so nicely (photo 2) that it looks like we are going to finish what we were sent to do and after discussions within the group, it was decided to inquire about getting me out of here early. The request was honored so I will be leaving next Sunday and getting home on Monday in the early afternoon. That will make a two months trip instead of 3.

That said, we did have a bit of a slow down with a local building contractor last week. We had to move him out of our way, destroy what he had built and then put duct work right though where he had been. See photo 3... Need I say more?

I am looking forward to sitting in a nice warm tub, drinking some nice Portuguese wine, eating grilled swordfish, hugging dog and wife (though not necessarily in that order) and just getting acquainted with our new home. I am not holding my breath in fear though as after 27 years, I can pretty much expect what I will be confronted with.

I will not miss the food here, that is for sure. The cook has great potential but it is just not showing each meal due to various situations, like some half-wit doing the shopping for him, late salary every month and other such unnecessary complications. That said, there could be a bit more care in prep and conservation of food. The toast at breakfast last week had mold on it. Really? You prepare and serve molded bread?

That said, I mentioned to the project manager this morning I had found the door to the small freezer open about an inch. The water for ice was just that, water. The project manager tried to blame it off and I pointed out that lets not blame, just see to it that any perishables in there get thrown away and not served. His response was, “Nah, let them get food poisoning for leaving it open.” I had a look in the freezer at that moment and saw there was no food in there. I have to eat that food too. It sure will be nice to have control of my own food again. And no, he is not smart enough for that to have been humor.

Sorry for the negative paragraphs above but I did need to bitch about food. I will not be too negative from here forward.

Sometime this week, I will be trying to change any left over XAF's into Euros. Then, Saturday I travel to Bata, catch a flight to Malabo, check into a hotel and catch the 1030PM flight on Sunday for Frankfurt, That should all deliver enough material for one last blog about the Africa adventure for this trip. I will be making the transition back to blogging about Europe, Portugal and such soon...

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