Birthday Sunday - not!

5 am - rise and shine... Alex goes to work early on sundays. He volonteers for work practice at Boulangerie "Ferrigno" in Grillon. After one week of mandatory work practice before christmas (all last graders do this!), for which he had chosen our local bakery, he was hooked! He has now decided that it is within the restaurant business he wants to dedicate himself, maybe specializing in "pâtisserie" . So to learn, and help his new friend Rudy, he raises early sunday, to help him with the preparation of bread and cakes.

He also helps out in the shop, since Rudy's wife Christelle is often very busy with their two youngsters (i.e monsters) Timeo and Lea. They've built a great relationship, Rudy and Christelle are a very young couple, full of energy, and they given Alex a lot of responsability, and he has taken it on seriously. Great both ways. And great for us - Alex comes home every sunday with fresh bread and other goodies!
Go back to bed after bringing Alex to work - it is still pitch dark at that time, so going on his bike without headlamp (Bram has taken the good one with him to africa), doesn't feel really safe. Sound asleep, I'm awaken by an early phonecall. Bram calling home to wish me a happy birthday.... which it is not! I think he's forgotten my B-day is the 31st and not the 30th, but he came up with another excuse; he thought it was the 31st! Well... it was cute, but I can see through the excuse ;)

Anyhow, I got the full update! They arrived yesterday in Kasese, one of the bigger cities in Uganda, one day ahead of schedule. Big city? haha... a small dusty town, dirtroad and a 5min drive through. Not nice at all, actually. They arrived quite late, the hotel was terrible with shower that didn't work, humid with no airco and the food they were eventually served, was scary. They decided to stay only the night and find something else, because this place and town, just didn't feel right. So this morning they asked their travel guide to transfer them somewhere else, they still have two full days and nights to spend in this part of the world! 
So he drove them out of town, not very far, and voila.. the Simba Safari Camp. Wonderful place with lodges, restaurant and wild life surroundings, in the Queen Elisabeth Natural Park. Friendly, serviceminded, clean, scenic surroundings, good food and cold beer... Temperature just under 30°C and a breeze... I mean, life IS a bitch! Perfect place to wind down from last weeks climbing and simple living. This afternoon they're off for a boat safari on the Kazinga channel, in the dry season the animals go there to drink, and it's said to contain the world's largest concentration of hippos. Tomorrow they're off for another safari, this one in real Tarzan country, tracking chimpanzees! On Tuesday they leave Kasese and drive through the park of Queen Elisabeth to Bwindi, to track the gorillas...

The mountain trek and climb has been fantastic, with stunning views and great company. They, and 4 other companions (3 austrians and 1 ?), made a great group of 6, with one guide and two porters. The sleeping huts were well tended for and clean, the food was great and the weather exceptional! It was awesome. Not very difficult, of course you feel the altitude, but easy compared to Mont Blanc ! Bram said they're lucky with the weather - the same trek would not have been so great, should they have had rain... it is very muddy, and even now in the dry season, rubber boots are mandatory for a big part of the trek! And that's equal to stinky feet and sweating. With the heat and humidity around the equator - rubber boots is not exactly what you're longing for! Must have been smelly in those huts....
Me and Brigitte wish a great end of the weekend and why not Happy Birthday too - after all, every day is a party... stay tuned! Love Jenny