Elondi

We spent last Sunday afternoon going to a village about 2 1/2 hours away where some of Orcxance’s distant relatives live.

The roads are pretty terrible but Orcxance did a great job navigating all the intense potholes and washed out places and we didn’t get stuck once, although I’m sure we came close many times. Orcxance wanted me to try driving too so on the short stretch of road that’s not bad, I drove.

We enjoyed talking and listening to pop Congolese music and admiring the scenery and talking some more during the 5 hours we spent on the road.

We didn’t stay there long because we didn’t want to get back too late. The whole time we were there people just kept giving us food. We didn’t actually eat there but we came home with fish, pondu, mosaka, mfufu, koko, juice and soda. Most of this is the traditional kind of food that’s cooked in the village way. I cannot cook many of these things properly so it’s a treat for Orcxance to get to have it cooked by someone else (although he can cook it himself just fine) and thankfully we have a fridge so the food will last several days.

It took Molly a few minutes to figure out what to do with the crowd of children who came to stare at us; but pretty soon she was running around chasing chickens and trying to sweep the yard.

The last hour we were driving in the dark but despite some road challenges we made it home safely. It was a really fun trip and the girls did well, all things considered.