This, that and a few pics

Today has been another field day, met one of the groups that I might visit for some more indepth discussions/interviews, a little bit south of FP towards Kasese (and then of course a couple of km down a dirt road). We've also called a ton a people to invite for meetings during the next two weeks - luckily, life here is pretty flexible so it seems that people can generally make it to full-day activities even when invited just like a week before (at least this kind of people). Now I just have to figure out what we're doing during these meetings, so I don't waste their time (and my own for that matter). I'm very glad I am collaborating with T, he is making my life so much easier and we have a good time together. We're doing one here in FP, one in Kasese which is good because the drive there is gorgeous, and one in a district west of here called Bundibugyo which will be interesting because it has been described to me as "troubled", with occasional ethnic violence (it's bordering the DRC) and an ebola outbreak a couple of years ago. I have a feeling not too many muzungus go there, not that it's dangerous, but a bit off the beaten track.

What else... I've learned how to count to ten in Rutoro (always something), we still have generator issues but I'm enjoying my lantern-lit evenings, I am perfectly healthy (thus far) despite meals at some pretty rough roadside restaurants (which always serve a selection of different kinds of carbs i.e. matoke, posho, rice, sweet potatoes - take your pick - with a scary looking but well cooked chunk of beef and/or beans in some kind of sauce), and I got a 10-visit-pass to the divine pool at the fancy hotel up the road and am planning on using it in a very near future. If I'm not too lazy tomorrow, I might go off to explore some crater lakes.

The road into Fort Portal from Boma. Note the well loaded matoke bike.

Words of wisdom. One of the organizations in the network is a beekeepers' association where I bought some honey which then leaked all over my bag. Great. Tastes good though. They are having some issues because the honey comes from lots of very small producers, so the bees feed on lots of different plants, making it hard to control flavor and to label. Sometimes bees feed on giant lobelia up in the mountains, which gives all the honey a bitter aftertaste (I tasted some "polluted" honey in the making - it is indeed a bit funky)

Possibly one of "my" farmer groups, having a meeting outside the village church where a "prayer" was going on i.e. signing and drumming for a good hour. Not so great for their meeting, but nice for me since I don't get much of what they're talking about but at least had something to listen to.

A sweet little calf munching on matoke peel. One farmer in the group has a farm that functions as a "demonstration farm" and his son showed us around. It's so cool with these little farms that do a million things, with innovations everywhere you look. It was also cool to see a young guy so ínto farming. I bought some of their banana wine, which is surprisingly tasty. 

Before heading back we took a walk to visit a priest friend of T's. We didn't find him, but we did find about a million kids who seemingly skipped class to run out and look at the rare muzungu.
 

My bedroom, minus power.