$2 showers

Still in Kisangani, although due to head east very shortly. I’ll post a map of DRC soon, so you can follow my movements more easily!

I’m currently sitting in pitch blackness, the power having been off for most of the evening. From time to time there is a welcome clicking sound, and then the neon lights briefly flicker on. Sound suddenly returns, as television, radio, refrigerator and air conditioning all simultaneously turn back on amidst sharp, irate beeping. But count to three, and you can be sure it will all rumble off again.

I’m told that the situation has improved considerably since Kisangani received a second turbine, yet a day hasn’t gone by since my arrival one week ago without the power being cut at some point during the day or night (usually both). The truth is, I haven’t really minded so much, but of course I’m only visiting here; I haven’t had to deal with the food in the fridge/freezer going bad, the clothes in the washing machine staying soapy, the meal being only half-cooked, my computer running out of juice just as I was about to click Save, etc. I have, however, suffered from lack of running water.

It’s my own fault, really. On the first day I got here, there was running water – even a semblance of hot water – so I showered happily and ignored the large, ominous bucket in the bathtub. The following day, there was only a dribble, so I laboriously filled the bucket (it took almost 2 hours!) then absurdly used almost all of it to wash. I guess I assumed that in a $65/night hotel, water would not usually be an issue. I spent the next 5 days washing with bottled water!

Come on, if I didn’t include at least one tale of woe about lack of electricity and water, you wouldn’t believe I’d really gone to Africa!