Mile-high broccoli

Because the UN are so omnipresent here, and because I am so dependent on them for technical and logistical support in doing my job, this week has basically been a crash course in UN peacekeeping operations for me. Apart from dispelling some of the stereotypes I had about the military and brushing up on my Spanish with the Uruguayan and Guatemalan contingents, I now have three helicopter flights under my belt. All very exciting, really!

I’ve now gotten to the point of feeling pretty unfazed about the actual flight, but I still find taking off and landing to be a lot of fun. Especially take-off, where the pilot tests the helicopter by spinning 360o, then tilting from side to side. And the hovering is just so completely different to flying in an aeroplane, it makes me feel like I’m sitting on the wings of a mosquito. Of course, I was careful to conceal any childish excitement from my features lest my weathered colleagues from the military think I was inexperienced in this kind of thing…

The truth is, flying in a helicopter sends me straight to sleep – something about the dim, engulfing roar that permeates through the noise-reducing headphones. In my defence I will say that the view from above in the north of Province Orientale is really pretty monotonous. From time to time, the numbness in my bum (hard, metallic bench) and stiffness in my neck (after my head had dropped forward for the hundredth time) would cause me to lift an eyelid and peer out the window, and all I could think about was broccoli. Mile after mile of broccoli; broccoli that stretched unchallenged to the horizon and beyond.

I hope this picture helps make my case, but I have the sinking feeling that no one else will think these greens tufts of thick treetops look anything like broccoli. Nonetheless, in a moment of rashness I will admit that as I dozed off again, the thought did cross my mind that this was probably what a mosquito flying over a stock of broccoli would see.