Kisantu!!!!

Yesterday we went to the botanical gardens of Kinsantu. It took about 3 hours to get there on our bus and the scenery is beautiful! Getting there was a lot of fun…amazing how the cars here function, they pile up sooo much stuff and somehow it still manages to work. Even through the dirt roads where pavement seizes to exist. J On se debrouille! Here, they make it work, no matter what; there is always ingenuity—something we have begun to loose in the ‘western’ world.

The ride there with the scenery and singing from everyone was wonderful; there is so much life and it’s always non-stop laughter.

In the botanical gardens I finally saw other people that weren’t Congolese or working were I am. It’s so rare to see foreigners in my neighborhood that I was almost shocked. And even better, some of the foreigners we saw later on in the garden were Chinese. A lot of Chinese have come here for the precious minerals the DRC provides. There is currently an agreement with the Chinese and DRC governments—in exchange for the Chinese fixing all the roads (really its starting from scratch because of the conditions they are in) the Congolese government will allow them access to the minerals found here. A sad arrangement knowing how much more the Chinese are gaining. One only hopes that the maintenance of the roads built will be kept up, because that in the end will be the problem.

I promise more pics, but the uploading here takes forever!! I have to figure out another system.