(1) A Safe Plane
The beginning of our trip was a plane ride from busy Kinshasa to sleepy Lodja. We got to board the safe plane, which made 92.7% of my anxiety concerning the trip disappear. Unfortunately, the CEI (Comité Eléctorale Indépendante) had rented the cargo space for its computers and printers to register people for voting, so we had to leave behind some auto-claves, markers and flipcharts for the evaluation and a few drugs behind.


(2) Antonia Again
I staid at the brother's place in Lodja and was happy to hang out with Antonia again. She seemed in good spirits but her energy was considerably lower than usual, perhaps owing to the recent bout of stomach troubles (seems like children gave her rotten fruit again).


(3) How to Fix a Car Tire the Real' Old Fashion Way
We spend the next morning fixing care tires the old fashion way. I remember having to do the same thing to my bike tire but, trust me, this is considerably more work. We set off two hours late, which isn't bad considering African time.


(4) A Motorcycle
We were lucky enough to find space in the vehicle but some of our collegues had to use motorcycles--which doesn't leave much room for your personal belonging when you have to bring as many containers of fuel as you can carry.


(5) A Possum and a Posse
Apparently this is not a possum but rather a forest rat. These boys were selling the rat to interested travellers. After finding out that the meat was two days old, a sister decided against purchasing the meat to prepare for dinner.