And then there were two

Again

Home sweet home  

I could feel my skin drying out in the bush taxi up north last week.  Literally.  

Getting home was a saga in and of itself.  On Saturday, in Bassar, we hung out with an RPCV from the 60s who is now an archaeology professor.  He's been doing research on iron smelting in west Kara.  He's found evidence of iron smelting since 400 BCE.  One of the pumps we replaced is apparently right in the middle of a iron smelting/communal grave site that he's been excavating   He was really cool to talk to.  Knows more about Togolese history than any 3 books Ive read. 

Sunday, the saga of D's electricity and her douchebag landlord came to an end when the people from the power company finally brought her her own counter.  I dont think i have ever been so pissed at someone in my life as i have been at her (absentee) landlord. 

Monday, I finally made it home.  Bike Paul (the guy who does bike training/repair for PC) came to Bina on his bike repair tour.  He tuned up D's bike.  She tested it and crashed in a ditch.  My first hint that something was wrong was when I saw a bunch of people suddenly sprint down the road where she was.  But I got a free ride up to Kouka.  In a PC Landrover, this took about 45 minutes.  With A/C.  It took Bike Paul about an hour to fix my bike.  It had issues. 

I got home and Tadji came out to say hi.  Then Ninghan came out to hiss at me.  Then they kissed.  The funny thing was that Petite had been feeding them for the 10 days I was gone and hadnt realized that Nighan was back.  She came out while I was sitting on my porch.  My whole family was agog.  Seriously.

Hot season is here.  It is house building season.  This lets me indulge my inner child and play with mud.  So, to build a house here, they make mud brick.  For the foundation they use chunks of lava rock, set in mud.  Then they start with the brick.  Its pretty fun.  I like mortaring the brick in place.  With mud.  I set a course along one side of the house by myself and Ntifoni was like "Daniel, tu es bon."

I wake up at least twice a night to roll out of my current sweat puddle and find a dry spot.  If I drug myself to sleep.  The heat lingers in the shadows during hot season.  Especially after the sun goes down.  The wind picks up, so its bearable outside, but inside its stifling.  Sometimes I think that Im stewing in my own body heat.