Afterward, we were off to cruise
the Congo River on a very nice riverboat that would allow me to see some of the
countryside and enjoy some relaxing along the way. From the boat, you can see
Brazzaville (Capital of the Republic of Congo) on the other bank of the river.
As there are no bridges that cross the river, even between these two capitals,
boats are the quickest way to access the other side and occupied islands in the
river. This wide part of the river is called Malebo, for the palm-like trees.
As we traveled along, the shore was too far away for decent pictures, but I continued
to learn much from my conversations with Patrick about the geography, history,
and civil engineering. I learned that Mangengenge was the highest point close
to Kinshasa and several ideas Patrick had for increasing the efficiency of
river transportation. There were many fishermen in their little canoes with
nets cast in the water. It was a lovely day for a cruise such as this. 
 |
| Fishermen |
Later in the day, Clement and
Patrick returned to the airport in an attempt to recover the lost luggage so I
stayed at home with her mom despite protests that I shouldn’t because the
electricity was out. However, once I was there Francoise wanted to know all
about the farming that my family did. With the help of Rosette translating, I
gave a brief introduction to conventional farming in the US and how my family
chooses to farm instead. She was especially interested in rotational grazing
and tractors. I was hoping my speech wasn’t too boring, but she said I did well
for my ‘on the spot’ lecture. Poor Rosette had to work hard translating both
ways, though I think we did successfully get our points across to each other.
Unfortunately, they still were not able to retrieve the luggage due to a huge
traffic jam, so they will try again tomorrow.
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