Here’s a small showcase of my latest adventure to the US Virgin Islands’ most southern member, St. Croix.

Days are spent diving on the north shore wall or the west pier wrecks while nights are slow with plenty of rum and Presidente to drink at the few local bars near my house.  On my days off, you can see I’ve been busy planting a new garden a bit smaller and more urban than the famed Ngobi Garden.  The best perk besides getting paid to work here is the lack of air conditioning from the open air house, playing in the ocean, or just riding my bike to work.

The pictures tell it all so have a look at my house and garden, the Cane Bay Dive Shop, the beach, and a great shot of the entire island from north to south taken after getting lost on a 3 hour hike to the tidal pools.

3 days off from hiking Mount Elgon on the eastern border of Uganda, Joan and I  set out for the far western border in search of the mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.  After a night in Kampala enjoying lobster and ice cream, we missed the only bus to Bwindi at 5:30am only to catch up with it in another city a few hours later. After riding on the dirtiest bus on the worst road in all of Uganda, I wished we had missed it completely because any other form of transport would have been an improvement. Murky floors, locals vomiting nearby, over crowding, frequent stops, speeding, were all present on this bus from hell.  Good thing we had to take the exact same bus all the way back to Kampala on Friday.

Once we were in Bwindi, the landscape was lush and bountiful confirming my belief that the south west of Uganda is the prettiest of all.  Tea and matoke plantations, livestock, crops, rain.  The only way somebody goes hungry over there is to be a lazy bum.

On Thursday the 18th, we tracked for 3 hours to see a group of five gorillas. Luckily, we saw them for 30 minutes on the ground eating leaves and playing with each other, then the last 30 minutes they spent eating berrys from the tree.  One black back male gorilla came over to Joan to sniff and touch her arm.  The others came close to check out the humans but the old daddy silver back kept his stoic distance always watching over the group.  Each day the park sends out 3 groups of eight tourist to track 3 separate families and can only be around them for only 1 hour.  It was an expensive ordeal but worth every cent when you think that you are 1 or 170,000 people that have seen 5 of 700 gorillas in the world since 1993.

Located on the border of Uganda and Kenya, Mount Elgon’s summit sits at 4321 meters above sea level.  Joan and I took a 3 hours taxi from Jinja to Sipi River Lodge for a week to see the water falls and to hike the mountain.  Our hiking journey took 3 days and the other 2 days were spent hiking around the hotel to see the waterfalls and to abseil down the 120 meter waterfall just below the hotel. Although it was rainy most of the time, I enjoyed camping again just like in Boy Scouts with Dad and Chris.  Fires, tents, hot chocolate, wet shoes and socks, simple foods, and great views at the top.

A full 12 hour day of traveling crammed into a dirty, smelly, scary bus gets you from Jinja to Katunguru just outside of the Queen Elizabeth National Park gates on the eastern slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains providing the division between The Congo and Uganda. Driving to the town, you cross into national park reserved land where it is endless, open savanna.  We started screaming with joy in the bus full of Ugandans as we spotted elephants grazing just before sunset.  They were all amused at the foreigners being so excited to see animals in the wild.

Tuesday night, we sampled the local rolex and beer selection.  Our new found Ugandan friends laughed and danced with us for a few song while others laughed as we became that evenings entertainment.

Tracie, Erin and I trekked out here in search of lions devouring gazelles, hippos fighting crocodiles, and elephants trampling water buffalo.  We didn’t witness any bloodshed, but all of those furry and shiny critters were there in full force. Wednesday was dedicated to safari as we set out at sunrise for a 3 hour game drive looking for lions on the prowl.  We learned the hard way that lions rest 23 hours of the day and only eat every 3rd day.  The afternoon party boat safari was more exciting as we saw a herd? of 20 elephants,  numerous water buffalo, and hippos resting in the water.  Most of the people on the boat were concerned with all of the damn birds flying around, but we were blood thirst hoping something, ANYTHING would become predator and prey right before our eyes.  Nothing like that happened. All in all, the animals didn’t make the trip a success; It was my travel companions that provided me with the most amount of happiness.

The trip ended with a couple of nights in Kampala to re-acclimate ourselves with city life, cold beer, loud music, and people staring at us instead of the elephants and lions.

For the past 5 weeks, I’ve been visiting a cooperative garden just north of Jinja.  A group of 160 HIV positive Ugandans come to learn about and grow vegetables not native to Ugandan diets.  They grow many different types of lettuce, carrots, okra, onion, tomatoes, just to name a few, instead of  bananas, cassava, beans, and corn so that everyone is benefiting from a balanced diet.  They take the skills learned each Thursday and apply them to their own gardens to boost their immune system which combats HIV, malaria, and other viruses.

The group is chaired by Patrick, our mentor for the Ngobi garden.  He teaches these people along with myself about gardening.  He also has his group involved in a pine tree farming project to provide an income for the members and to help the environment.  And on top of that, he is one of the nicest people I have met here.  He cares for 9 orphans and his 2 cows shown below.  Anytime I need advice he is excited to share and is always giving especially when we visit other gardens,  I can’t leave without an arm full of fresh veggies, a pineapple, and a papaya.

The best part is his motorcycle that has a tag stating “Talinda Dogo” or “It’s not witchcraft” saying that if you want to be successful it is only hard work that stands in your way, nothing else.

For all you city dwelling, paper pushers out there, this garden is just about due for a harvest. You don’t need a green thumb to know when to eat a tomato or pick a head of cabbage. Check out the pictures from today and you’ll start to drool all over that $150 Apple wireless keyboard. And a special shout out goes to those “all organic” softies, no pesticides were used to get the mustard lettuce and carrot to grow this well. The lettuce pictured here grew in about 4 weeks from germination to harvest. I’ve been giving plenty of it away to the next door neighbors and they always ask me how to cook it even if I have explained it to them the day before. Bless their hearts…The urban farming is coming along as well with 2 types of parsley, basil, and french beans. Yesterday, I planted 4 strawberry seedlings, but am not sure if I put them right side up or upside down.

Also, there is a NC-17 rating for this post due to the graphic animal on animal pictures. Esha wanted a quick smooch from Lil’ Clay before his imminent death on July 3rd. He’s been feeding in the big grass outside the compound to fatten up for D-Day. If I don’t give him enough food he will get pissed off and try to ram me with his head to show his frustration. To defend myself, I usually go for the roundhouse kick to the head or run just a few inches out of his rope restricted circle of influence and taunt him to exhaustion.

My all time favorite activity in Uganda is tending to our small garden at the Ngobi House.  TQ jokes that I am too much of a hippie for loving my garden so much.  I like getting my hands dirty picking weeds, having a sweat going with the hoe and shovel, and eating from the garden I work so hard to keep. And now that the rainy season is here, the plants are all growing fast and bearing fruit even faster than when I first arrived in Uganda.  Watching the plants grow and harvesting fresh veggies reminds me of living in Fiji, plus the food is free and healthy.

Right now, we are growing hot peppers, sweet peppers, banana, pumpkin, jack fruit, mango, papaya, 4 types of lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, onion, Irish potatoes, eggplant, carrot, and broccoli.

For all of the movies and documentaries focusing on the majestic beauty of Africa showcasing elephants and lions and wildebeests, the true landscape of Africa is steeped in blood and tears. For the first time, I see beyond the glossy pictures and videos of the DVD box set. Beyond the tourist’s eye, into how many Africans live their daily life.

Recently leaving crowded protection camps consisting of straw huts after 20 years in fear of the LRA, starting their lives over and some just for the first time if they were born in the camps. Hardly any infrastructure, no health facilities, dirty drinking water, minimal crops for money and food, and the spread of HIV. This is normal life in northern Uganda.

Chris and I visited Pajule to break ground on the UAPO’s first vocational center and to scout new sites for water wells 2 weeks ago. The UAPO is one of the few NGOs focused on rebuilding the North and assisting local people to have clean drinking water and education. In Pajule, daily life boils down to the basic necessities–drinking water, food, and if you are lucky, education.

It’s a sobering sight and I hope the picture I painted for you is bleak. That is my intent. But slowly, new bricks will make new buildings and new seasons will bring new crops. Slowly the cities and villages will learn how to live without fearing for their life. it will happen, but these things will take time. These things take time.

Plunging head first into the mighty White Nile might seem like a stupid idea if you are hundreds of feet above. Thankfully we are young and stupid aaaaannnddd also strapped to a bungee cord. First Eric. Then Natasha. And finally myself. I partially blacked out when he gave the command to jump so I can only guess that it was fun.

I will miss my travel buddy, Eric. I will also miss my partner in Jinja crime, Natasha. Remember to say ‘yes’ when you find those rare opportunities.

Look on my facebook page for the videos.