Wed., June 20
A good night, few grunting hippos, though we both heard something sloshing wildly through the river--figured it was an elephant having a bath. The morning's purple light shows us our Mr. Elephant has apparently swum to the island across the way. There's a big guy there, at any rate.
We depart at 7:30 for a 45 min. boat ride to a native village and cultural center--"native" in the sense of extremely poor and primitive. We pass several posh lodges and then ironically women dressed in colorful prints washing clothes on stones along the shore and drying them on the bushes nearby. The "haves" and the "have--nots" clearly evident. The divide widens when we arrive at the village. Huts--round with dirt floors and outdoor cooking, children in well-worn clothes, barefoot, runny noses, women gathering around the well. We find the market and someone buys the popped popcorn they grow, then distributes it to the children. They go wild.
Eventually we're given a tour of the cultural center and are shown the "headman" and a variety of traditional rituals and dances the tribe still does. The men beat the drums, the women dance, and eventually we're dragged onto the dance floor, but not one of us can find the rhythm of the drum. So slow of foot! We're shown how grain is ground, flour made and how several are looking out for the orphans of AIDS parents. It's a huge problem, mostly because the men demand sex when they themselves are infected, though they insist on unprotected sex (you don't enjoy a banana with its peel on). So the women are infected, both die, and not only are kids left without anyone to care for them, but the numbers are growing. Very grim situation.
We depart at 7:30 for a 45 min. boat ride to a native village and cultural center--"native" in the sense of extremely poor and primitive. We pass several posh lodges and then ironically women dressed in colorful prints washing clothes on stones along the shore and drying them on the bushes nearby. The "haves" and the "have--nots" clearly evident. The divide widens when we arrive at the village. Huts--round with dirt floors and outdoor cooking, children in well-worn clothes, barefoot, runny noses, women gathering around the well. We find the market and someone buys the popped popcorn they grow, then distributes it to the children. They go wild.
