Burundi Updates, Third Installment

Bujumbura has a lovely climate, so we try to spend a good deal of time outside.

There is a very rickety bar/ restaurant called Cercle Nautique officially but renamed "Hippo Hole" by expat loyals. On Friday afternoons, around 3 PM, there are usually hippos

Hippo incoming!

Wallowing and bellowing. It's what they do.

Bertie bug is so acclimated that sometimes he falls to sleep even when hippos are present.

The sun sets quickly on the equator, so sunsets are spectacular but fleeting. Behind the bank of clouds are the mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Between Burundi and DRC, of course, is Lake Tanganyika. I can think of worse settings for a Friday afternoon beer.

We also go to an honest-to-goodness kiddie park with legitimate kid infrastructure on Saturday mornings. The drive takes about 20 minutes, and sometimes you get to see feats of last century ingenuity. These bicycle couriers load their bikes with any cargo imaginable and deliver it by pedaling or pushing. It is grueling work, and they make almost no money.

Bicycle with pineapples, bicycle with potatoes (?).

Part of the kiddie park.

And somebody brought a rake!

Looking roughly southwest down Lake Tanganyika and at the DRC mountains. The water is sometimes glassy and sometimes rough with waves. It's wonderful.

Not too cool for a picture with Mama!

We usually walk in the park across from our house on Sundays. Sometimes we carry the backpack, and sometimes we push the stroller. Bertie likes both, but in the stroller he can really relax and put his feet up. Silly boy!

Getting ready to walk on his own. It was very exciting. We loved having Schnauzer support in the early days.

Ice cream grin!

Avocado leaves. Avocados have (finally) become a delicacy rather than an infliction.

Walking around the yard, more stable and confident with every step.

Jumping bean!

Guita is getting braver about hanging out with the family.

We got Bertie a wading pool, and one day it was time. We put the hose on slow and let him play with the running water while the pool was filling up. It was mind-blowing and delightful. He had to be careful of the Dada-monster feet that kept slipping into the pool behind him and splashing!

Yeah. Gravity. Whatever.

Bubbler!

Check out the hose I got!

Smiling, but wary, and always ready to leap to safety.

And Dada gets his first homebrew beer. It's a happy land.