no thank you boda! we are footing today!

i am learning that plastic and rubber shoes are the best for the kind of terrain you find in Gulu, mainly because they are easy to wash and dry. on dry days, any kind of shoe is fine, so long as you don't mind them getting stained red from the dirt or bleached by the sun. however, if it rains the night before, you should prepare yourself for some seriously muddy road conditions.

at our old house (we moved two weeks ago to a house closer to work) the roads were pretty bad. we nicknamed one spot in particular "the trench of death." it really is quite treacherous. though it does no justice to how bad it actually is, here is a picture:


can you just imagine that in the rain? and it FLOODS here. we nearly fell over multiple times when a boda unknowingly crossed over it. yikes is right.

as you can imagine, i was so happy to move to a new place, and not have to deal with the roads on that side of town. And, at our new house, we are close enough to walk to work (no more bodas!). well, this excitement did not last very long. what i failed to take into consideration is that the roads to work might not be paved (which they're not). one spot in particular is ALWAYS super muddy, rain or shine (leaks in the pipes underneath, they say). maybe i am exaggerating, but you can be the judge of it.


as you can also imagine, we have not quite yet mastered walking without getting our shoes dirty. of these days, it will happen. you just wait. but in the meantime...