Thursday, May 10, 2007

Amahoro Uganda!

Greetings from Mukono Uganda!
We are just wrapping up our conference and are leaving for Rwanda in the morning - a 12 hour ride! The conference has been great. We have all made a lot of new friends and discussed important topics such as reconciliation, empowering women, and fundraising. There are people here from all over Africa, Europe, Australia, and the US. Rwanda is a beautiful place but full of poverty. I'll keep this post short since internet connection has been challenging but wanted to let you know that I am here and have been having a great time!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Wales Safari

This was the dog at the farm house where we stayed in Dolgallau. His name is Tommy and he loved to have a stick thrown.



This pick is for Dena. These chickens were way bigger than the ones at 8331 Beverly Drive!!NoCute......

A Welsh Blessing











I really wanted to see the coastline of Wales so after spending the night at a small farm we headed West and ended up on the shores of Cardigan Bay. Stone fences, sheep, villages and lots of green, green grass. We met some nice folks as we stopped to take a picture. It was a man named David and his mother Marie. We chatted for a while and they encouraged us to try the honey ice cream in the next town called Tywyn. Marie grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. Then she kissed it and said "all the best to you". It was a Welsh blessing to top off a very beautiful day.






Dolgallau and other places we can't pronounce


On Tuesday, we traveled on to Dolgallau and stopped in Welshpool for some lunch and tea. A traffic "diversion" as they call it sent us though the mountains before we hit the main road again. It was a pleasant detour thought some beautiful countryside.



Is this a Road or a Sidewalk????

Driving continues to be an adventure - the picture of the narrow alley way with people below became a roadway for me the evening before but we made it though unscathed. Here is a picture of our little Peugeot which has been faithfully taking us around the UK.

Our second evening was spent at the Bull Hotel in Ludlow, England. Our hotel was built in the 1300's. It's hard to believe that anything made out of wood could last that long! I'll have to learn the secret of that before I leave. The castle here is Ludlow Castle which also dates from the 1300's.










Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Off to Wales


As we begin another day of driving we have to remind ourselves to watch for parked cars on the right, look out for sheep in the road, and to try not to get too lost. There's a few odd things about right hand drive - you shift on the left and the thing I cannot get used to is having your rear view on your left - I'm so used to glancing to the right! These things are just so automatic so we have to constantly refocus.
Last night, as we tried to get to our hotel, I found myself on a road that became so narrow I looked at Suzanne and said "are we on a road or a sidewalk?" It was so narrow that the tires were rubbing on the curbs and this is a small car. I became particularly concerned when I saw some scaffolding that was set up between the two buildings on each side of the "road". I had to drive under and through the scaffolding. Of course, this episode through me into hysterical laughter. Fortunately, we made it through and found our hotel! I've only had a few people honk their horns so I think we are doing pretty good.