Just a quick note to say that things are going okay for me in Kinshasa. As you may or may not have heard on the news, there's been some, ahem, "activity" (read: fighting) in the Congo. All the action is taking place out east, near the city of Goma. Goma is over 1000 miles away from Kinshasa and there's nothing but endless jungle between the two. I'm not even sure if there's a good road between here and there. I went to a town hall meeting for US citizens tonight that was scheduled well in advance of these developments and it included a briefing. There's nothing for us to worry about, and the Embassy will keep everyone abreast of the situation if there are further developments
Thanks to everyone who emailed asking about our safety - we're doing fine and haven't seen any change in the mood around town. We appreciate your prayers and concern.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Rainy Monday
It’s Monday morning and raining cats and dogs outside. Truly, this is the rainy season. It’s been extra hot and humid, and there’s been rain on and off over the past week. The roads around Kinshasa are getting worse and worse – the potholes just get bigger the more it rains. What’s tough is that when the streets flood, you can’t tell where the potholes are on the road and Kinshasa has some enormous potholes. There are many that are several feet deep and wide, or other places where the grates have been lifted off of storm drains so there’s a giant open trench along the side of the road. I’ve seen several cars with broken axles on the side of the road and it’s from these killer potholes. I heard from someone that with the rainy season these puddles are even more dangerous outside the city since the power lines around the DRC are run underground. If there’s an exposed power line that has a puddle over it, you could step into it and get electrocuted without having any clue that it was holding a fatal charge.
On Friday night we went out for goat with some friends. We drove to a part of town I’ve never been to before, east of downtown, and we sat at outdoor table. After placing an order for goat with onions and a side of fried plantains, we sat and talked and ate peanuts while taking in the nighttime crowd. Various vendors came by selling cigarettes, tissue, shoes, wooden bowls, etc. In the area we were in, there weren’t a lot of expats and it was nice to feel like we were in the “real” Kinshasa and not in some expat bubble.
After a half hour or so, our goat showed up. It was wrapped in a big piece of heavy paper and when you opened the paper, the goat meat and onions were inside in a big pile. The goat was cut into small pieces and there were bits of bone you had to look out for. They didn’t have forks at this place, so you could use a toothpick or just eat with your hands. Having never tried goat before, I have to say that it tasted good. It’s fatty, but with good flavor and the onions helped a lot as well. Wow, antelope last week and goat the other day? Maybe this is the week I try eating bugs for the first time. I feel like I’m building up to something.
We had a big ultimate frisbee game on Sunday afternoon that was a lot of fun. There was a good turnout of people and we played late enough in the day that the heat wasn't too much to bear. It looks like it will be a weekly event.
It looks to be a slow day for me here. I’m working from home on some websites and will have a meeting with someone whom I’m building a website for. Working from home isn’t too bad, although the power outages can be frustrating sometimes.
Not much else exciting to report, so I’ll sign off for now.
On Friday night we went out for goat with some friends. We drove to a part of town I’ve never been to before, east of downtown, and we sat at outdoor table. After placing an order for goat with onions and a side of fried plantains, we sat and talked and ate peanuts while taking in the nighttime crowd. Various vendors came by selling cigarettes, tissue, shoes, wooden bowls, etc. In the area we were in, there weren’t a lot of expats and it was nice to feel like we were in the “real” Kinshasa and not in some expat bubble.
After a half hour or so, our goat showed up. It was wrapped in a big piece of heavy paper and when you opened the paper, the goat meat and onions were inside in a big pile. The goat was cut into small pieces and there were bits of bone you had to look out for. They didn’t have forks at this place, so you could use a toothpick or just eat with your hands. Having never tried goat before, I have to say that it tasted good. It’s fatty, but with good flavor and the onions helped a lot as well. Wow, antelope last week and goat the other day? Maybe this is the week I try eating bugs for the first time. I feel like I’m building up to something.
We had a big ultimate frisbee game on Sunday afternoon that was a lot of fun. There was a good turnout of people and we played late enough in the day that the heat wasn't too much to bear. It looks like it will be a weekly event.
It looks to be a slow day for me here. I’m working from home on some websites and will have a meeting with someone whom I’m building a website for. Working from home isn’t too bad, although the power outages can be frustrating sometimes.
Not much else exciting to report, so I’ll sign off for now.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
How I lost my hat
On Saturday my wife and I took a trip to see the Bonobo chimpanzees. There’s a reserve just outside Kinshasa called Lola Ya Bonobo that cares for orphaned Bonobos. These chimps can only be found in the DRC and are facing extinction. I remember reading a long article about the Bonobos in the New Yorker last year, and the article talked about how some researchers are questioning the Bonobo’s reputation as “hippie” chimps. They have this reputation due to their calm dispositions, peaceful ways, and proclivity for sexual relations. Not much is known about Bonobo behavior since they’re so rare, and what little published research there is was written up by a Dutch primatologist who observed captive, not wild, Bonobos in the 1980s. Current research is disputing his findings to say that wild Bonobos can be aggressive and kill each other; they don’t just lie around all day and eat bugs and have sex. The New Yorker article is a good read because it talks a little bit about Kinshasa and the rest of the DRC as well as profile the Bonobos. As a matter of fact, an article was just published yesterday reporting that Bonobos do hunt and kill other chimps – the researcher mentioned in this article is the same one who is extensively profiled in the New Yorker piece.
The reserve was pretty nice – it’s $5 per person to get in and a tour guide showed us around and talked about the Bonobos. They live on an enormous jungle reservation (30 hectares, or around 75 acres) and the reserve is split into three large sections that hold three groups of chimps of varying ages. The Bonobos like visitors and when we approached an open section of jungle, our tour guide called out and a group of seven or eight Bonobos ambled down out of the forest to the fence to see us. They were most excited about food (bananas, naturally – see, all those cartoons I watched as a kid didn’t fill my head with useless knowledge) and began to climb on the fence and stick their hands through for some food.
I went to take a picture of my wife with the Bonobos and took off my hat to get a better view through our camera. Not thinking, I set it down a foot or two away from the fence and when I finished taking the photo I noticed my hat was gone. Some thieving Bonobo had reached through and ganked my hat. Eyeing the suspects, I spied the culprit:
The reserve was pretty nice – it’s $5 per person to get in and a tour guide showed us around and talked about the Bonobos. They live on an enormous jungle reservation (30 hectares, or around 75 acres) and the reserve is split into three large sections that hold three groups of chimps of varying ages. The Bonobos like visitors and when we approached an open section of jungle, our tour guide called out and a group of seven or eight Bonobos ambled down out of the forest to the fence to see us. They were most excited about food (bananas, naturally – see, all those cartoons I watched as a kid didn’t fill my head with useless knowledge) and began to climb on the fence and stick their hands through for some food.
I went to take a picture of my wife with the Bonobos and took off my hat to get a better view through our camera. Not thinking, I set it down a foot or two away from the fence and when I finished taking the photo I noticed my hat was gone. Some thieving Bonobo had reached through and ganked my hat. Eyeing the suspects, I spied the culprit:
And so, my faded Detroit Tigers hat has become a Bonobo pacifier of some sort. The chimp spent a good twenty minutes tasting it, and would get into wrestling matches with other chimps over possession of the hat.
The tour guide was very apologetic but I told her it was okay and it wasn’t her fault. I shouldn’t have put my hat down near the fence. And hey, I can say a chimpanzee stole my hat. Wasn’t that the storyline of the book Curious George?
The rest of our tour of the reserve was nice. The last part of the tour brought us to a small section where the youngest Bonobos were kept and one was running around outside the pen under the watchful eye of a woman who worked there. The Bonobo was shy, but after a few minutes she warmed up to us.
The rest of our tour of the reserve was nice. The last part of the tour brought us to a small section where the youngest Bonobos were kept and one was running around outside the pen under the watchful eye of a woman who worked there. The Bonobo was shy, but after a few minutes she warmed up to us.
As long as I'm posting pictures, here's a giant bug we saw later that day – it was probably about six inches long:
Oh, I should also mention that I had antelope meat last week. On Friday night we went to a restaurant not too far from our apartment and among the standard fare such as chicken, beef, salads, and sandwiches, they offered antelope. It was around the same price as a piece of beef, so I figured I would give it a shot. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t taste like anything special. It reminded me of pot roast, really, but that might be because of the way it was cooked or the sauce and vegetables served with it.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Shopping for food in Kinshasa
Grocery shopping in Kinshasa is a pain. After two and a half months, we’ve finally figured out where to go to get the best prices on food and the best day and time to make the trip but even still, at the end of a shopping trip I feel fried and need a couple hours to recover.
When we first arrived here, we were shocked at the high prices they were charging at the supermarket – $10 for a box of cereal, $12 for a small frozen chicken, $8 for a package of extra-scratchy toilet paper. Of course, these prices were all at the expensive grocery store in town where most expats shop and they don’t care how much it costs, they’re getting a box of Honey Nut Cheerios. After getting to know some other people who’ve been around Kinshasa for a while, we learned where to find the best deals on food.
First off, there’s no such thing as one-stop shopping. No single store in town has everything that you want at decent prices and keeps convenient hours of operation.
Some stores only carry a few things but have good prices, other stores have a huge selection but you have to pay through the nose for everything they stock. Some stores are open on Sundays (which is the best shopping day because there’s no traffic), others are not, and one store that’s owed by two Jewish brothers isn’t open on Saturdays.
I decided to do a transcript of our usual Saturday morning grocery shopping excursion. Some Saturdays we go to more stores and spend more money, some Saturdays it’s less. This Saturday was on the cheaper side.
7:45am – leave the apartment and get to the far side of town before traffic gets crazy. Trying to get around Kinshasa any time past 10:30am on Saturday is a nightmare.
8:00 – arrive at a store owned by some Portuguese guys. This store is a little hard to find but they have good prices and a decent selection of groceries. They don’t have meat or deli counters. It’s a good place to get flour, powdered milk, rice, etc. in bulk. Here’s what we got, with the prices in US dollars:
1 can of chopped tomatoes – $0.96
Jar of strawberry jelly – $5.50
1 liter of orange juice – $2.04 (it comes in these giant juice boxes, which is pretty cool)
package of vanilla sandwich cookies – $3.83
package of travel packs of facial tissue – $1.42
2 cans of tomato paste – $1.20 each
Package of curry powder – $1.32
Can of peas – $1.67
Large bag of baking soda – $2.23
Total was $21.37. Here they only take cash, so we paid with a $50 in order to get some change. We gave a tip of 300 francs (about $0.50) to the guy in front of the store who guarded our car.
8:25am – arrive at Express, a more expensive grocery store that has fantastic bread. We got a loaf of sliced sandwich bread and five rolls that were still warm from the oven, plus a few other things.
.1 kg of swiss cheese – $3
2 packages of cookies – $2.68 each
1 cup of Dannon yogurt – $1.62 (my wife uses this to make homemade yogurt)
5 rolls – $1.34
Loaf of bread – $1.27
The total was $12.59, and this store takes debit cards so we used that to pay for our groceries. We parked in a secured lot, so there was no need to tip anyone for guarding our car.
8:45 - it's off to the marche for vegetables. Marche is French for market, aka the big village market where the locals shop. This is a good 15 minute drive and though we’re getting better at finding our way there, it’s still a bit of an adventure.
I should add that we were stopped by the police en route. It was our first time getting stopped in a few weeks. I had stopped a little too far past the imaginary line at an intersection, so an officer came over to see if he could squeeze some cash out of me. We again employed the dumb American approach, and it worked like a charm. He didn’t know enough English to tell us what we had done wrong, let alone ask us for a bribe or sufficiently scare us into trying to bribe him. We kept saying “I don’t understand what you’re saying” over and over. Toward the end of the conversation, he was practically laughing at the absurdity of it all and he waved us on.
The marche is the best place to get vegetables in Kinshasa, bar none. It's kind of like going to a county fair, only there's no funnel cakes or corn dogs for sale, and the smells are way more intense. The prices and selection are better than what you’d find in any store in town. On the downside, you have to deal with the chaos of the market which can be overwhelming. As you approach the marche, men jump around wildly in the street in front of your car, doing their best to convince you to park in a spot they see so they can say they found you a spot and will then guard your car. Of course, when you start to pull in, six other guys gather around the car and say that they saw the spot first and they’ll guard your car instead. It’s best to just point out the guy who initially found us the spot and leave the car-guarding duties to him. As soon as you get out, a few kids gather around with old cardboard boxes or laundry baskets and offer to serve as grocery carts, carrying your purchases around for you for a little bit of money.
Once you make your way into the market, there are dozens and dozens of stands, all selling vegetables, fruits, spices, eggs, meat, live animals (chickens, goats, and insects - for consumption, mind you), and there’s an entire section of people selling odds and ends like auto parts, plumbing supplies, used clothing, brooms, etc. At the vegetable stands, the prices are written on pieces of cardboard but of course, everything is open to negotiation. We’re pretty much the only white people in the market which means they jack up the prices when they see us coming. My wife is a good negotiator so we can get a discount, though not as much as we could get if we were Congolese. Even without the discount, though, the prices are better than at the grocery stores and the vegetables seem to be of better quality. Here’s a list of what we picked up:
30 eggs – $6.14
1 mango – $0.35 cents
1 kilo of onions – $1.75
4 potatoes – $1.40
Baby food-sized jar of curry – $1.40
Pineapple – $3.15
Celery, green peppers, cabbage – $1.22
An unopened bottle of contact lens cleaner – $1.75
The total at the marche was $15.41, and you better believe it’s all straight cash, homey.
That bottle of contact lens cleaner was the find of the day. A woman was selling all kinds of beauty products and cleaning supplies and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the contact lens cleaner. I haven’t noticed it in any stores in Kinshasa, and I don’t think she knew what it was used for so she didn’t know what to ask. I wonder if most people around here even know what contact lenses are.
Going to the marche isn’t too bad as long as you can stay focused on what you need, you’re willing to haggle over prices, and you can ignore all the other people coming up to you and asking you to buy beans or worms or whatever from their stand.
On the way out, we paid the guy who found us our spot and watched our car 500 francs (a little over a dollar). He was a big help in getting traffic and people to move out of the way so we could back out. It’s like the circus there with the amount of people and cars and trucks all over the place.
9:45am – we arrive back at home, and see the traffic on the roads is already piling up. We done good.
On Sunday after church, we made two quick stops at some other stores to get meat and cheese.
Kinmart has good meat but crazy expensive prices on everything else. We bought a half-kilo of beef for $7.29 to use in a curry that my wife made that night. Kinmart has the distinction of having some of the worst guards of all the supermarkets we’ve been to. They sit in chairs by the door, don’t tell you when the lot is full, and are usually no help when it comes to trying to navigate your way around their miniscule parking lot. Yet on Sunday, the guard who was there was super-helpful and squeezed us into a spot right by the door and held up traffic so we could get out. We tipped him 500 francs (a little over a dollar) for his help.
Then it was on to one final store, Regal, to get the last few things we needed. Regal has a good selection of food, good prices, and the best cheese in the city. We go here or the Portugese place mentioned above for most of our groceries.
1.5 liters of Canada dry - $6.10 (crazy, I know, but I’ve been jonesing for ginger ale lately)
300 grams of mozzarella cheese - $4.91
Approximately two sticks of butter - $1.78
The total was $12.79, and here they accept debit cards.
The grand total for the week was $69.45, which is a little on the low side for us. We didn’t buy much meat this week or any big staples like flour, sugar, or oatmeal. From week to week, though, the shopping experience is about the same when it comes to the stores we visit and the people we encounter.
On an unrelated note, I finally uploaded a few pictures to the old blog entries for our new apartment (you can see our apartment building and the trash river it’s next to) and our camping trip.
When we first arrived here, we were shocked at the high prices they were charging at the supermarket – $10 for a box of cereal, $12 for a small frozen chicken, $8 for a package of extra-scratchy toilet paper. Of course, these prices were all at the expensive grocery store in town where most expats shop and they don’t care how much it costs, they’re getting a box of Honey Nut Cheerios. After getting to know some other people who’ve been around Kinshasa for a while, we learned where to find the best deals on food.
First off, there’s no such thing as one-stop shopping. No single store in town has everything that you want at decent prices and keeps convenient hours of operation.
Some stores only carry a few things but have good prices, other stores have a huge selection but you have to pay through the nose for everything they stock. Some stores are open on Sundays (which is the best shopping day because there’s no traffic), others are not, and one store that’s owed by two Jewish brothers isn’t open on Saturdays.
I decided to do a transcript of our usual Saturday morning grocery shopping excursion. Some Saturdays we go to more stores and spend more money, some Saturdays it’s less. This Saturday was on the cheaper side.
7:45am – leave the apartment and get to the far side of town before traffic gets crazy. Trying to get around Kinshasa any time past 10:30am on Saturday is a nightmare.
8:00 – arrive at a store owned by some Portuguese guys. This store is a little hard to find but they have good prices and a decent selection of groceries. They don’t have meat or deli counters. It’s a good place to get flour, powdered milk, rice, etc. in bulk. Here’s what we got, with the prices in US dollars:
1 can of chopped tomatoes – $0.96
Jar of strawberry jelly – $5.50
1 liter of orange juice – $2.04 (it comes in these giant juice boxes, which is pretty cool)
package of vanilla sandwich cookies – $3.83
package of travel packs of facial tissue – $1.42
2 cans of tomato paste – $1.20 each
Package of curry powder – $1.32
Can of peas – $1.67
Large bag of baking soda – $2.23
Total was $21.37. Here they only take cash, so we paid with a $50 in order to get some change. We gave a tip of 300 francs (about $0.50) to the guy in front of the store who guarded our car.
8:25am – arrive at Express, a more expensive grocery store that has fantastic bread. We got a loaf of sliced sandwich bread and five rolls that were still warm from the oven, plus a few other things.
.1 kg of swiss cheese – $3
2 packages of cookies – $2.68 each
1 cup of Dannon yogurt – $1.62 (my wife uses this to make homemade yogurt)
5 rolls – $1.34
Loaf of bread – $1.27
The total was $12.59, and this store takes debit cards so we used that to pay for our groceries. We parked in a secured lot, so there was no need to tip anyone for guarding our car.
8:45 - it's off to the marche for vegetables. Marche is French for market, aka the big village market where the locals shop. This is a good 15 minute drive and though we’re getting better at finding our way there, it’s still a bit of an adventure.
I should add that we were stopped by the police en route. It was our first time getting stopped in a few weeks. I had stopped a little too far past the imaginary line at an intersection, so an officer came over to see if he could squeeze some cash out of me. We again employed the dumb American approach, and it worked like a charm. He didn’t know enough English to tell us what we had done wrong, let alone ask us for a bribe or sufficiently scare us into trying to bribe him. We kept saying “I don’t understand what you’re saying” over and over. Toward the end of the conversation, he was practically laughing at the absurdity of it all and he waved us on.
The marche is the best place to get vegetables in Kinshasa, bar none. It's kind of like going to a county fair, only there's no funnel cakes or corn dogs for sale, and the smells are way more intense. The prices and selection are better than what you’d find in any store in town. On the downside, you have to deal with the chaos of the market which can be overwhelming. As you approach the marche, men jump around wildly in the street in front of your car, doing their best to convince you to park in a spot they see so they can say they found you a spot and will then guard your car. Of course, when you start to pull in, six other guys gather around the car and say that they saw the spot first and they’ll guard your car instead. It’s best to just point out the guy who initially found us the spot and leave the car-guarding duties to him. As soon as you get out, a few kids gather around with old cardboard boxes or laundry baskets and offer to serve as grocery carts, carrying your purchases around for you for a little bit of money.
Once you make your way into the market, there are dozens and dozens of stands, all selling vegetables, fruits, spices, eggs, meat, live animals (chickens, goats, and insects - for consumption, mind you), and there’s an entire section of people selling odds and ends like auto parts, plumbing supplies, used clothing, brooms, etc. At the vegetable stands, the prices are written on pieces of cardboard but of course, everything is open to negotiation. We’re pretty much the only white people in the market which means they jack up the prices when they see us coming. My wife is a good negotiator so we can get a discount, though not as much as we could get if we were Congolese. Even without the discount, though, the prices are better than at the grocery stores and the vegetables seem to be of better quality. Here’s a list of what we picked up:
30 eggs – $6.14
1 mango – $0.35 cents
1 kilo of onions – $1.75
4 potatoes – $1.40
Baby food-sized jar of curry – $1.40
Pineapple – $3.15
Celery, green peppers, cabbage – $1.22
An unopened bottle of contact lens cleaner – $1.75
The total at the marche was $15.41, and you better believe it’s all straight cash, homey.
That bottle of contact lens cleaner was the find of the day. A woman was selling all kinds of beauty products and cleaning supplies and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the contact lens cleaner. I haven’t noticed it in any stores in Kinshasa, and I don’t think she knew what it was used for so she didn’t know what to ask. I wonder if most people around here even know what contact lenses are.
Going to the marche isn’t too bad as long as you can stay focused on what you need, you’re willing to haggle over prices, and you can ignore all the other people coming up to you and asking you to buy beans or worms or whatever from their stand.
On the way out, we paid the guy who found us our spot and watched our car 500 francs (a little over a dollar). He was a big help in getting traffic and people to move out of the way so we could back out. It’s like the circus there with the amount of people and cars and trucks all over the place.
9:45am – we arrive back at home, and see the traffic on the roads is already piling up. We done good.
On Sunday after church, we made two quick stops at some other stores to get meat and cheese.
Kinmart has good meat but crazy expensive prices on everything else. We bought a half-kilo of beef for $7.29 to use in a curry that my wife made that night. Kinmart has the distinction of having some of the worst guards of all the supermarkets we’ve been to. They sit in chairs by the door, don’t tell you when the lot is full, and are usually no help when it comes to trying to navigate your way around their miniscule parking lot. Yet on Sunday, the guard who was there was super-helpful and squeezed us into a spot right by the door and held up traffic so we could get out. We tipped him 500 francs (a little over a dollar) for his help.
Then it was on to one final store, Regal, to get the last few things we needed. Regal has a good selection of food, good prices, and the best cheese in the city. We go here or the Portugese place mentioned above for most of our groceries.
1.5 liters of Canada dry - $6.10 (crazy, I know, but I’ve been jonesing for ginger ale lately)
300 grams of mozzarella cheese - $4.91
Approximately two sticks of butter - $1.78
The total was $12.79, and here they accept debit cards.
The grand total for the week was $69.45, which is a little on the low side for us. We didn’t buy much meat this week or any big staples like flour, sugar, or oatmeal. From week to week, though, the shopping experience is about the same when it comes to the stores we visit and the people we encounter.
On an unrelated note, I finally uploaded a few pictures to the old blog entries for our new apartment (you can see our apartment building and the trash river it’s next to) and our camping trip.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Settling in to a routine
I don't have any exciting stories this week about getting hassled by the cops or recovering from parasites living in my body. It's been a slow(er) week which is nice and it feels a bit like I'm settling into a routine. So far I've been working from home for my job at the embassy which has been good and bad. Good, because I can sit in front of the computer in shorts and a t-shirt, I only have to shave every couple days, and can cook up lunch for myself each day. Bad, because I'm still dealing with power outages on a daily basis which makes it hard to work. The internet connection has been a little wonky, too, and some days it's at a crawl. My boss is back from her vacation and I’m headed to the Embassy tomorrow to meet with her about what all I should be working on.
On Saturday night we went out to eat with some friends to try the supposed best-chicken-in-Kinshasa-if-not-the-entire-world, Mama Colonel's. I'd been hearing a lot of hype about this place so the bar was set a little high. I was not disappointed. For $18, you get a broiled chicken and a side of french fries. The chicken was broiled whole - they pulled off the non-edible parts, streched out the bird, broiled it, and then served it up. You then pull the chicken apart with your fingers and go to town. It was really, really good. Combined with a side of fried plantains and a tall (glass) bottle of Sprite, it hit the spot. My wife and I were supposed to split one chicken but I think I ate around 75% of it myself. So, if anyone's coming to Kinshasa to visit, I've found at least one can't-miss restaurant.
Last night a huge thunderstorm rolled through, and it rained on Sunday as well so I guess this is the start of the rainy season. It's been crazy hot and humid this past week, so the rain is a welcome relief.
Coming up in this here blog, I'll document our usual Saturday shopping trip so you can get a sense of what that's like as well as post some pictures of our place. We shot a short video tour of our apartment but because our web connection has been so slow the past few days, I can't upload it.
On Saturday night we went out to eat with some friends to try the supposed best-chicken-in-Kinshasa-if-not-the-entire-world, Mama Colonel's. I'd been hearing a lot of hype about this place so the bar was set a little high. I was not disappointed. For $18, you get a broiled chicken and a side of french fries. The chicken was broiled whole - they pulled off the non-edible parts, streched out the bird, broiled it, and then served it up. You then pull the chicken apart with your fingers and go to town. It was really, really good. Combined with a side of fried plantains and a tall (glass) bottle of Sprite, it hit the spot. My wife and I were supposed to split one chicken but I think I ate around 75% of it myself. So, if anyone's coming to Kinshasa to visit, I've found at least one can't-miss restaurant.
Last night a huge thunderstorm rolled through, and it rained on Sunday as well so I guess this is the start of the rainy season. It's been crazy hot and humid this past week, so the rain is a welcome relief.
Coming up in this here blog, I'll document our usual Saturday shopping trip so you can get a sense of what that's like as well as post some pictures of our place. We shot a short video tour of our apartment but because our web connection has been so slow the past few days, I can't upload it.
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