SATURDAY MORNING WALK ALONG THE CONGO RIVER

It is 6am in the Congo. We are taking one of our favorite walks along the River. It is already 80 degrees out. The sky is blue and it is wonderful. We walk along the Congo River near the ambassadors' residences. I only take pictures towards the river, since I don't like taking pictures of governmental buildings or homes. There are people from all over the world who live and work in Kinshasa. We just spoke to the Greek Ambassador. A very nice man walking his dog. There are bananas, mangoes, papayas, and coconuts growing along the path-side. We see wonderful birds - parrots, and who knows what brightly colored birds. (Note to Kristen and Paul) I did not have my camera with me, we left it at our office, so I took shots with my iPod, and was not able to get close enough or zoomed enough to get good pictures. Still trying).

The Congo is a very beautiful country. We are relaxing today - our P day. First Saturday we have not had conferences or meetings. Since General Conference is not televised here, we will see it when the video is sent. But, we will go to the Mission President's home this evening and listen to it on his hook-up. It will come live here at 6pm tonight. I think the fare is pizza and fruit smoothies.

After the walk, we shop. The markets are quieter early Sat am. We drive to a market call City Market, and on Saturday am, all of the "whities" from the embassies do their shopping, so that is interesting.

Also pictured in a very large termite mound. They seem to be here and there in the open area.

NOTE: We stay out of the high grass. There are cobras in the grass. The CIA section chief, whose family is LDS, lives by the river and killed to 10 cobras in their back yard. The Hatch's, the mission office couple and our walking partners, saw a small cobra the other day coming out of the tall grass. So, one more thing to be on the look out for.