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Due to our upgrade to a luxury tented camp (well worth the price), we also have access to a computer with reasonable internet bandwidth, so we decided to upload some photos which we've been unable to upload so far. Enjoy!

When we were in Kenya Mr. Ozar made a comment that he would like to take a picture of all the different things the Kenyan women keep on their backs. For instance, they put normal things - like babies and groceries - and then they take it up a notch and carry, oh, a winter's worth of logs or a queen sized mattress. Once it's strapped on they walk a good 2 or 3 miles to drop it off. I thought this was pretty impressive...until we road into Uganda. The women here do the same thing only they carry it all on their heads. You want 2 weeks worth of laundry? Let me just toss it in this basket and walk it uphill 4 miles for you with it on my head. Couple bricks? An entire field of grass? Sure, not a problem. Just give me a minute while I slip on my flip-flops and strap my baby on my back before I go.

Incredible.

Equally incredible is the men who "ride" their bike to work with just about everything but the kitchen sink strapped on the front and back. I use ride loosely because I rarely saw them peddle - just push the stuff up hill after hill after hill. My favorite guys who do this are the banana pushers. No, they don't try and sell laced bananas to innocent school kids. They strap about 30-40 bushels of bananas to their bike and make their way to the town to sell them or put them on trucks. By the way, I'm not sure if the official unit of banana is a bushel but you get the idea. If you'd like a better idea you can do this little exercise at home: Break out the ten speed and ride it to Dominicks. Once you are there proceed to the produce section. Purchase all the bananas they have. This may not be enough in comparison but it should give you a rough idea. Okay...now ride the bike to Indiana. That should do it.

We were able to see a lot of this in action as it took us a solid 9 hours of driving to get to our current destination: The Impenetrable Forest in Uganda's Volcanic Region. Dum, dum, dum. It was a long drive but we managed to kill some time by looking at the amazing scenery and gawking at the banana dudes. Once we reached the foothills of the volcano our mouths just dropped. Ireland has nothing on Uganda when it comes to greenery. It's absolutely beautiful. Sure, there aren't any cozy pubs and I probably wouldn't stay at a good 95% of the roadside guest houses but hey - it's pretty. The drive was a little rough going (not for those pron to car sickness) but the scenery was just stunning. Oddly Colin didn't make a single Joe vs. the Volcano reference. Interesting. We'll see if this keeps up tomorrow when we begin our climb up it to see the gorillas. Considering he likes to reference that movie on a random Sunday around our apartment it's funny that it wouldn't come up while we are at the actual base of a volcano. Could this be the first sign of yellow fever?!?

Hmmm. I'll keep an eye out on him. Okay, so I realize that some of you may be wondering who is doing all this driving on this trip of ours. Great question. Not Colin and I. If that had been the case we would now be at the bottom of one of these green hills with sugar cane sticking out of our ears. We hired a company called Escape Expeditions to take us around and provide the camping gear we will be using. We have a driver and one other guy on our trip and we travel about via 4X4. The "other guy" is a Brit named Peter and the driver...well....that's another post all together. The internet place is closing so I have to go. Sorry for the cut off but the volcano known as the woman from this place is about to blow. Hopefully more tomorrow after the big gorilla climb. I'll also tell you about the campaign against sugar daddy's they are running here. Awesome.

Until tomorrow...

Yellow fever jab? Check. Few pairs of pants I'd never wear in real life? Check. A gallon of 40+ spf and an equal amount of foreboding regarding the effects of equatoral sun? Check. Pocket knife to defend against political unrest in Kenya and wild dogs at our many campsites? Check and check. From the look of our overstuffed backpacks it would appear that Col and I are ready to make our African debute. Bon voyage, Chicago! This son of Chi-town and daughter of the second city are outta here! It's been swell! Love ya! (insert overdramatic blow of a kiss from 1930's airplane)

Okay...yeah...we're still here. We don't leave until this afternoon. Hmmm. Yeah.... Now this is a little awkward. I guess I can tell you a bit about our agenda so you can decide right here and now if it's worth keeping up with our blog. Personally I won't care if you bow out now - I get it. Another person's travel blog might not be the bees knees in some circles. No offense taken. Thanks for reading this far. Good to have you if only for a little while. Left a fingerprint on my heart and all that jazz. For those of you who are in it for the long haul, here's what you have to look forward to:

1. Our triumphant arrival in Johannesburg where we kill off our jet lag with a Tuskar beer and 14 hours of sleeping

2. The much hyped trip to Meru, Kenya to visit the Ozar's and help out at the school and orphanage. Surely a highlight of the trip and worth the 5 minutes of blog reassurance that we didn't take off with your donations to the Seychelles.

3. The harrowing bypass of turbulent Kenya as we make our way into Uganda. Parental note: there will be nothing turbulent about our time in Kenya. I promise Mom.

4. We go all Dianne Fosse on your asses and hike into Volcano National Park in Uganda to see the last of the mountain gorillas. Stay alive, mountain gorillas, we WILL find you....

5. Ideally some youtube worthy action from the National Geographic hall of fame: the Serengeti. Let's see if it's everything it's cracked up to be - and more!

6. SPICES! SPICES! SPICES! You want cardemon, thyme and rosemary? You bet you do. And we'll bring you all the live action from Zanzibar Island. It's getting hot in here!

7. Col's been talking a big game about schistomiasis - that parasitic worm released by fresh water snails. He claims it's as big, if not bigger, that Japanese encephalitias was in the 90's. We see for ourselves when we hit Lake Malawi mid-way through our trip. Surf, sand, snails with parasites - not to be missed.

8. Onward to Victoria Falls - aka: The Smoke that Thunders. We'll observe this World Heritage Site from both countries it borders - Zambia and Zimbabwe - and let you know which side to open your hotdog and souvenir stand.

9. Reunited and it feels so good...after Livingstone we join our friends Alex and Lee, two fellow travellers we met on a similar trip to India. They will be joining the caravan in Botswana and keeping us sane throughout Namibia. We will also be joined by a random British woman named Jo. We've never met her but hey - the more then merrier. Stay tunded to learn about how we left Jo on the Skeleton Coast...just kidding.

10. Namibia - birthplace of Shiloh Jolie Pitt - will be the birthplace of many of our good times as well. Don't know much about Namibia? Well. Keep up with the blog, friends. You'll know more about this desert-meets-coast former German colony if you stick with us. Note that Colin's highschool German class name was Lutz. I hope that comes into play in Namibia.

11. The final stretch - Col and I, tired after much camping and rare desert elephants, kick it back Cape Town and end our trip with a leisurely drive along the great Garden Route. Shark cage diving perhaps? The much talked about ride on an ostrich? Perhaps, perhaps. Only time will tell.

So - 11 reasons to stay tuned. We can't promise that we'll be updating this often as we'll be at the mercy of internet cafes. We can say that we hope you check in every once in a while and we promise to do our best to keep you informed. And we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a note along the way. Somewhere between reason 5 and 9 I'm sure we'll be a tad homesick. That's what the ostrich riding is for- knocks the homesick right out of you. But not even the almighty ostrich can beat hearing from you.

Alright - off to catch that plane.

We'll miss you! Keep the light on for us! Tell the world our story, etc, etc.

Much love - Mar and Col