Pure

The village of Pure in Kajo-Keji county, South Sudan.

Woke up at 4:30am with a very unsettling feeling that I had actually become sick. In Africa. No, it wasn't malaria. Yes, it was definitely from eating something I shouldn't have. And I had just given my huge bottle of Cipro to Norma because I assumed I was in the clear. Oh, the irony. So.. down for the morning, but I was determined to go back out to Pure for the medical outreach. I heard the drive was 2.5 hours and rougher than anything we'd come across so far. (But the drives are some of my favorite parts of the day?) By the time 9am rolled around, I knew I wasn't just going to sit around the compound all day long. Braved the drive. Everyone was getting carsick. The roads.. or.. dry creek beds with giant boulders I should say, were ridiculous. Grant was a skilled driver with that land cruiser though. After living in South Sudan, he should drive Land Rovers and Land Cruisers for offroad commercials. It's probably not as glamorous as what he's doing now though. So maybe just forget that suggestion. Ended up feeling too ill to do anything at all today, so I slept in the back of the cruiser for most of the afternoon. Fail. It was our last medical outreach.

Much later though, I was miraculously cured as we played game after game of Hell/(Nurts?) Note to self: when feeling ill, start playing super competitive games with friends.
Tonight, unbeknownst to us at the compound without internet access or cell service for the past few days, there was a lunar eclipse over Africa. We pulled out chairs to sit and watch the sky. It was incredibly amazing. One of the best moments. I was staring at the Milky Way. You can see it the ACTUAL Milky Way. Phenomenal. Plus, we saw about 5 shooting stars within 30 minutes. Surreal. The moon was orange and disappearing. All my attempts to photograph it were out the window since I didn't have my 200mm lens or teleconverter? or tripod. The chair I was sitting on was not cutting it as a temporary tripod.
I'm fairly convinced that my dream date would be to share a bottle of wine and just watch the African night sky with all of its glittering stars and hazy galaxy. Top of the list. Incredible. Make it happen.

Happy Birthday, Julie! I'm sorry I couldn't text you some birthday love. I was thinking of you though.