DiploMom is Heading to Congo

Thanks to my adventurous daughter's career, DiploMom is about to travel from bucolic Vermont (where the snow is barely melted) to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, for a dry season visit. That is, FOR the dry season, or at least most of it. 

When I tell people this, the first questions I usually get have to do with geography--"Exactly where IS Congo?" -- or politics--"Isn't that where they are having all that trouble?" So let me start right there.

As you can see from the map of Africa, Congo sits on the Equator, just south of the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in central Africa. That means a lot of things. 

First, after a very long Vermont winter, I am sacrificing my favorite time of year here when the days are long an the early morning ponds beckon. I will go into an unchanging schedule of might and dark--in Congo the sun  rises and sets at the same time all year round--roughly 06:00 and 18:00. 

Next the weather is HOT. So I am also sacrificing "summer the way it should be" here in Vermont. The big advantage of going for the dry season is that it won't rain every day AND be HOT. My mother always told me "It's hot for everyone, Rilla," but she was not in command of the fact that redheads have more difficulty than others managing thermal change and extremes of temperature, especially heat.

As to the politics, Congo-Brazzaville, as the Republic of Congo is known, is the smaller of two countries known as Congo. The other is the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), where most of the referenced "trouble" has been of late. The DRC is also known as Congo-Kinshasa. The two capital cities lie across the Congo River within sight of one another. Congo Brazzaville is relatively small and quiet by comparison to Congo-Kinshasa.

The "Mighty" Congo River more than earns its nickname. Recall scenes from the Heart of Darkness by Josef Conrad. Those rapids have defeated or seriously hampered the movement of goods and people throughout history They have also been a source of livelihood and recreation for locals as well as visitors. I hope to get acquainted with the Congo River sitting in the comfort of an outdoor patio drinking something cold and from the relative safety of the regularly scheduled launches that take travelers and locals back and forth between the capitals on a daily basis.

I have been studying French with some attentiveness since Christmas but I feel certain I will look like a deer in the headlights as soon as anyone says anything to me in French beyond Bienvenue! Panic. At the suggestion of my wise sister I have put together a list of phrases I may expect to use  (2 kilos of bananas, please) and tried to put together some sentences about Vermont and my family. I have been attending a conversation group for non-native English speakers through Central Vermont Adult Basic Education and always walk away filled with admiration for the participants who are learning to speak and understand spoken English. I just hope I will have the same kind of fortitude they have.


At the moment, I am very much in Vermont Mud Season mode but entering that countdown phase full of lists and anxieties about things undone as well as the dreaded packing and wardrobe challenges.. I have been looking forward to this trip for almost a year and have done my reading (including Conrad) and had my shots (typhoid, yellow fever) and acquired the meds (anti-malarials). I have already shipped three boxes of gifts, and of course, I am taking a good supply of the requisite Vermont maple syrup, maple hard candies, and even some Vermont wine.

Stay tuned for adventure.