Holiday! Celebrate!

(You're supposed to sing that in your best Madonna impression...)

Yes, today was a holiday! Actually, the "real" holiday ended up being on Friday, as the Eid came a bit earlier than everyone around here had predicted. But since we were in the middle of a workshop, we didn't want to take the day off. So we took today off instead.

Jackie and I ended up going on a swimming safari. We braved the wilds of the Jb roads to get all the way out to the Mountain, where the lodge was waiting with a swimming pool! The lodge itself is a collection of pre-fabricated "cabins", but they have a lovely swimming pool in the middle of it all. Because normal people were working today, we basically had the pool and restaurant to ourselves!

But first we had to get there. It's only 8 km or so from the compound, but it takes a good 30 minutes in the car to make it there. Here's a few scenes from the drive.

First, we come from our dirt track out onto the new tarmac road. It's been dubbed "the narrow road" by the local folks, as it's one of three tarmac-ed roads in the city, and is by far the narrowist. As you can see, the crew is working on cementing the gutters. I'm just waiting to see how many cars/landcruisers/pick-ups get stuck in those gutters... but it sure is nice to have tarmac only 2 blocks from our driveway!
Once you go a few blocks on this road, you come to the second tarmac-ed road in town, referred to as "the one that goes past the Ministries" (the gov't buildings). First, you have to stop at the t-intersection, making sure to not hit the fancy roundabout which sits in the middle of the road:
After about 1 km, the tarmac ends. Then you hold on so you don't get bounced out of the car for the rest of the 6 km!

You stop by the Syrian bakery (which is also run by Eritreans... lucky for me, I got a bit of a marriage proposal from the handsome Eritrean inside while I waited for a piece of cake!), then you drive past the furniture shop:
Then you pass the auto-parts store:
And of course, you pass by all sorts of other various shops and huts:
You go down meandering dirt roads through some pretty interesting neighborhoods and dodging the usual Jb traffic:

Just a little farther...
And finally, you've made it to the lodge and can jump in the pool!
After enjoying the pool and reading your book all afternoon, you get to do the whole safari in reverse :)

But it's so worth it to get out of the compound and take a real break!