The Gum Boots

One of the best investments that I have recently made are my bright blue gumboots.  They are the most beautiful gumboots ever.  Have I mentioned them before?  Perhaps I have, because I love my gumboots so much.

Almost three years ago, when I was in a town North of here, for a workshop, I saw on the feet of someone in the street the most striking bright blue gumboots.  I should have gone shopping in the market there to see if I could find a pair of my very own.  But I didn't.  I thought for sure I would be able to find the same kind of boots back here in the city.  But alas.  For three years I kept my eyes open for blue gumboots.

Finally, before I left Uganda to come back here in May, I saw at the Bata shop the most beautiful pair of bright blue gumboots.  Unfortunately, the only pair they had were a size too big for me.  The boots that actually fit me were black.  Boring, plain old black.  I knew that even though they actually fit me, I would never be happy with the black boots.  So I went for the one size too big blue gumboots.

And they have really come in handy this week.  It's been raining and raining and raining.  And our compound is pretty muddy, and there are some serious rivers running through our compound - rivers which run through some garbage dumps and, um, well, peeing fields before getting to our compound.  So it's not exactly the kind of lovely clean water you want to be splashing through in your bare feet! 

So I just put my gumboots on and splish splash without fear through the mud :)  I've been wearing them every where - even wore them out to dinner on a few occasions!  I wore them out to dinner with a friend from an NGO in the town where I did my workshop a few weeks ago, and I wore them out to dinner tonight, as well.  We have a new restaurant on our main road, within walking distance.  Of course, it was pouring rain when we went, but armed with a big umbrella and a pair of gumboots - no problem!  Our street is really becoming the "happening" place to be in Jb.  After dinner (I tried something new, which I'd never heard the name of before and ended up being ground beef mixed with fried potatoes - how yummy is that?!), we splashed through the mud and the muck a block over and finished our 'night on the town' with a macciato (espresso with a bit of steamed milk) from the friendly Eritreans who run the place. 

Then we marched back home by the light of our headlamps, through the mud.  I came home, took off the gumboots and still had clean feet :)  My gumboots, on the other hand, are going to need a serious bath!