So last week was my first trip back to Juba since I arrived 7 weeks ago. My town of Torit is located about 80km from Juba (as the crow flies) so one would think that going back and forth to the capital of South Sudan would be reasonably easy, oh you would be wrong!
We are currently somewhere in the middle of the first rainy season and since the paved roads are either in capital of Juba or the one "highway" which runs from the Uganda border to Juba, I travel on red, clay dirt roads. When I first saw the red dirt roads I thought of the Brooks & Dunn song but their dirt roads were in much better condition. When I first made the trip there had not been any rain in about 3 weeks so the roads were in pretty good conditions. Yes there were major gullies and they were bumpy but they were passable now is a different story.
The area from Torit to Juba has been getting rain/downpours at least 3 days a week for the last month so while it has helped the farmers, the road conditions have changed.
Last week I spent almost all of the week on these roads. Monday I went to Juba (5 hrs), Wednesday I came back to Torit (5hrs), and Friday I went to Obbo and then came back to Torit (6hrs). On the way back from Obbo we were driving in the rain and driving through huge puddles of standing mud. It is a good thing that the vehicles that we use are designed to go through the water because several times we had water over the door jams and I am sure into the engine area.
These trucks take a lot of abuse and so does my body due to the bumps. I have bruises from the seat belt keeping me in the seat when we hit a bump. I am trying to think of something to put on the seat belt to keep it from digging into my skin. The drivers keep telling me to gain weight so I won't feel the bumps as much, that is not an option. If anyone as any ideas as to how to avoid the bruises please pass it along.
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