Sports Report

It's a big day for women's soccer here today, with the semifinals of the CAN Women's Games scheduled to start at 2pm. We've been told to expect that not much will be getting done this afternoon. If their Independence Day was any indication, we might more reasonably expect that very little other than women's soccer-related things will be happening for the next week or so. Should the local actually win, we might expect the celebrations to just ease us on into the Christmas holiday break.

In any event, our mostly EG girls team is 2-0 at this point, having already beaten Cameroon and Mali. It's a mostly EG team, with the addition of a few Brazilian ringers who have apparently been recruited to become EGians for a short while -- who do a lot to increase the odds of our extended Xmas break period. But on the other side of the draw are the South Africans, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tunisia. I really have no idea how good any of them might be, but I just sort of imagine that South Africa might have a pretty serious team.


We did actually get to see our girls win their first match against Cameroon, 1-0. That was the weekend before last. Quite an experience it was, not so much for the game itself but for the opportunity to see the packed stadium up close and personal. The halftime show was particularly entertaining, with two different groups of school children meandering onto the field and then doing some sort of slow-motion calesthentics. Riveting stuff it was. Then some fellow appears on the sidelines with a microphone and does a combo breakdance and song routine. Incredibly good stuff. Oh, and along the way, he would from time to time jettison various pieces of his clothing. That pretty much sealed it for me as being one of the finest halftime shows I've ever seen.

Weather Report

When something happens on time around here, it's worth noting. Officially, the dry season began here on Bioko island on the first of November. And to our surprise, it pretty much did. Some of us were having our doubts back in October, though, as a 60% chance of rain would be included in every day's forecast. And normally, it did rain at least once a day.

But then November got here and it all changed, not exactly overnight but it was at least more or less on the first when things started changing. And it's not that it never rains now; it just rains noticeably less. And you can actually even see a few brown leaves on some of the plátano trees that are everywhere.

But there are other noticeable signs that the dry season is upon us now. The dark clouds still come and go, but the rain just doesn't fall from them nearly as often or as much. And then there's now suddenly a breeze where before there hadn't been one before. The one constant has been the high, high humidity, which must just be more of a jungle thing than a weather thing. What I had never really felt before, though, was the breeze with air this heavy. It feels sort of like I'd imagine it would feel to have one of those big heavy, felt theater curtains blowing against you. In a hot theater. With a hot fan blowing. It's a different sensation.

And the weather forecast looks very different now than it used to. The temperature range is no longer the very predictable 73 to 88 that it used to be. It's now looking like it'll be a predictable 80-84 range, with the "comfort level" hovering somewhere up in the 90s. I think maybe "heat index" might be the better term to use. Today, for whatever the reason, it's warmer than usual, with a current temperature of 86 and a comfort level of 99. (Ugh, I'm really looking forward to that afternoon jog...) And it's overcast. And it did rain some earlier today, so we'll just have to call this one an exception to the norm.

Not exactly what they'd call fruitcake weather in New England -- but what the heck, we are in the tropics!

The BBPP

One of the more interesting and worthwhile undertakings on the island here is a non-governmental organization that goes by the name of "Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program" (BBPP). It's just a small group of people with the majority of them being college students doing an internship over here. I can only imagine how the conversation must go between the parents and the kids who come over here for several months. "Sure, mom, no need to worry -- I'll be in Africa with no way for you to contact me for long stretches. Oh, and we'll be camping out some of the time. In the jungle. With the snakes and spiders and things."

But the ones who do come over here are doing some pretty amazing things. The BBPP's primary objective is to work for the preservation of the seven species of monkeys that inhabit the island. They're also working with the leatherneck turtles that live on the southern beaches. Preservation in this case isn't just about protecting them from the traditional threats of nature. Here, unfortunately, the monkeys are hunted. (Note to self: Add monkey meat to the list of things I'm not gonna eat.) So the BBPP is also working to get the government here to acknowledge the problem and to make and enforce laws against killing the monkeys. Call it Equatorial Guinea's jungle version of Save the Whales.

The program recently attracted the attention of The National Geographic, with the result being an excellent couple of articles in their August 2008 magazine. Some of the pictures that the team took are simply amazing. And their story is pretty fascinating stuff, too. I'd recommend it to anyone. You can see it online at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/08/bioko-primates/morell-text . The picture above is one of their shots, of a red-eared monkey.

More Heroics

It's amazing to see the panic that some of the things that exist around here can cause. Yesterday, the door to the office slammed open with what could only be described as an impassioned plea for a machete. Had it been a woman, I suspect that there would have been some serious screaming going on. But in this case it was one of our more macho guys, with just a little extra volume in his voice but an oh my god sort of look in his eyes. Since I had been somewhat involved in our last snake adventure, I apparently now have earned the distinction of being the keeper of the machetes and one of our resident snake slayers.


This time around, it was a shamefully small little snake that had been sighted on out back sidewalk. So sure, I thought, let me at him with this big ol' machete. And go after him I did. At this point, he's little more than headless corpse and one more notch on our machete.


It turns out that there was some good and bad news to accompany this story. The good news was that that little guy had apparently already been done in by the poison left the day before by our trusty team of fumigators. The somewhat disturbing news was that, according to the fellow who spotted him in the first place, he was a green mamba -- considered to be one of the more deadly snakes on the face of the earth. And he had been slitherng around right next to the base of our building. Yikes! We're just sort of hoping that he didn't get the chance before his none-too-untimely death to tell any of his friends about how much fun playing in our yard can be.

The Not So Arena Blanca

Arena blanca would, in most places, translate as white sand. Here, something apparently went a bit haywire. It's the name of a beach -- actually, while we're maybe trying to be accurate about things, it's probably more correct to refer to it as the beach, since it's considered to be the only really publicly accessible beach on Bioko island -- where you might expect to find some white sand. But there's not any. Which really shouldn't come as that big of a surprise, given that it's a volcanic island.

In any event, our ongoing adventures took us there this past weekend. I'm glad we went, so I can now at least say that I've been to the beach here. But I'll have to confess that I really didn't frollick around in the water much. Okay, make that none at all. But there were others who did, and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

To be fair, though, there really are other beaches here. One of them is probably just the continuation of the Arena Blanca beach to its south, and is supposed to also be available to the public -- just that there's no real road to get you right there.

And then there are the beaches at the southern tip of the island, inhabited more by all sorts of interesting turtles than by humans. The sand down there looks more inviting; it's just a question of figuring out how to get there. With no roads, it's pretty much a matter of finding a boat. Or backpacking there through the bush. I'm thinking I'm probably going to just have to settle for the National Geographic photos.

Barber Shop, Part II

Okay, in response to the hundreds of requests I've gotten so far, here's a shot to give you some idea of the job that Armando did on me. Actually, perhaps it was just a single request, but her vote counts for a lot in this house...





Don't get too worried about all the sweating going on. I had just finished playing for the West African Tennis Championships. Either that or just happy to have played a set on the ExxonMobil courts, with a high school friend of mine. I can save that story for another day.