The Road Less Taken - Part 1

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel them both....
Two roads diverged in the wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And it has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost

Each day, Monday-Saturday, we walk the 2 miles from the guesthouse to school.  In one of our first blogs we chronicled our walk to school by the main road.  There are actually several ways (paths) to school from the guesthouse and this post will share with you our favorite way to school.  It follows the same valley that leads to the village of Bududa and the school, but it goes up along the forests and fields of the valley hillsides. The road/trail takes us by small homesteads, by various livestock and choice bird habitats, by fields of maize and beans, and at this point in our time in Bududa, past familiar faces and acquaintances----with children at play and adults performing the commerce of living.  Every pass on the road can bring important news from another person "footing", or a chance to make a date to visit with a friend, or a  new insight into rural life in eastern Uganda, or even a new bird. We start our daily trek by rolling down the hill from the guesthouse porch....

We follow this path down the hillside from the guesthouse to the road below.
Across the road we enter a banana plantation where we see cows, chickens, goats and pigs.

Love this pig! Pigs are not plentiful in Bududa and most are kept confined, thus how nice and clean it is.Zero grazing is promoted here, though cows and goats roam free most of the time.

Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters drying off after dipping into the river below. Delightful to watch their bathing antics.

Our encounters with children are often a joyful adventure.

Herding cows to market for sale.

Irene, a former Child of Bududa and BVA tailoring graduate is building a mud-house construction for her tailoring business.
She gave birth to her first son on May 5. She also has 3 daughters, two of whom are twins.

Men digging and weeding in a field of maize.

Blankets drying. Fences, bushes,and roofs are all used to dry clothes.

Children greet us with "Mzunga, how are you?" and lots of smiles and high-fives.

This last photo brings us to the half-way point on our walk to school. Our internet connection has been very intermittent, so we are sending Part 1 of The Road Less Taken, and will follow up with Part 2 as soon as we are able to load more photos. As we do, enjoy the walk!