In the morning we left really early with the hope of getting to Buta as quickly as possible. The road continued to be bad, and it poured on us the whole way.
At one point I got off of my bike only to discover that my cheap raingear from Outdoor World had ripped all the way up my right leg and into my crotch and that I was, in fact, standing pantsless in the middle of the jungle. Or should I say ... in the bush?
...woops.
Adam changed rainpants with me, leaving him with pants-pseudo-skirt to wear. If it hadn’t been blue and plastic, it might have been sort of cool and Neo-from-the-Matrix-esque. Alas.
We did make it to Buta, finally, after a police check that seemed to last forever as the rain poured down on us. You’d think they’d be a bit speedier because of the rain, but no. Thankfully no bribes were exchanged and we did finally make it to Mister Cash, the home of Cleve in Buta! Yay!
Olivier took video of our soggy, mud-sodden arrival and Cleve took a photo, which I posted already. I’d never been so glad to be anywhere, and it was amazing to think that it had been over a year since I’d seen Cleve last. But he was wearing the shirt I’d gotten him at the Duke Primate Research Center, and it made me smile.
The journey wasn’t over by any stretch, but we knew we’d be at least a day in Buta, and the knowledge that I could sleep in the following day and NOT sit on a motorbike was a gift!
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