I just got word that Tendekai, our safari tracker in Zimbabwe, was killed yesterday by an elephant while on a walking safari in Victoria Falls. He led us through our first walking safari when we visited in 2009 and helped us track a wild buffalo on foot which I described in the following post: Our First Walking Safari.

Thank you for the memories, my friend. You will be missed.

Lia’s Watermelon Ice, originally uploaded by suddenly.

I’ve left Toronto and returned to Brooklyn, home to Woody Allen, Spike Lee, and that hottie from Prison Break. It’s been seven years since I’ve lived in NYC and I’m so excited to rediscover all the things I’ve missed about my hometown because no place else in the world do you have the same:

1. Pizza
2. Bagels
3. Jews
4. Stoops
5. Italian ices
6. Water (so tasty and softens my hair and skin)
7. Cat calls
8. Crazies
9. Dynamic neighborhoods
10. Sassy residents

So, yeah, I’m back. For good. And for the better.

I’m contemplating an emergence from my blog-free cocoon. I don’t know how much I’ll be posting again but I’ve added some new features to the sidebar so readers will know if I’m still breathing. Check out my my Twitter feed, Yelp reviews, and the crappy photos I took on my digital point-and-shoot posted on Flickr. (Apparently, I’m the only person in Toronto without an SLR camera).

See you around. Maybe.

in uganda, a rolex is fried eggs wrapped in the indian flatbread called chapati. I don’t know how it got it’s name rolex. all i know is that it’s delicious, like a greasy breakfast burrito.

you can see rolex vendors on the street. this lady got her eggs fresh from the hens in a nearby ditch, cracked them on a cast iron griddle, and rolled them up in a chapati.

eggs on the griddle, originally uploaded by suddenly.

rolex, originally uploaded by suddenly.

]]> http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/get-a-rolex-for-under-a-dollar/feed/ 13 suddenly susan http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/grilled-cow-tongue/ http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/grilled-cow-tongue/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:44:08 +0000 suddenly susan http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/grilled-cow-tongue/ Continue reading →]]>

grilled cow tongue, originally uploaded by suddenly.

we found this street vendor tucked into a little alleyway in entebbe (uganda) serving up grilled cow tongue. he sprinkles it with salt, cuts it up into bite-size pieces, then presents the meaty morsels in a newspaper cone.

the meat was pleasantly chewy and extremely flavorful. and super cheap!

267 points for "luckiest"

i’ve been on a roll lately with lexulous, playing 2-minute games with 0-second increments. the rounds are high speed and filled with intense pressure thus giving me my daily adrenalin rush. i recently beat my previous record for most points with one word (230 for THERAPIES) when my opponent played HOOD and left open the triple word spot. i had LUCKIEST in my rack, so with the K on the double letter, and the 8 tiles spanning two triple-word-scores, i got a grand total of 267 points.

the sheer luck of having those tiles in my rack was not lost on me.

gorilla tracking, bwindi impenetrable forest, originally uploaded by suddenly.

the distance from kampala to bwindi isn’t far but when you’re traveling on a two-lane “highway” riddled with satellite-dish-sized potholes then driving over dirt paths, what should’ve been a 5-hour journey spins itself into an 11-hour bumpy ride.

our entire reason for the trip was to see the endangered mountain gorillas in bwindi. you might know them from the movie gorillas in the mist starring sigourney weaver as diane fossey.

there’s a reason why they call it the “impenetrable forest.” the entire mountain is covered in dense thickets of trees, vines, and stinging nettles. we had no path to walk on; the trackers chop down the vegetation with machetes as they go and try to point out the big drops underfoot so we don’t sprain an ankle. and even with a hired porter to carry my backpack and drag me up the 70-degree inclines, the trek was kicking my citified urbanista butt. oh, and did mention that the air is like a warm vat of mayonnaise? my newly-purchased safari shirt was drenched from collar to tail.

our group of 8 trekkers endured nearly two hours of this before we spotted the gorillas. (we were the “lucky” ones because the other group took 10 hours.) there was the big papa silverback, the mama and her bebe, along with the crazy uncles swinging in the trees and lounging beneath the ferns. they were relaxed, having a family moment while we barely contained our excitement. the gorillas were oblivious to us except for the baby who was curious. she (i think it was a she) turned and turned her head to look at each of us snapping pictures wildly.

we got to have an hour viewing the gorillas but it was the quickest hour i’d ever spent. then we had to make the trek back down the mountain.

after a couple of days we got out of kampala. we were on our way to bwindi which is in the west towards the D.R. congo and rwanda borders. our driver picked us up at 6:30 in the morning and i slept most of the way but when i was awake i managed to take a few photos. here’s one of the many trucks carrying green bananas or “matoke,” the staple food of uganda. they eat them boiled, mashed, served with peanut sauce, roasted, etc.

next, we moved on to kampala; a city more congested and more polluted than nairobi but at least you don’t have to worry (too much) about getting mugged.

usually when we arrive in a new city we like to explore the area on foot, you know, get the lay of the land. big mistake in kampala. it’s right on the equator which means searing heat all year round. i spent the first part of our walk lathering myself in sweat; the second part coating myself in black exhaust from old cars manufactured in the 1970s; and the third part crumbing myself in the dust kicked up from the dirt roads. yup, it was like an unintentional recipe for chicken-fried suddenly susan.

getting around in a taxi is also out of the question because the traffic simply does not move. instead, we opted to take the motorbike cabs they call “boda boda.” they zip you around town at breakneck speeds weaving in between vehicles. they’re supposedly not safe but they do get you where you want to go and you can feel the wind on your face.

view some scenes from kampala here.