chimps are blurry! thats the problem!!!: Mitch Heberg, RIP

When last we left our heroes they were venturing into the African bush in search of perilous adventure.
One has to admit it has a cetain 'pulp' appeal if not a twing of melodrama. Well as Kim was writing (not so sutle remark aimed at denoting that this is Jon - hello by the way), after the local hospitality brigade served us some wonderful food; we were invited for a walk into the woods with some of the local hunters. Avid fans might recall that we had already gone out on a trip like this with another group a few months back. Last time we saw a bunch of chimp habitats and a totally great waterfall which we hope to check out again during the rainyseason. Well, needless to say, we accepted and left with four locals and our stalwart companion, Mr Bangoura.






After trudging for hours thru plantations and bamboo groves, we arrived in vally filled with palm trees (apparently a major food source for chimps). Unfortunately we had to walk along a this rediculously muddy, trecherous river bed from that point on. Neither kim nor I had really planned, or dressed for this but we kept our heads down and powered thru. And it all payed off; Kim and I saw three chimps in the wild. Unfortunatly, the dense cover and failing light made it that we only have this one, rather dark and fuzzy photo. But we were there and we'll remember it for ever. It was so surreal as the hunters all started to act like giddy little kids pointing and making a great big deal as we fumbled with the camera half in a panic ourselves to atleast take a few photos.
"Chimps ARE blurry, thats the problem!!!"


Anyone skilled at 'Where's Waldo' can probably find the black splotch in the foreground to the right of the leftmost tree. That black splotch, in all its majesty and splendor, is Pan Troglodytes Verus in the wild. Pretty rad. Unfortunately our trip didn't end there and we had to walk back to town in the failing light which soon became utter blackness. There is a saying here that 'In Africa, when the sun goes down, it's dark'. Obvious isn't it. But in a world without light pollution, or electricity of any kind - such as the African bush, the duh-factor of the saying acts only to incapsulate more fully the shock one recieves upon incountering complete and utter darkness.

Well the morning came and we had a little breakfast with the local head of the community whose house we had stayed at the night before. We were then invited to an impromptou gathering with the hunters and thier families. This was a remarkably great time. I had an oportunity to play the Cora which you can see from the pictures is drum/guitar made from a calabash, animal skin, and other assorted objects. Everyone seemed to get a pretty big kick out of that and the ladies inticed Kim into dancing with them which she always loves. They also brought us more food - meat and bouille (local fair resembling hot rice pudding) - which we ate a great deal of.

Eventually we had to head home which was a lovely bikeride through the rolling hills and small hamlets on the periphery of our sousprefecture. Home coming is always an event as everyone seems to be surpised that we keep returning. Sadly our homecoming was rather sullied buy the events I'm about to relate.
When we got home we unpacked, started our laundry, and the other chores that comprise our daily routine at home. At some point we begain to notice a lot of activity around our neighbors latrine. (I'll take a minute to explian the bathrooms in Guinea real quick in case anybody might not see clearly the image that I'm trying to paint. There are a great variety of latrines. There are water level latrines, pit latrines, indoor and outdoor latrines, flush latrines, the list goes on. All opperate in ostencilbly the same manner, being that there is a hole in the ground and one must indevor to aim as one can. Our neighbors have pit latrine which is outdoors and by all accounts resembles an outhouse.) Eventually, one of the kids came and told me that something was in the latrine. "Il y a un chose di-dans!" This latrine, it should be noted, has been the sight of many a snake sighting and killing. I therefore natually assumed it was a snake or lizard or something and decided to go check it out with my neighbor. Well I got there and I didn't see anything. Meanwhile I'm asking him what it is and he dosn't know the word for it which surprises me (he's a rather smart little guy after all). So I look and look but I don't see anything, all the time looking for some lizard. But then I hear it...and my heart drops. (don't worry this story has a happy ending)
It's a cat. Twenty feet down in this horrifying abyss of shit, someone has thrown a cat. I know how obsurd it is to wax sentimental about the suffering of a cat when the world is full of human suffering. I know that starvation, disease, poverty, and war destroy lives and that this suffering in many cases goes unadressed. With all that in mind, I can't even begin to express my disgust at the type of person who could throw away a life like that. Domestic animals place such unassuming trust in people. And than someone goes and does something like this. What a complete and utter betrayal of that trust. This person completely abandoned any semblance stewardship or paternal responsability.
So there it is, a tiny little cat mewing weekly, and I ask the little boy next to me how long its been there. And again my heart drops. He tells me its been there for two days now. Someone put it there the night before Kim and I left to go on our trip and it had been there ever since. People had kept using the latrine and everything. What had been disgust directed at one person becomes a wave of scinicism with the indifference and ineffectualism of the bystanders.

Supressing this, I go an get Kim. We tell ourselves that we at least have to try unlikely though it is that we might help the cat. We bring our flashlights to try and see if its even possible to save this cat or if all hope is lost. Straining to see down this rediculously small hole in the floor of the latrine into the pit twenty feet down, we still hear mewing this pitiful cat. There it is, these two little eyes reflecting back up at us. So we devised a plan. We found long stick to lower into the tiny hole of the latrine. We tide a little rope to the end with a sliding knot to snare the little cat. We then lowered the stick thinking first of all that the cat would jump on and climb out on its own volition. Unfortunately it was far too weak, or delerious from whatever toxins it had been breathing. We started to realize how rediculous our plan was and that we could never hope to get this cat. Nevertheless, we kept trying for a while and the cat, who still couldn't move as we was surrounded in sludge, started biting at the little rope we had at the end of the stick. Somehow I got the rope on him enough that we begain to lift him out. It was increadably tense for a few minutes as we were worried that something would slip and he would fall anew and that all chances would be lost. But remarkably we lifted him up to the open and pulled out this putrid little guy who just lay there completely destroyed.
Sadly, Kim and I were sure he was going to die. But we were happy to atleast give the cat some modicum of dignity by giving it a chance and pulling it out of that abysmal place. So we washed it up and put it in the sun.
Kim fed it condenced milk. A few days passed. We have a cat.

I had to add this picture: BEFORE...sad and smelly
AFTER: Happy and right at home
We haven't chossen a name and we're looking for suggestions. Any ideas?