Winter is here! With highs in the upper 40s and lows in the 30s.

And I think I have finally hit a lull in upcoming events that warrants another post about what has been going on. For the past month a half there has always been something I'd want to write about on the immediate horizon, which has prevented me from having the time to write about it. But now I'm past that and the upcoming month looks more routine, so its time to catalog all that has happened since the last post at the end of April.

Starting off in the beginning of May, I saw the first cold snaps, snowstorms, and signs of winter in Lesotho. This was the first experience waking up to frosted grass, occasional snow on the mountains around me, and wearing many layers all of the time. My home doesn't have central heat, or really heat at all. Peace Corps provided a gas heater, but it burns so much gas that I refuse to turn it on (replacing my gas tank is an arduous process, if you remember from January). So I have been relying on winter layers and my sleeping bag to keep me warm, and it seems to do the trick. I am basically in my sleeping bag whenever I am home after work, reading or relaxing and whatnot.

Our first major snowstorm hit on May 7th, with we got a good coating on the mountains and a dusting on my rooftop that quickly thawed under the sun's glare the following afternoon. But I noticed that the distant, higher elevation mountains near Semonkong remained snowcapped. I set off to try and climb one after work on Friday, but was met with complications. For one, the Blue Mountain Pass to Semonkong (where these mountains live) was impassable for regular public transit. The taxi I took brought me as close as they could (~7000 ft elevation), but then said I'd have to wait and try my odds for a private vehicle headed further upwards (~9000 feet). I decided to wait and see what happened, and ended up in the back of a government road work pickup truck carrying salt bags. They brought me up to the pass, where I quickly realized I was ill-equipped to camp here overnight (too cold, too remote). I decided to return back home with the road workers, but not before putting in my part and shovelling some of the road before we could leave.

During this storm my pit latrine also collapsed, perhaps under the weight of snow or wind. But Peace Corps sent a repair team and I had a brand new latrine built and dug within 24 hours!

The next weekend, around May 14th I went camping at my friend's site. It was a new moon, so we hiked into some remote mountains and saw the most incredible Milky Way I have ever seen. We cooked food over a fire before bed, and then gazed heavily into the stars. Photos are below, and even with just a phone camera the results are incredible.

The week after, I also had my final youth club meeting until school resumes after winter break. We fjorded rivers and ran through the mountains that backdrop the school. I am looking forward to continuing the club in early August, with hopefully a higher meeting frequency. I also got to eat some food afterwards, including intestines from a freshly slaughtered pig: delicious!

The weekend after my youth club (May 31st) I was invited to a church group ceremony by my Sesotho teacher (who is a teacher at the same school I host the youth club at). Many churches came from surrounding areas to participate in a festival of dancing and celebration. My teacher asked me to join her church group for their ceremonial singing and dancing, of which I knew not the words nor maneuvers, but I figured it out after a few minutes. The group was so happy that I participated that I have been invited to the BIG church group meeting in Maseru later this year, which I will try to attend if I can.

The following weekend saw another snowstorm, this one bigger and lasting two days. I once again looked east and saw the mountains near Semonkong were fully coated and resembled those you see in mountaineering documentaries. However, I had recently received a care package of winter hiking clothes, so this time I was ready for anything. I got up to the pass relatively easy this time, as the road was cleared much faster. The mountain itself is right next to Thaba Putsoa, and took me to 10,080 feet of elevation. I had to posthole through ~2 feet of snow the whole way up, so it was a great workout. It reminded me of home.

The weekend after this I found myself at Afriski, the only ski resort in sub-Saharan Africa, which was still blossoming from the snowstorm a week prior. There I met up with eleven other Peace Corps volunteers from both my cohort and the previous one (who are in their second year of service). We skiied for one day only, but it felt great to be back on skis again. Afriski features only one run, of which only the lower half was open, but it provided lots of fun. Since the run was short and there are no trees at that elevation, we could ski freely with constant vision of our friends on the mountain or on the lift.

After Afriski we headed back towards Maseru to have another Peace Corps workshop that lasted the next week. Here we learned about how to complete projects and submit grant proposals, as well as further information on nutrition. It was also great to see all the volunteers again, and we spent every evening after training just hanging out and watching World Cup matches.

Prior to this meeting I had discussed project ideas with my community, and it was widely agreed that water access and conservation was the highest priority. Since going to the training, I now have a better understanding of what Peace Corps is capable of funding and how to actually implement such a project. Working closely with my community, we are developing a plan to build a water storage tank, solar water pump, and tubing system to distributed water to the community more effectively. Currently, there is only one functional well in the community, and it's placed such that most of the community must spend hours each day collecting water. This means people heavily conserve water, and often underutilize it for cleaning, cooking, and drinking, leading to a host of health and hygienic issues. There was a documented outbreak of cholera in my community a few years ago due to this issue. So, with the help of my community and the chief, we are putting together a grant to solve the issue. Currently our projected cost is too high for what Peace Corps will approve for Lesotho projects, so we hope to lower it or split the project into two grants instead. I will certainly be providing you with more information as things develop, and likely an opportunity to contribute donations as well to help meet our fundraising goals.

That basically takes us to the present day. I have just returned to my site following the end of the workshop, catching up on some must needed rest. The outlook for the next couple of weeks looks relatively tame compared to the blizzard that has just passed, but I'm sure there will be adventures bubbling up in no time.

My running is still going strong, and I am focusing on healing my chronic posterior tibialis injury, which is now improving everyday. Soon I plan on slowly ramping up mileage again, in hopes of continuing the dream to run two self-guided ultramarathons while I'm here, aiming for a 50 miler before the year is finished.

I hope that you are all well, and enjoying the wonders of a World Cup on home soil. We have been watching many of the games here, hoping South Africa can escape the groups (although it isn't looking good); But at least a country from the continent going far would be great, such as Senegal or Morocco. We were all thrilled with the Cabo Verde draw against Spain, and when the Congo DR drew against Portugal.

Stay tuned and until next time,
Connor