"The Island"

Yesterday, the entire compound went to "the island." When I heard we were going, I naturally asked what it was like. Vlad, our finances guy who is Russian (who was it who said I wouldn't be using my Russian language skills?), asked me if I had ever seen the movie "The Island." Turns out, the movie is about this perfect looking society in which every now and then people win a trip to "the island." Everyone is excited for those who win, but unfortunately when they go to the island, there is no paradise. They go to the island so the authorities can harvest their organs...

Hmmm... do I really want to go to this island, I thought? Well, I did, and we did, and it was great. After a long and bumpy drive to the Oasis hotel/campground/"resort" of sorts, we were finally on the boat (yes, a singular boat) to the island. Since there was only one boat and about 30-40 people, it took quite a few trips to get us all there. When we were there it was nice... A little relaxing, enjoying the slight breeze when it was there, sweating when it went away, but generally just talking about work, life, etc. Turns out that Vlad, the Russian finances guy used to be a rocket scientist, but when the soviet union collapsed he went for another degree in economics. And, he's also ridiculously into airplanes. His father was a pilot I think, and whenever a plane would fly overhead, Vlad would name the type of plane and tell us the configuration of seats inside the plane. Who knew? (On top of this, he's a slightly eccentric Russian so he's generally hilarious.)
(Vlad is on the left. On the right is Dominic, another funny person.)

After a nice relaxing time we headed back through the Oasis lodge thing, saw my first gorilla water fountain (complete with fake goat!- see above), then back to the compound only to be stalled by a large group of cattle in the middle of the road. I couldn't believe how large the horns were!