Breasts vs Icicles

Yesterday we slept in (well some of us did-others wake up at 7 no matter what) and then headed to the Toro Botanical gardens. We were lucky to have an herbalist as our guide who had a very impressive vocabularly of female reproductive anatomy words and a comfort discussing them. He showed us many of the local medicinal herbs for childbirth. There were plants to prevent a miscarraige when a woman has bleeding in early pregnancy, plants to ease labour pain for first time mothers, plants that treated syphilis and candida, plants that helped create a swift birth, helped with the delivery of the placenta, helped with fibroids, fallopian tube problems etc. Like us they prescribe fennel to increase milk supply and sage to dry up milk. On the wards we noticed that very few women tear during birth-despite their great strength when pushing, sometimes poor nutrition and their choice of birth position (often on their backs). When we asked the midwives about this they explained the women soaked their perineums in an herbal bath before labour to prevent tears but they didn't know which herbs are used. Today we learned that a plant called waruncha and potato runners and boiled briefly and then used in said herb bath.
We  saw many species of indigenous plants including several endangered species that are being cultivated. There were also herbs and spices, traditional dye plants and even a specimen of purple sticky punch! We spotted a black and white colobus monkey and at a pale purple/green tree fruit that looked like a mini eggplant, had the internal colour and texture of a tomato and tasted like a salmon berry-yum! Our guide Dominic came along and we got a kick out of the fact that he bought a stevia seedling which he then carried with him on our excusions for the rest of the day so it didn't wilt in the car.
After the gardens Dominic drove us to visit the Amabere caves and 3 crater lakes. The caves are made of limestone and contain both stalictites and stalamites. These are formed when water seeps through the porous limestone causing a chemical reaction that results in the release of C02 and drips of calcium carbonate that form rock icicles from above and spears from below that eventually meet in the middle forming columns. Ambabere means breasts...If you have ever seen a stalictite you would agree it bears more resemblance to an icicle than a breast, and Lyanne pointed out that stalagmites bear a strong resemblance to penises...but we know that men all over the world are breast crazed and so Amabere it is. The local myth is that there was a king Bukuku who had an extremely beautiful daughter Nyinamwiru. One version of the story holds that the king had heard a prophecy that Nyinamwiru would give birth to a boy who would kill him and take over as king. In the first version of the story the king cut out oneof Nyinamwiru's eyes and one breast-throwing the breast into the caves and creating the first stalactite. He was too late though- Nyinamwiru was already pregnant. She gave birth to a boy who Bakuku kidnapped and threw into the caves also. There he was found by a potter collecting clay. The potter fed was too poor to feed the baby and so fed the prince with the milk that dripped from the stalactites. Eventually the boy prince grew and killed his grandfather, fulfilling the prophecy.
Another version has it that Nyinamwiru had many unsuitable suitors. King Bukuku had his daughter's breasts cut off to deter suitors. This failed and so he banished her to the limestone caves. There she was impregnanted by the King Isaza and gave birth to a boy prince, Ndahura. Having no breasts she fed Ndahura, future king, with the limestone milk from the stalictites.
Then off to visit 3 crater lakes. The scenery was beautiful- grassy green volcanic hills, grazing cows and the Rwenzori mountains in the distance. One crater was reputed to have quick sand in it! Viewing the 3rd crater involved a short climb up a very steep hill- the first cardio any of us has had in 4 weeks. We were all panting by the time we reached the top and we were grateful today was slightly overcast and cool. The view was well worth it. On the way down we stopped by a tiny store in a mud hut for beer which we ate sitting on a bench in what appeared to be a 5'x5' goat pen...the goats were tied up outside. Dominic told us about sugar daddies, sugar mommas and the difficulties of divorce in Uganda. He confirmed that a marriage is not legally binding until children are produced (we thought Benon was joking) and if the your parents don't consent to your marraige the church won't marry you.
We finished our day at a wonderful pizza restaraunt run by an Italian expat. We had thin crust pizza with mozza, gouda, tomato, olives, pineapple, garlic & eggplant and shandies. It was scrumptious! And they had a Canadian flag hanging in the centre of the restaraunt to boot. Dominic rested his stevia plant in a windowsill while we ate. We found a wonderful craft shop after dinner and have now settled in to read for the night. All four of us are reading a fabulous series about witches that Sarah has gotten us hooked on- The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth.
Today we drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park for another game drive.

PS- we apparently double posted...

A beer stop after climbing up to view the crater lakes