Day 51: October 25. They killed the goat for us.

For breakfast this morning, we forwent the leftover goat intestines, opting instead for pb&j. After much fussing around (cleaning dishes is quite the process!), we hiked up the dirt road to Kilimanjaro at a slow pace, passing many khanga-clad women and children working in their fields or carrying giant bushels of grass or buckets of water on their heads. They would stop and look at us for a moment before picking up speed on the downhill. We could only climb so far until we reached the edge of the forest, where government officials apparently hide to fine people for trespassing. We're not quite sure we believe this...anyway, we played some games with Apo and Eric (learning what they do to entertain themselves with no tv etc), running around and expending our energy by throwing bottles of water like footballs and arm wrestling, until we started to feel rain drops and hurried back down the mountain and almost falling on our faces. Occasionally Karla would stop to snap a photo of the breathtaking landscape.

Miraculously, it stopped raining by the time we got back down to Apo's aunt's house and store. We hung out there for a while, sitting under tree drinking beer (for K) and Coke (for A, who was feeling a bit iffy). The boys tried to teach us Swahili until our brains hurt! 'Kiato' is shoe (Ks favorite) and door is 'mulango'.

After some drinking and a lot of excellent relaxing, Hellen called us over to the house, telling us that we were to be offered a gift, and that no matter what we must accept it graciously, whether or not we think we want to eat it. Jeez. With an intro like that, who can refuse?

So we walked into the interior courtyard of the house, and one of Apo's uncles walks in, trailing... a goat! We took pictures with it and pet it like they wanted us to, knowing full well what was to be its fate. And this time, we got to watch it. Karla even helped slaughter it, but after a short time of watching, Alicia hid her face, started to tear up, and seriously considered becoming a vegetarian. We both noted, however, that Apo is an expert goat-slaughterer.

While the goat was still warm (and painstakingly being cut into pieces), Alicia began to take ill, and, thinking she just needed a nap, lay down for a little while. But she started burning up, and Hellen (thankfully!) recognized the symptoms of malaria, and forced her to go to the hospital.

As it turns out, Alicia wasn't sick because of the goat. Luckily, it was malaria. She was very adamant about making sure our hosts knew this so as to not offend them.

In her delirium, Alicia fought going to the Moyo Safi Wa Maria hospital tooth and nail, especially when she realized that she was to be taken on the back of a motorcycle, without a helmet, over intensely bumpy roads, while dizzy. She thought that this was the way she was going to die...but thankfully she made it safely!

Because of the busted car, Karla couldn't get to the hospital right away (there weren't enough motorcycles around!), so she stayed at home with the boys, who tried to fix the radiator in the dark so they could come to the hospital to visit and bring supplies. Unfortunately, the apoxy didn't hold, so they had to abandon the car at the hospital, and walk an hour or more to get home! However, it was worth it, because Alicia was so relieved to see that Karla was alive and well! (Karla thinks its the other way around).

Back at the house we (Karla and the boys) sat solemnly around the kitchen, lit by a sole lantern. It was late and we were tired, but the boys were so so worried that I had to promise over and over that Alicia would be ok.
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