Day 55: October 29. Arusha

We woke up rather early considering the previous day's excitement. We walked into the kitchen to find a delicious assortment of fresh fruit awaiting us. Most, if not all, came right from the garden. Coffee and homemade bread made it the perfect breakfast. After the village breakfasts, we were ready for anything. After breakfast, we opted for more dozing and relaxing. Suzanne's house was perfect for this. It was full of fun colors and comfy pillows. And there were a ton of interesting books to browse through.

Around one, we thought it would be good to look into some short safaris as we would be leaving on Sunday (as far as we knew at the time). It wasn't long before the two of us felt very tired and weak and so we abandoned our short safari search and made our way to the Arusha hospital to be tested one more time just in case. We were negative for malaria, but as we were waiting for results, Chris and Graham had struck up a conversation with the doctor that lead to finding out that we hadn't taken the proper medication in the correct order. Apparently, what we took, Malafin, was only used as a supplement to the normal four day medication, Cotecxin. He strongly suggested we take it immediately before we became resistant to it. Without question we of course got it.

We were both happy to get the right treatment but unhappy that we had to take more meds and get more rest. Resting is hard when the world is layed out before you.

We walked home for a late lunch of the delicious soup that Jan had made the night before (carrot ginger). It was a tough time for the two of us. I was just then realizing how delirious I had been at the hospital in the village and we were both exhausted. This was discouraging because we really wanted to go on the safari, but couldn't because of the medicine.

When Suzanne came home from work, she walked with us to show us the hotel nearby with a swimming pool in case we wanted to go there one day to relax (and a gym for the boys). Next we walked to the grocery store right across the street from the house to get some cereal and potato chips.

Dinner was a little quieter as Suzanne and Jan went out. It was the only night that Jan wasn't around to make his usual masterpiece. He is a true chef. We topped off the day with yet another relaxing activity- a movie! It was the first for us in a loong time. Of course 'My Best Friends Wedding' was the perfect solution.
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Today! November 9

Sorry for not updating in a while. We didn't have data connection for the last couple of weeks in Tanzania, and we were just plain lazy about writing them because of our illness slash distraction. We're working on it, and we'll be fully up-to-date in a couple of days. Promise!

Love,
Us

PS - don't worry...we're healthy again!
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Day 54: October 28. You say goodbye and I say hello

Today we were released from the hospital. Graham and his friend Chris came to be our knights in shining armor and picked us up from the hospital to take us back to Arusha. Alicia finally stopped feeling as dizzy and Karla made a miraculous recovery.

We went home to Ubetu and packed our things, saying goodbye to all our friends who had quickly become like family. We were really sad to leave! Poor Graham and Chris were exhausted from the drive and couldn't understand why we weren't rushing to get back to Arusha. In our sick state, we hadn't had time to pack! Thankfully, they were patient and grew to love the place even during their short two hour stay.

We began the long long drive to Arusha around three in the afternoon. As the car was small, it couldn't handle the short cuts Hellen suggested. They were just far too bumpy. Leaving, we saw Kilimanjaro from new perspective.

We arrived at Suzanne's house - Graham's aunt- in Arusha and settled into the bungalow that Chris and Graham had already moved into. Soon, we were walking into the big house to meet Suzanne and Jan, her Belgian friend. They had prepared a lovely dinner for us, and we chatted away. After dinner Jan, knowing the way to our hearts, made us some scrumptious lemon-ginger tea, and we went to bed.
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Day 53: October 27. Malaria part II

The day got off to a rough start. Karla and Alicia both woke up feeling ill. We found out that the car was beyond repair, and Hellen became very upset about all the things that were going wrong.

At least the lab techs were at the hospital bright and early today, so Alicia and Kar got tested for malaria - Alicia's came out clean (hooray! The drug worked! Bed rest for 4 days then she'll feel better!), but unfortunately Karla has malaria too. At least she doesn't have it as badly as Alicia, although her symptoms were much more violent.

It was a day of rest and recuperating, punctuated by Karla being confined to bed, a couple of IV's and Alicia taking her first weak steps toward recovery. Karla became delirious in her weak state and made all the staff as well as Hellen, upset. It was a cause for a lot of emotional pain for everyone until it was told that Karla didn't actually remember any of it. The rest of the day was thankfully more quiet as Karla slept for the first time. That night she was forced to eat as she finished her second IV. Poor Hellen gave up her bed and spent the cold night on a mattress on the floor. She's a saint!
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Day 52: October 26. Malaria

Alicia woke up in the hospital this morning, and Karla woke up in Ubetu, each acutely lonely for the other. Who would have thought?

Karla took a short walk around the plot after some tea and a bite of PB&J (making sure not to get lost) to shake the nausea out of her body. After gathering some things and laying down for a bit, she was suddenly dragged to possibly church, possibly the hospital. The boys didn't even know. We ended up stopping through both. By the time we had made it there we had about fifteen people walking behind us, curious as to why there was a Muzungu in their village. What a spectacle I made! The church was beautiful. Everyone was dressed up and singing loud and proud. We didn't actually get to go in as it was full, but it was fun as it was.

Alicia finally got tested around 10am, after her 2nd IV, and Hellen's suspicions were confirmed: it was in fact malaria. Alicia spent the day dozing and trying to feel better, while Hellen scurried around, telling people to bring supplies, and setting up a 'kitchen' in the hospital room to pump Alicia full of nutrients. (The best part of malaria is that you have to keep eating and eating!)

Karla walked down to visit with the boys for a little while before walking home and doing laundry by hand in buckets with Apo and Eric. She didn't know what was in store for her later.

Around dinner time, Felicissme brought a chicken with its head freshly cut off into the hospital room and began plucking it over a basin to catch the blood while Alicia watched from her bed. She giggled all the while, and poor Felicissme thought Alicia was laughing at him because he didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the situation. It didn't help that she only speaks English and he only speaks Swahili!

Plagued by their loneliness of the night before, Karla hopped on a motorcycle back to the hospital with her overnight things, and slept in the hospital bed with Alicia. Unfortunately, Karla too became violently ill... It didn't help that the bed was far too small. She spent practically the whole night making trips to the bathroom. By morning she felt drained and very weak.
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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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Day 50: October 24: Market Day in the Village

Today we awoke to our first morning in the village. As it was rather late (8am) a plate of pork and plantains were thrust in front of us by Hellen, who had transformed herself from city women to village mother in Khan ga garb overnight. Immediately after, we were put to work (sort of), wrapped in a Khanga and given a bucket of water and slop for Alicia to put on her head for the pigs. The short walk in the forest to the pig pens was hilarious.

As we waited for Hellen to bathe, we took a stroll around the plot. If Eric hadn't been with us we would have been utterly lost as everything looked the same. Which was beautiful.

Walking back towards the house Hellen looked worried. We had been gone all of twenty minutes and she thought we were lost in the forest. We (secretly) got in a good laugh.

We got in the car, crossing our fingers that it would make it. We made what would be one of the car's last rides (you'll see) to the market. It was conveniently market day. It was like nothing wed ever seen. So full of life and colors. Hopefully our pictures (if you see them) will help describe the beautiful chaos. First order of business was to buy a goat. We had a choice of an indoor goat and an outdoor goat. Indoor ones are tastier (we couldn't tell) but more expensive because they are fed soda ash and grass. Then we grabbed some carrots, potatoes, water, and a red Khanga for Karla. When we approached the car and looked in the back, we didn't see the goat. Just as Alicia asked where he had gone, there was a blood curdling scream and banging from over our heads. Over the edge of the roof popped out the head of the goat as it struggled against the ropes. So what did we do? We took a picture and carried on our merry way.

When we arrived back at the house, we had some spare time as Hellen busied herself with something useful and the boys (Apo and Eric) wandered off. So, we gathered the many children who had been staring at us from around the village, fascinated with the white Muzungus. We decided to teach them duck duck goose (or moose as some said). It was quite fun and they caught on rather quickly. Before long it was time to peel plantains. While peeling, Hellen yelled at me for throwing a peel at Alicia. It went like this, "Karla! Hellen! Karla! Hellen, what!?" Apparently they stain. I would soon find out first hand as my shirt acquired some mysterious brown spots later. Karma. After we were through, our hands were so filthy and caked with dirt, that they had to be scrubbed and scrubbed (with a corn cob no less). Eric insisted on helping, and so Alicia ended up having her hands thoroughly and meticulously scrubbed. I watched and laughed.

While we were peeling, Apo had slaughtered the goat (right after I'd fed it some grass to make it happy for as long as possible). We walked over and saw the head laying there. He happily pointed out the different parts to us. We had been prepped by the slaughter houses in the markets in Zanzibar, so we were only disappointed we hadn't seen him kill it (we would get more than we bargained for the following day).

Dinner started with goat's blood soup cooked with carrots and intestines. Alicia was brave enough to actually eat the intestines. It was all Karla could do just drink it. We badly needed a Safari beer. But we did it. Yet by the time the second course came along, I, Karla tried to eat the meat, but mostly ugali/polenta was all I could force down. I was happy to give my portion to the boys/men (there were five of them). A grandmother, Patricia and a 102 year old grand father (Baba) lived there as well. Its hard to know who else lived there.

We were tuckered out and we soon settled into our surprisingly cozy bed. As we were on the mountain side, it got rather cold at night and it was nice to have the two of us to keep each other warm.
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