Up to Ilha...12/16

July 8, 2003

Here I sit in a beautiful internet café in Blantyre, Malawi. It may be chilly out but I’m warm inside with the thought I’m that much closer to Nkhata Bay and my rest stop for x amount of time. I have to admit, I’d rather suck ass than get on another bus but there seems to be some small chances I could get a lift with someone. I’m shamelessly begging all those with a vehicle at the hostel for a lift. I’ve reached the end of my ropes with public transit in Africa. I need a vacation.

My travels to Northern Mozambique were fairly eventful, disregarding that whole malaria thing. Tom and I left Beira with Lester and his 2 VSO friends very early for the bus to Caia. We saw the first wild animals on this bus journey; a family of monkeys playing by the side of the road. Everyone on the bus got very excited by the sight of them; almost all the animals had been killed during the war so sightings were rare. You’d see blown up bridges all along the route as well…the other sign of war.

We reached the Zambezi River which we had to cross in a powered canoe of sorts. The ‘ferry’ had sunk the previous week so no vehicles could cross. This meant if you were driving you had to go all the way to Malawi to get to Northern Moz. And this being Africa it meant the ferry would probably not be fixed for some time.

Finally we reached Quilemane; stage one in our trek to Ilha de Mocambique. The bonus to traveling with VSOs is you get to stay at their fellow VSO flats. And in Quilemane we stayed at a prince of Uganda’s house. Sound luxurious? No. Still no running water but a clean bed, which is all I ask. And for some reason this random city has amazing restaurants…we couldn’t figure out why. It’s not like the average Mozambican can afford to eat out.

Started stage two at, you guessed it, 3:30 am again. This time we were on a big bus, which was a bit more comfortable. The views were fantastic: pineapple fields (they look like fern trees), flowering mango trees, and a billion papaya trees. Oh, my mouth water at the sight of the big plump fruits. Love them….Tom and I became obsessive with them. One of my favorite memories of that bus ride is of Tom. He was sitting near the back of the bus, me near the front and he called my name. I turned and he said excitedly Look what I got! And he lifted this enormous, bigger than his head, papaya up over the seats. The look on his face was sheer ecstasy…we took to carrying spoons with us wherever we went.

Reminds me of another story I think I forget to tell. This happened when Jess and I first got into Mozambique and were on the killer bus ride from Tete to Vilanculos. I may or may not have mentioned that they buy goats along the way. They buy them then hoist them up on the roof of the bus, tying them up for the long journey. You know how Canadians sew flags onto their packs. I of course do as well. Just a small one-.not banner size or anything. Seems a goat was parked beside my pack on the roof and he got hungry. The goat ate my flag. I first thought someone had stolen it. No, it was a goat. Now I am flagless. Just some threads hanging off my pack, which I will leave to commemorate the maple leaf.

At last we made it to Nampula. Just one more bus ride and we were in Ilha!!!! Again, we stayed with a VSO. Again with no running water. I really couldn’t imagine living somewhere for so long (they usually have a contract for 2 years) without running water.

Stage three: the uneventful ride to Ilha…ok, the bus conductor did spend most of his time hanging onto the exterior of the bus as we drove at breakneck speed and he did encourage a death defying race with a rival bus but we got there….ok, had to ride precariously on the back of a pickup truck with 30 other people with luggage to get over the bridge to the island but we got there, finally, after 3 days. Whew. I hate buses.

The coolest? The first ever music festival was being held on Ilha. Now this island is tiny, like 5km by 3 km. You can see the other side of the island from…the other side. The bridge to the island is longer. It’s cool. The festival was being held in the old Portuguese fortress, San Sebastian. We managed to find room at Casa Lois, Lois and his wife’s house. They have a couple rooms to rent for too much and camping area. And a baby that didn’t stop crying once. I swear my womb shriveled up during my time there. Every woman who stayed there vowed to tie their tubes as soon as they reached a first world country. The brat didn’t even shed tears. It just wanted attention, which it got. Ohhhhh, I hate that baby.

Anywho, the festival was fun. The sound system was ok, good by African standards. I ran into a ton of people I had met in Moz. Specifically happy about running into Jane and Sven, an English couple who have been living and teaching in Uganda for years. We had all sorts of fun….

And, it turns out I was the only person at the entire festival (even the bus conductor saw this, we found out when we were leaving) who didn’t see Tom get on stage and play the sax. Nope. I was looking at carvings. Shit. I suck.

It was especially nice to Ilha after the festival. When all the people went home and the island went back to normal. I liked seeing the odd guy walking down a busy street holding a live crab, trying to sell it to anyone whose eye he caught.

But then we got malaria…you know that story.

Back in Nampula, after Tom and I were healthy I managed to befriend the owner of the Brasilia, the hotel we were staying at. He was so nice. After Tom left for Beira, he adopted me, introducing me to his wife and kids, who also adopted me. Taking me on an educational tour of Nampula, giving me food. He’s a good man; he even has goats for pets!

Mom, the best woman in the world, had given me a flight as a gift back to Blantyre and this man made sure it was secured for me. He even got a phone call set up to my home.

So, yes, I flew here to Blantyre. A tiny little Cessna. I got to sit in the front with the pilot. I befriended an English businessman who drove me into the city and here I am the next day. Had two hot showers so far and a good night’s sleep. Very happy to be home in Malawi.

So, I won’t be at email very often again. There is no connection in Mayoka and I don’t make the trek to Mzuzu often. So until then, everyone stay happy and healthy!
Love tons
thi

The Ultimate African Souvenir 11/16

July 4, 2003

Oh, Mozambique the bastard. I thought I was home free. Even getting cocky, talking about going off my doxy in Malawi…
Instead Tom and I picked up the ultimate in African souvenirs. Something that would stay with us forever.

Malaria.

It all started Monday the 29th (?). Tom emerged from his tent feeling rather flu-ish. Lucy, a nurse, Damien (nurse’s boyfriend) and I chalked it up to just that, put him to bed, a comfortable bed, specifically my bed, then went out for our day of photos on Ilha which turned into a day of movies in the lobby of the fancy hotel. Well, did we feel bad when we returned home to find that Tom had been taken to the hospital And tested positive for malaria and was dosed up on Fansidar. Shit. Did that mean I got it too? We had been staying in all the same places…the same rooms.

Sure enough I started feeling really achy as the night progressed but I really wanted to believe it was a cold. We got back to the Casa to find Tom in a bad way. Fansidar had literally been kicking the shit out of him, the poor thing. All I knew was this was not what I wanted.

I went to bed (we had moved Tom previously) and woke in the middle of the night absolutely freezing and had to wrap myself in 3 sheets and my goose down sleeping bag to get warm. I spent all of the next day floating in and out of a low-grade fever and slept probably 23 hours, only eating some homemade soup the lady of the house had made. The following day I felt almost back to normal. It was strange. Tom was very weak for days on end and I was ok-ish after 1 day in bed. People didn’t believe I was sick, but common, women can put up with a lot of pain if they have to. We all know that.

Tom and I went to the hospital for my blood smear; I think the nurses thought I looked too healthy to have malaria, as did I, but they have to do a test. Sure enough, those evil little parasites were found in my blood. After all the precautions: the mozzie coils burnt at night, the mozzie nets whenever possible, the deet, the doxy…although I did learn that doxy will keep the malaria ‘down’, making it less dangerous….sorta. Well, it’s better to get it on a prophylactic, ok?!
We figure we got it in Beira where we were staying near a swamp and were overrun by mozzies.

I really wanted to take Artinate, highly recommended by all those I have met living in Africa, called the hot malarial med by one expat (teehee) so we left very early the next morn (funny how easy that is to do when you’ve slept for 2 days) for Nampula. Oh that was trying….I had felt ok, but I couldn’t carry the weight of my bag so Tom and I swapped. We had to ride in the back of a pickup and it was pretty chill. Poor Tom was bad off so I yelled at the dude running the back to get Tom in the cab of the truck, which worked and I set up our packs making a good seat, wrapped myself and this little girl in my kanga (I couldn’t use all the room for myself-they had like 40 people on the back of that truck-so I had to use the girl for heat and some of my space). Finally I cracked. I have never experienced this: All my organs hurt. I swear, I thought my kidneys were gonna freeze up and fall off and my liver….geez. Never do I want to feel them again.

Tom traded with me and I warmed up and napped in the comfort of the cab. Then we had to change vehicles twice more, more discomfort, and finally we made it to Nampula. By that time my body had sent so many drugs through me I was high as a kite. The body really is amazing. I mean, I knew I could put up with a lot but man, this…shit. My body is goooood. Tons o’drugs and tolerance. See, it pays to take your multi vitamins and exercise!

Ok, so we went to Lee’s, a VSO who let us stay with her, thank god. Went in search of my chosen poison and thanks to my pain in the ass persistence and pigheadedness…got it. It’s this Chinese herb, Artemisia Annua, know in China as Quinghoasu. They’ve used it for centuries. Kept it from others so during a war their own soldiers would be cured from malaria very quickly while the enemy would, well, not. Its supposed to work very quickly with no side effects and ironically you take a double dose of doxy with it. Hm. Went back to Lee’s after a nice lunch, my first meal in days, and took it. I had been feeling pretty good. Thought it was a nice conservative bout of malaria. I couldn’t understand, and didn’t want to ask, why I didn’t feel ill.

Then the meds kicked in. First it knocked me out. I mean, I was sitting in a chair thinking about emailing then I woke in the same chair in the same position and it was dark out. And I was freezing. So much colder than the previous day. But I couldn’t move, save for going to the toilet to be sick in so many different ways. And my silly little ‘like mother like daughter’ head wouldn’t let my dirty little body (hadn’t washed yet after the buses) get into my nice sleeping bag. So again find what you can. Anything to keep you warm…in the long run I lay under the sleeping bag thus keeping it clean. Hey…we all have our things. I’m just amazed mine existed with a probably over 40degree fever.

The night passed with me going through all the classic stages: the cold stage, the high fever, and man, it got high. I didn’t mind that part (as dangerous as it is). That’s when you hallucinate. Then the fighting of the fever. Very painful. My family’s seen it. It reminded me of when I was a kid and got really bad migraines. I’d smash my head against anything cold to try to take away the pain. This was actually more painful.

Then it was done. I took the meds at about 1 pm, it took hold around 3, it ‘brought back’ the malaria at about 4 or 5 and I was out of the pain by 10, 10:30. I even had a cold bucket shower (couldn’t go to bed messy) and didn’t wince once. I was told this stuff worked quickly but man.

So that was yesterday. I’m still weak today but fairly normal. Just have a bit of an upset tummy, but that’s part of the package. Continuing my meds for 3 more days. Sadly found out Tom still has his. He has a resistant strain. So it looks like we’re stuck here for a few more days. All I want is to get to Mayoka!!!! This time I’m gonna make him take the good stuff.

So now, I’m like African :)
Love thi

Mom, dad I know you’ll want to talk to me so here’s a number you can call today. As usual I don’t have all the proper codes but Mom is so good at that now! 06217531 I’ll be there 5:30 my time till 6? Hope you can call. If not email me when you can for tomorrow or something. Hopefully I’ll be leaving for Blantyre soon though.