This is Africa

Ah Monday. It's been a long day. But before I get into that I will tell you about my great weekend. 13 of us traveled to Zanzibar which is an island off the coast of Tanzania and is part of the Republic of Tanzania. We left Friday at 1 pm and drove 2 hours to Dar. Then we caught the 4 pm Kilimanjaro ferry. The ride was smooth and the boat was air conditioned which was nice. I slept most of the way and didn't get sea sick. Then someone met us at the harbor in Stonetown on Zanzibar and drove us to our resort. We stayed at Sunset Bungalows in Kendwa. It was pretty nice. No five star hotel but still nice. Amanda, Whitney and I shared a room and we had AC and each had our own double bed with mosquito nets that made us feel like princesses. The bathrooms were... adequate. Still no warm shower which would have been nice since the room was air conditioned. But we're already used to cool showers. The resort also has a bar and restaurant area right on the beach. Our bungalow was about 100 feet from it. Friday we just ate dinner (I got pizza-- not as good as America but it was decent and I've been deprived of cheese), and then hung out at the bar. Whitney and I were exhausted and didn't feel like drinking for various reasons so we went to bed pretty early. I fell asleep in about 12 seconds. The rest of them stayed out an partied until the wee hours, spending buckets of money on alcohol. In Baga the drinks are fairly cheap but at this resort they were about as expensive as any average American bar so if you're looking to get drunk you better have a good amount of money.

Saturday I woke up around 8 fully rested so a few of us went to the restaurant and ordered breakfast which was part of the package. I got a spanish omelette and toast. Then we spent the majority of the afternoon laying on the beach and reading/napping/swimming. I put sunscreen on twice but still managed to get a wicked sunburn on my stomach and chest. The African sun is strong. (I bet you thought there was only one sun, but you're sadly mistaken). We also went to a few of the shops along the beach. I bought a sarong thing that can be worn as a skirt. It's blue and has elephants on it. Later, we had dinner at the resort's restaurant again. It was pretty far away from any major town so there wasn't really anywhere else to go. Saturday night was pretty much the same as Friday. I didn't really feel like spending money on alcohol, or drinking a lot in an unfamiliar place. But everyone else had a good time. Actually I did too. Then Whitney and I hit the hay around 11 or so.

Sunday we woke up around 8, had breakfast, checked out, and our tour guide picked us up and drove us to a spice farm where we went on a spice tour! At first I wasn't that psyched for it because I didn't really know what a spice tour entailed. Basically we walked around their farm which was more like a jungle/forest and they showed us all different kinds of plants and spices and gave us a sample of each to taste or smell. There was cinnamon, nutmeg, star fruit, cocoa beans, a lipstick tree, vanilla beans, pepper, ginger, jasmine, and a bunch of other things that I can't think of right now. At the end we had the opportunity to purchase little pouches of spices or teas or coffee or bars of soap. It was enjoyable. Then we headed back to Stonetown (where the harbor is) and had lunch at a place called Mercury's Zanzibar. It had something to do with the guy from Queen. I'm not sure if he started the restaurant or what. The food was pretty good. Then we walked around Stonetown a bit and went in some of the shops there.

At 4 pm we caught the ferry back to Dar. We had to take the dreaded Sea Bus because that was the only one running at the time we needed to go back. The group who went before us a few weeks ago told us horror stories about the AC being broken and 60% of the passengers vomiting. They said there was vomit spilling out of the bags and running down the aisles and the smell was rancid. Luckily, our experience with the Sea Bus was about 85 times better. For one, the AC was fixed which was great. I can't say that the boat ride was any smoother though. There were definitely a few points where we got air time and it would crash back down against the water. We all took 2 dramamines before the journey back and I didn't feel sea sick at all which was a huge surprise to me. Richard and Freddy both vomited like 6 times each but the rest of us were okay. On the busride back to Bagamoyo from Dar we stopped at a mini mart and picked up some much needed snacks... Pringles, Twix, Nutella, and things like that.
All in all I'd say it was a successful, relaxing weekend.

We told our placements that we wouldn't be there today because there was an event at the hospital that Jerry (one of the volunteers) helped organize. The plan was to clean some of the wards and then for some of us to donate blood if we felt comfortable. The Bagamoyo blood bank is completely dry. So the Red Cross from Dar was there as well as some people from the big hospital in Dar and we all arrived around 8:30 or so. Then we proceeded to sit around for 2 hours waiting for something to happen. Apparently whoever at the hospital okayed this event didn't tell the Monday staff and they had no idea anything was supposed to happen. Moreover they didn't have any of the cleaning or blood drawing supplies that they were supposed to provide. We sat around while they tried to figure out an alternative but nothing ended up happening. It was really frustrating, especially for Jerry, who spent a lot of time organizing this. Also, we all could have been at our placements rather than sitting in the hospital waiting room. Also, the hospital really does need a good scrubbing. I don't think I would admit myself to that hospital if my life depended on it. Especially not for an operation. It's filthy.
We ended up just going to Ukun which is where some of the volunteers work. They go into the homes of HIV/AIDS patients and make sure they are taking their medicine and have food to eat. They also test patients at the clinic. We saw the process for testing for HIV, and had an interesting discussion about the AIDS epidemic, which seems pretty hopeless to me. (I probably shouldn't say that, but it's true). The goal right now is to get these patients the proper care and to extend their lives as long as possible but these people are living in extreme poverty and probably suffering a great deal, not to mention facing immense social stigmas in the community. Do they really want to live longer in such conditions? I guess that's not for anyone else to decide though. These volunteers definitely have the hardest volunteer placement. They see horrible things.

Today's afternoon activity was Batiking/Beading/Drumming at a local artist's place. I chose to learn how to bead a bracelet. It was a very tedious process because they use tiny glass beads. Monica mentioned that she will never look at those little bracelets the same way again and I completely agree. After that, I did laundry. If you're picturing a washer and dryer in your head, replace that image with two buckets and some Woolite. That's right, we have to hand wash everything. We have the option of giving our laundry to one of the local ladies to do it for a fee but I figured I could do it myself and save some money for other things. I have a feeling my hands are going to be very sore tomorrow from all that wringing. I will never take a washer for granted again. All in all it wasn't that difficult though. Swish some clothes around in soapy water, wring them our, rinse them in the clean water bucket, rinse them out, and hang them to dry.

Tomorrow we're back at our regular placements. This weekend 7 of us are going on a Safari which I'm pretty excited for.
That's all for now. Later gators.