A Tour of Camp

Our lovely tents

Colleen and my tent

Siri's much-used hammock

The inside of our tent

The pavillion where we ate

So I thought that I would finally give you all a tour of our camp since it’s been about 2 weeks since we’ve gotten here (we are at the halfway point, how crazy!).  Our camp is about a 10 minute walk from the town of Olasiti.  Olasiti is not much of a town, it’s got a few shops and bars, but that’s about it.  The road to camp is gravel and if you take it all the way, it leads to Tarangire National Park.  Our camp is off of this road, and is a public campsite enclosed in a nice little stone wall.  There are two permanent pavilions here; one is ours and the other is for the other campers who come.  We get new campers just about every day here.  Typically, safari companies take their visitors to one camp for a night, they go on a safari, and then they move to another campsite and park the next day.  It’s very unusual for a group to stay as long as we are staying.  Our tents are the nice canvas ones, and we sleep three to a tent.  The bathroom facilities are probably some of the best we have had during our travels here.  We have hot water (sometimes) and there is even a sink!  Of course, we still don’t have flush toilets but that’s quite alright.  I am happy to say that I am both dirtier and cleaner than I have been in a while.  The dirt here is the fine, black, silty stuff that gets everywhere, so when I go into the field or into town, my legs get super dirty.  But, I have taken a shower pretty much every day since I have been here.  What else…well, the other pavilion sells soda, so that is kind of refreshing on a hot day.  Mostly, the landscape here is a dusty desert.  There are some trees, but it’s pretty flat and you can see for miles on all sides of camp.  Sometimes, when it’s clear enough you can even see Kilimanjaro in the distance. 

Today we had the unfortunate event of being caught in a dust storm.  Lis, Hani, Abby, and I started walking to the market when we heard a ton of thunder.  We looked to our right and saw a huge mass of dark clouds and a ton of dust being picked up from the ground.  At first I thought it was rain that was causing the dust to fly up from the ground, but we soon realized that it must be a huge dust storm.  We ducked in a mud hut where they sold souvenirs just in time-the wind picked up and dust started flying everywhere.  It was so windy that the whole hut shook!  I felt like we were in a tornado and it was actually a little scary.  But, after the rain, dust, and thunder, the storm passed and we continued on our way to the market.  At the market we bought beads, bananas, and oranges.  I was so excited that they had bananas!  For some reason, I have been craving bananas here.  We don’t get a ton of them served to us by the cooks. 

When we got back, I read for a while in the hammock and then colored.  We have adopted a new pet at camp (our last pet, the turtle, was let go in the park so he could be free again).  They found a tiny little puppy who was pretty mangy looking and had fleas.  So Zoe and Dave groomed him, picked the fleas off of him, and fed him crackers and peanut butter.  He was much happier once he wasn’t scared.  Later, his mom showed up and we decided to let him go back with her.    

Dinner tonight was ugali, plantain stew, and ground beef.  We are kind of getting sick of ugali, but they did serve us bananas!  Tomorrow we are planning on going to the secondary school to try to volunteer there.  Apparently the primary school has exams all this week and then we are on break, so volunteering at the primary school is no longer an option.  For lack of better things to do, I have begun to write up my research report.  And if I still need things to occupy my time, I can always help out with other people’s projects.  This morning I helped Carla collect ants for her experiment.  She is looking at aggression behavior in ants and wants to fight ants that are on different trees. 

Well, today has been a pretty lazy day.  Everyone is a little tired from last night.  It was an awesome party and we had tons of music and candy.  The costumes were great too!  I was a wizard, due to the fact that my nickname has become “the wizard” here in the field.  Chelsea was a daladala and Shaye was Jen’s research project title: vigilance behavior while zebras drinking.  It was super cute!  Overall, we had an awesome time and we are considering hosting another party next weekend. 

Happy Halloween!

Tigger

Winnie The Pooh

Desert Pirate

Trash Cat

Wizard

So this evening we are celebrating Halloween, and Jen, Zach and I have spent the morning decorating the pavilion for the festivities.  Zach rented speakers in Olasiti and we are planning on having a dance party tonight.  Most everyone else has gone into Arusha to buy candy for our Halloween Bash, leaving just Jen, Zach and I here at camp. 

Trudy and Colleen arrived back mid morning.  Colleen has been sick with a bacterial infection and went to the clinic in Arusha.  She now has meds and is feeling slightly better, but has a lot of what I had and can’t really move without having her stomach cramp up.  Meanwhile, Zach has a huge welt on his neck that we think is a bite of some sort.  He’s had it for several days and we think it’s getting better but it’s hard to tell.  It’s fairly large-probably the size of two silver dollars.  And yesterday Shaye got a rash from holding a goat.  Yep, that’s right, holding a goat.  Apparently there was the cutest baby goat out in the field and she held it for a half an hour and now has a rash.  Oh, and Karen’s eye is completely swollen.  We don’t really know what happened there, but it’s been swollen for a couple of days now and sometimes she can’t really open it too well.  And I have a mysterious scratch running all down my face.  So, as you can tell, we are all extremely healthy here J  I think that this just reiterates the fact that it is so easy to get sick here in Tanzania, and most of the time, you have no idea what the cause is. 

Today has been pretty low key.  With everyone gone in Arusha, there are very few people left here at camp.  We spent the morning making decorations and then I worked on writing some post cards and journal entries.  After lunch, James and I walked into town and now we are all just hanging out in the pavilion.  It decided to be hot and sunny again today so we are all seeking refuge from the sun.  I brought one of our mattresses into the pavilion for Colleen to lay on since it is so hot in the tent. 

Anyway, that’s all for now.  I’ll let you know how the Halloween bash goes!

Erin

Swahili word of the Day: pipi [pee-pee] = candy

Thunderstorms!

Termite Mound

The Primary School

Shaye Teaching English

So yesterday morning we woke up and it was strangely overcast.  So far, the weather here has been sunny every day, and the sun is super hot!  And then, around 11:00 a.m., we started to hear thunder and it actually rained!  It poured for about 15 minutes and was thundering. It was fabulous. We haven’t had many storms here in Tanzania, and it was very comforting. 

For breakfast yesterday we had beans, eggs, and bread for breakfast.  Trudy, Colleen, and I walked to the school where we taught Standard 3 the numbers in English.  We also taught them the difference between short and shorter, tall and taller, etc.  After that, we had craft time and I graded some of the math notebooks while the other kids did art projects with us.  We walked back to camp and I started doing my laundry.  However, it decided to rain in the middle of my laundry session so my laundry is now sitting in a bucket half-done. 

Lunch was ugali, vegetables, and potatoes.  Ugali is not my favorite meal, but it was still pretty good, especially with the veggies.  After lunch I read for a while and then walked into town.  Rumor had it that there was a post office in town, but alas, there is not so I will just have to wait until Arusha to mail my letters.  From what I understand, the post office is in the next town over.  I bought a few postcards while in town and then returned to camp.  As usual, I was escorted by a host of kids who walked along side of me, holding my hand, and asking if I would teach them at school.  Camp was pretty empty in the afternoon.  Many were gone doing interviews in town, and others decided to walk to the store to buy candy bars.  I killed some time coloring and reading. 

It’s really funny how much free time we have here.  I don’t think we are used to having so little to do.  Our mantra here at camp is “Pick the activity that takes the most time”.  We have designated one wall in our pavilion as the “art wall” and have begun to fill it with watercolor pictures, coloring pages, and drawings.  I think that some of the best items we brought with us to the field have been coloring books, craons, watercolors, and friendship bracelet string.  We are also convinced that we are all going crazy.  4 weeks is a long time to spend with 20 other people and many of us are going insane.  Fortunately, we aren’t getting too snappy with each other yet.  We are more just going insane from boredom and lack of structured activity.  We frequently burst out in song or yell absurd things.  Yesterday, we started singing Christmas songs, and this morning, it was the backstreet boys. 

The highlight of our day yesterday was adopting a pet turtle.  Lauren met some children on the street who had a turtle and were going to kill it.  She convinced them to give it to her for 500 Tsh and now we have a pet turtle that lives in our pavilion.  We even made him a cardboard box house!

One of our fantasies here has been ice water.  We crave it like crazy!  The water here doesn’t quite taste ike the water in Dar or at home.  In fact, we have come to determine that it just doesn’t quench your thirst.  It has a really strange taste and some people haven’t even been able to drink a lot of it because it tastes so gross.  Anyway, we often go into town where they have coolers full of drinks and we buy semi-cold water, which is a HUGE treat.  But, it still isn’t super cold and we still wish we had ice!  During the day, it’s so ht our that our waterbottles heat up and we have to drink warm water.  It’s really tasty! (NOT).  The other day, Daveo came up with the idea of digging a root cellar to keep all of our waterbottles cold.  And yesterday, Zoe actually started digging one.  It was pretty hilarious to watch.  We put a waterbottle full of water in it and today we are going to test it out to see if it actually keeps anything cooler. 

Today Dave, Jen, Lauren and I went into the park.  Dave and I measured 22 termite mounds and now have enough data to begin analyzing.  It was really pleasant in the park this morning, it was overcast once again, and it even sprinkled a little.  Things are so much cooler here when the sun isn’t out!  I even had goosebumps this morning!  And last night I got to sleep with a blanket on me!  Anyway, I’m headed back for lunch now.  Adios!

Erin

Swahili word of the day: Kobe [KOH-bay] = turtle

Interviews!

Two women carrying produce back to their hut

Traditional Maasai Baskets

A view of the road leading into town

This morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and headed into the park with the biology crew.  The cooks were a little slow getting breakfast going this morning because they were short one worker, but they eventually got it made and the school crew got to school on time.  It’s strange here, we have been going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 just because there is not a lot to do once it gets dark.  And then we wake up at 6:00 so we can eat breakfast at 7:00.  The most common breakfast is toast (with butter, jam, peanut butter, or sugar), crepes, and fruit.  The staff here is really good at varying the food so we often have eggs, omelets, or even beans.  It’s nice that the food changes from day to day.  The other day we got pineapple and it was such a treat! It’s beginning to be pineapple and mango season here and we are really excited! 

Colleen, Jen, Dave, and I went into the park this morning.  We dug through a LOT of impala and elephant poop looking for acacia seeds for Colleen’s project, but didn’t have much luck.  She is looking at how scarification (eating of seeds by animals) affects seed germination.  Dave and I got to measure about 7 mounds today, which was good.  That puts our grand total up to 41 mounds.  I think if we get a handful more on Friday, we could be done collecting data which would be great.  It’s so funny to go measure termite mounds in the park because we have to have a ranger with us at all times.  Today, we got out of the car right next to some giraffes, baboons, and elephants in order to measure the termite mounds.  We have to follow our ranger in a single file while he creeps around (it reminds me of James Bond) making sure the coast is clear.  He carries a super big gun with him at all times and it’s actually a little scary. 

We returned to camp around 1:00 pm for lunch.  Lunch was pasta salad with hard boiled eggs, Tanzanian Pizza (crust, ground beef or veggies, and cheese), salad, and bananas.  The one thing we definitely miss here is fruit.  We get some at meals but it never seems like it’s enough.  We can buy oranges at the market in town, but that’s the only readily available fruit here. 

This afternoon I tagged along with Karen and her translator to do some interviews with some Maasai people in town.  She is doing her project on the effects of global warming and the current drought on pastoralism in the Maasai community.  It was really interesting to hear what the villagers had to say.  Most of them said that this drought is worse than any of the previous ones, and that they have lost a significant number of cattle and sheep because of it.  Some of them are even considering other work because it is so hard to raise cattle during this drought.  At the end of the interview, we asked if they had any questions.  Most of them just wanted to know what we were going to do to help them and their cattle.  We told them that we couldn’t do a lot, but perhaps our research would provide a solution later on.  The strangest part about the interview process is that we are required to compensate the interviewees for their time by giving them gifts (soda, tea, coffee, alcohol).  In fact, many will not even talk to us unless they know that they will get something in return.  It’s all very strange.  After the interviews, we dropped by the archaeology site to pick up Shaye and Hani.  They are excavating a small region off the edge of the road where they have found stone tools.  And today, they uncovered a tomb there!  I think it’s fascinating that they’ve already found so much.  They have bags of stone tools sitting here at camp that they are waiting to analyze.  It’s all very exciting.

We got back to camp around 6:30 and I showered and ate dinner.  Dinner tonight was spaghetti noodles, beans, beef, and watermelon.  It was good.  And now I’m sitting here in one of the cars writing this blog because I need computer power and one of the cars conveniently has outlets in it.  Our solar charger is working well, but since it is already dark out, there isn’t much juice left.  And today it was fairly overcast (the first overcast day since we’ve been here) and at one point it even rained!  It was only a 30 second rain shower, but still, it’s better than nothing! 

I think right now I will go stargaze a little before hitting the hay.  I downloaded a star chart of the southern hemisphere and have been identifying a few constellations each night.  And maybe after that I’ll finish the friendship bracelet I started today.  Anyway, lots to do to keep from getting bored.  Tomorrow I’m going to town to buy soap for our bathroom (we have no soap to wash our hands) and I am also having a laundry party with Karen (I hate doing laundry here, but I have no choice).  Hope all is well back home.  Miss you guys!

Erin

Let The Research Begin

Termite mound outside the park

Alright, so I admit. I’ve been a little lazy with my blogs lately.  I’ll try to be more punctual from now on.  We are now comfortably settled in Tarangire National Park.  At the moment, I am in a Safari Vehicle with Jen, Colleen, and Dave and we are collecting our first round of data (well, Jen is).  We drove to the park this morning in hopes of getting ranger who could come along with us, since you need a ranger to leave your vehicle while in the park, but there weren’t any rangers to be found so today we are only able to do research from the car.  Jen’s project is looking at vigilance behavior in zebras, so she was able to successfully capture a bunch of photos for analysis later this evening.  Dave and I found a bunch of termite mounds that we are interested in, but we will have to wait until Monday to get out and look at them closer.  And Colleen is collecting seeds from acacia trees so she will have to wait until Monday as well. 

So far, things here at camp have been pretty chill.  We have had a lot of down time (and I mean A LOT).  The 1000 piece puzzle is well on its way to being finished, and many of us have already read several books.  It’s way too hot to do anything during the day.  The tents are like greenhouses, and even walking outside or being in the sun is quite unbearable.  So we spend most of our time in the concrete pavilion where we have meals and often waste away the time playing chess, cards, or checking email.  We’ve had some pretty good meals lately.  Yesterday we had quiche, potato salad, and a vegetable salad for lunch.  And for dinner we had pasta, beef, and green beans.  They don’t  quite cook green beans like back home, but they were still delicious! 

Yesterday morning I walked into town to buy a toothbrush for Jen and some rope to hang up my hammock.  I also purchased a ruler, which I used to make a homemade protractor when we got back to camp.  I’m pretty proud of this protractor, it’s legit.  Dave and I needed a way to measure the termite mound angles, but had no protractor so I figured I would just make one.  It was actually quite simple.  When I got back, I found some adorable children by our campsite and invited them to color with me.  By the end of our coloring session they were calling me “mwalimu” (teacher) and I was showing them how to write each of their names. 

In the afternoon I took a shower (they feel so nice when it’s hot out!).  And then I read and figured out how to work a compass.  Lauren, Brennan and I went for a walk and gathered some followers.  The children here came out like vultures and would not stop asking for gifts and money from us.  Now normally, I would be friendly to children who I just met on the street.  But these kids just wouldn’t levae us alone no matter how many times we told them that we had no gifts or money.  At one point, one of the girls fall down in  a heap in the middle of the road and started fake crying just so we would give her money.  So, we decided to turn around and charge them (run at them screaming at the top of our lungs).  That worked to disperse them for a while, but they did eventually return.  Anyway, Dave and I have found that the best tactic is just to ignore them.  They get satisfaction in eliciting a response from us, so if we don’t do anything, they eventually get bored.  I almost lost it today with some kids in the village who started hitting me with sticks when I wouldn’t give them gifts or money.

Last night we were greeted by a wonderful surprise: James and Chelsea returned from Nairobi.  Unfortunately, the airport had been closed all morning for Kenya’s Independence Day, so they weren’t able to get on a flight until later in the afternoon.  But, all is well and Chelsea is officially healed.  It’s nice to have our ACM director back too!

Last night ended in one of the most epic boxing matches ever.  Hah, we have so much time here in the field that we go a little crazy at times.  Apparently yesterday Zach mentioned that he just wanted to punch something, and Lauren said she felt the same way, so they decided to tie pillows to their hands and have an official boxing match.  We were all laughing hysterically and it was a great time.  Plus, I got to spend some quality time with Liz in Siri’s hammock J 

Today was our first official day of research, and we got to take a car full of biology students into the park.  Even though the ranger wasn’t available today, we still got to help Jen watch her zebras!  And Dave and I found some termite mounds outside of the park and went to take some measurements after lunch.  The sun here is so hot and we were soon sunburned and sweaty.  But, we managed to get angle measurements on 14 different mounds.  Hopefully Monday we will have a ranger so we can take some measurements in the park.  Well, that’s all for now. I’m all typed out.  Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of our camp soon!

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Twiga [TWEE-gah] = giraffe

Serengeti Part II

Antelope

Hippo

Baboon

Warthog

Cape Buffalo

Lion

Cheetah

Well, Africa, you have redeemed yourself.  After nearly a week and a half of being nauseatingly sick, I have finally recovered and am able to fully appreciate this beautiful continent.  The past three days we have been here in the Serengeti with our touring company.  We wake up every morning to the sound of our cooks busy in the mess hall preparing breakfast.  It varies from day to day but typically includes toast, jam, crepes, eggs, and sometimes fruit.  The other day they even had maple syrup!  It was so great since I have been craving pancakes for a while now.  Actually, I have been craving a lot of weird things lately.  For example, when I was sick, I couldn’t stand to even talk about food.  Yet, I somehow managed to crave ice water, French fries, ice cream sandwich, goldfish crackers, and pretzels.  And I nearly gobbled down a whole can of Pringles the other day when Liz offered them to me.  My body is clearly craving salt.  Lauren and I joke about how we just want all of our food covered in salt, and we frequently ask our tour staff to bring out the salt shaker at meal time.  Interestingly enough, today I ate a piece of toast and a plate of French fries for breakfast. They tasted SO good.  Sometimes, it’s just nice to have something that tastes a little bit more like home than rice, rice, rice.  And I think I’ve finally gotten away from the carb-loaded diet.  Yesterday, the sum total of my food intake was toast, pasta, quiche, rice, bread, and chapatti.  But anyway, point being, I feel much better and my appetite is coming back.

Each day we have gone on either one full-day game drive or two half-day drives.  I have seen loads of animals, many of them only 5 or 10 feet away from me!  Today we got to see a whole group of elephants cross right in front of our car and I got some great pictures.  We also got to see a group of three cheetahs!  It’s a bit terrifying, but is so awe-inspiring at the same time.  The elephants are definitely my favorite.  They look so peaceful and gentle.  I actually find them quite graceful. 

Yesterday we drove back while watching the sunset and it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was then, that I felt that Africa had redeemed herself.  I was finally able to appreciate the beauty of the grasslands and the Serengeti plains, the sun setting on the horizon, and the rains pouring out of the clouds in the distance.  In short, it was one of those moments that made me truly happy that I chose to study abroad in Africa. 

I miss everyone back home like crazy.  I haven’t really gotten homesick before this past week, but being ill definitely makes me think of all the people I love back home.  Mom and dad, I miss having you guys to make me soup when I’m sick and comfort me when I’m down.  Lara, I miss seeing you and watching your cross country meets and soccer games.  Garrett, I miss having you to joke around with (I have found a replacement for you, but don’t worry, it’s temporary.  Brennan is currently serving as my stand-in brother).  Veronica, I miss hiking with you and making lovely cakes.  Katrina, I miss just plain talking with you about life.  Tyler, I miss hanging out with you and tromping in the woods.  Laura, I miss procrastinating homework with you.  Julia, I miss our trips to target together.  Sarah, I miss our lunches and our random picture coloring sessions.  Kerry and Olivia, I miss my dynamic duo.  Emma and Roz, I miss my study abroad partners in crime and my best study buddies.  Sandy, I miss our crazy adventures in Madison.  And all of my friends from “science camp” this summer, I miss hanging out at random cafes in Iowa and having awkward conversations in the middle of the night. 

That being said, I love it here.  I wish you could all see it with me; it’s been such an amazing experience.  I’ll try to keep in touch in the next coming week, but I make no promises.  Internet is supposed to be better in Tarangire National Park where we will be heading to camp for 4 weeks, so hopefully I will be able to get on every other day or so.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy the fall weather for me J

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Tembo [Tehm-boe] = Elephant

Being Sick in Africa Sucks

Driving into camp

Our communal tent

Waiting for lunch

A Maasai Villager giving us a talk on the Maasai lifestyle

So I’ve been sick for a little…well, try more like a lot.  Sunday night I got back from the Ethiopian restaurant Damascus and puked my guts out the whole night.  I finally broke down and called my parents at two in the morning crying because I felt so awful.  I assumed it was food poisoning since my stomach felt like lead.  I didn’t sleep much that night but managed to go to breakfast the following morning.  I somehow kept a bowl of cornflakes down and then we headed off for our 1.5 hour drive to a Maasai Village.  I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t get sick during the car ride and managed to sleep through most of it.  When we got to the campsite near the Maasai village, I curled up in ball on one of the mattresses in the tents and pretty much didn’t move for 24 hours.  I tried to drink some crystal light and eat a piece of bread, but that failed miserably as it just came right back up.  I slept a lot just so I wouldn’t have to think about how badly my stomach hurt and how achy I felt.  By Tuesday morning, I hadn’t eaten or drank anything for about 2 days and we decided it was time to bring me to the clinic in Arusha.  One painful hour long drive later (cars are the absolute worst when your stomach hurts!) and we were there.  They admitted me, ran some blood and urine tests, and started me on an IV.  I was pretty weak and didn’t really talk all that much.  At one point I tried to go to the bathroom to get them a urine sample and almost passed out.  I was so dizzy and lightheaded, plus I had a fever of 100.7 and was so achy that I couldn’t find a comfortable position to lay in without having some part of my body hurt.  And on top of that, it felt like someone was stabbing my intestines with a knife every time I moved.   The doctor gave me a dextrose IV, then a sodium/potassium IV, along with three different antibiotics to treat any bacterial infection I may have.  He ruled out food poisoning since I had a fever and said it was most likely caused by some kind of bacterial bug.  I stayed overnight in the clinic with a sweet little nurse who tucked me in at night and kept tabs on my blood pressure, temperature, and pulse.  I slept through the night (surprisingly, seeing as I had already slept about 20 hours the previous day) and in the morning, the doctor came in with the test results.  He said that I had a bacterial infection since the bacteria counts in my stool were really high and gave me ciproflaxin to take to treat it.  So  after having about eight IVs at the clinic, I was discharged and we began our three hour drive to Lake Manyara to meet up with the others.  Well, I thought I was feeling better but that car ride was horrific.  There were a million speed bumps, I had just eaten breakfast, and my intestines were screaming at me.  Not pleasant.  But we made it and I opted not to go on the half day safari ride around the park to see the animals (no more car rides for me).  I curled up in a ball, feeling just as bad as before, and got to hang out in a little banda for the rest of the day.  I had diarrhea all day, which worried me since they had given me cipro to prevent that.  Plus, I did not feel like eating or drinking anything.  I thought that maybe once I got rehydrated, I might feel like eating again, but that was definitely not the case. I was way too nauseous to even talk about food.  I spent the rest of the afternoon in the banda feeling miserable, but managing to eat some plain noodles and watermelon.  I knew that if I didn’t feel better in the morning I would have to go in again, seeing as I had probably eaten only about 4 meals in three days.  But, the cipro finally kicked in and I’m feeling better today.  My stomach is not as bad, the fever is gone, and the diarrhea has stopped.  And this morning I ate two pieces of toast and pineapple!  So hopefully, this is the end of my sickness adventure.  It scares me to death being so sick here.  You never know where the nearest medical facility is or if they will even have the supplies to treat you.  But, luckily for me, I had wonderful help finding a clinic and getting to one.  Anyway, I’ll keep you posted.  Internet will be spotty from now on since we are travelling around the national parks and do not have access to wireless internet.  But, some people do have internet sticks, which I may borrow once and a while to post blogs. 

Serengeti!

A huge rock we climbed up before heading into the Serengeti

Hello Mr. Elephant

On safari

More elephants!

To finish off the story from last time, I left the clinic and suffered an hour long drive to Karatu, the last town before you get into the real wilderness that is Africa.  I collapsed on a bed in the guest house not knowing what was really going to happen.  After all, it had been 5 days and my condition hadn’t really improved.  Granted, I didn’t have a fever anymore and wasn’t throwing up, but I still had diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, and nausea.  We decided to call the doctor back and ask him advice, to which he said I should promptly return to the clinic in Arusha (which was over 2 hours away).  Well that wasn’t going to happen.  After consulting my parents (and having them consult their people), we decided to go to the clinic in Karatu first thing in the morning.  The next morning when we drove the clinic, I was greeted by one of the most welcoming sights: an American doctor.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love the people of Tanzania, but sometimes it’s just nice having one of your own treating you.  He welcomed me in, I gave him the list of all of my symptoms, and he said the most beautiful words I have ever heard: “Yep, I know what you have”.  I thought no one would ever tell me that.  The way that medicine works here in Tanzania is called empirical treatment.   Basically, they treat you for one thing, and if that doesn’t work, they treat you for something else, and so on until they finally cure you.  It’s a very long process of elimination.  So anyway, I bet you are dying to here the verdict, right?  I initially had a bacterial infection, which was treated and killed by the cipro that the first doctor prescribed to me.  But I also have giardia (the lovely little parasite you get from drinking contaminated water) and a pretty bad kidney infection.  They gave me two antibiotics to treat the kidney infection and an injection for the giardia, plus meds for pain, nausea, and abdominal cramps.  Needless to say, I was pretty drugged up by the time I walked out of that clinic.  I felt great during the 8 hour drive to the Serengetti and although I had my eyes closed most of the time (the meds cause extreme drowsiness), I managed to snap them open when we spotted animals.  It was pretty cool to see the animals in the wild.  I got to see so many! 

Giraffe

Elephant

Dik Dik

Grants Gazelle

Thompsons Gazelle

Warthog

Guinea Fowl

Zebra

Lion

Hyena

Cheetah

Leopard

Egret

Heron

So anyway, made it to our tent camp here in the Serengeti by nightfall and our crew had already set up our tents for us.  Oh how I love them!  They cook and set up camp for us wherever we go.  It’s fabulous really.    We are at a group campsite and I have to say that this is the largest conglomeration of outdoorsy backpackers that I have ever seen in my life.  Think Woodstock, backpackers style (ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, there aren’t that many people).  But anyway, our schedule for the next several days includes safari, safari, safari, everyday, and all day.  We are hoping to see lots of animals!

Giraffe in our camp

Arusha

Well, we finally made it to Arusha.  Everyone is here safe and sound.  It’s weird to be back in a large group.  Colleen and I have been so independent this last week.  It’s also strange to have hot water, a real toilet, and to see so many tourists in one city.  While Lushoto had some tourists, Arusha definitely has more!  You can’t walk down the street without someone stopping to show you their business card and trying to get you to arrange a safari.  It’s actually quite obnoxious.  I thought I was pretty good at getting people to leave us alone but the guides here are relentless. 

Colleen and I arrived in Arusha yesterday after our 7 hour bus ride from Lushoto.  Ironically, it was raining when we left Lushoto.  Perhaps the mountains were sad to see us go.  I was glad to have my 2 dollar umbrella that I had bought when we first got to Lushoto.  And although the umbrella is awkward and huge, it worked wonderfully and kept me dry.  The bus ride was uneventful, except for the fact that it was raining most of the way.  The rain makes riding on a bus extremely gross; the floor is covered with mud and water constantly drips from the ceiling and windows.  My backpack is so gross from being on that floor.  If I only I had a washing machine to wash it!  We walked to our hotel, Monje’s Guesthouse and checked into our room.  It was fabulous.  We had a toilet, a shower with hot water, and TV.  Colleen and I took our first showers in 8 days and were instantly happier.  Then, we walked around the town and explored a little before eating dinner at Pizza Arusha where we had, yes, you guessed it, PIZZA!  It’s funny the things I crave here in Tanzania.  Although I not a huge fan of pizza, I get really excited when we have it here just because I can’t have it whenever I want.  Then, we went back to the room to watch Criss Angel on TV.  Hah, what an evening. 

This morning we woke up and had a complimentary breakfast at the hotel of eggs and toast (well, it was actually just bread).  Then, we loaded up all of our gear and headed for our two mile walk to the Outpost Lodge, where we were meeting the group and where we are staying tonight.  Colleen and I were cheap and didn’t want to pay for a taxi so we navigated the streets of Arusha with our giant backpacks and duffle bags.  It was an adventure and I was really proud of Colleen!  She didn’t really want to walk that far, especially after our hike from the bus station yesterday, but she made it, and later told me that she was glad she had done it.  Someday, I will take that girl hiking (she’s never gone before!).  We dropped our stuff at the hotel and then went into town to the Maasai Art shops where they sell a variety of souvenirs including carved wooden statues, scarves, beaded jewelry, and paintings.  We spent all of our money, literally every coin we had, and then went to lunch (don’t worry, we didn’t have all that much in our wallets to begin with, and we got some awesome stuff!).  I bought a purse with elephants on it, among other things that cannot be named because they are going to be Christmas presents.  We had no idea where to go for lunch (we were in a part of town with few restaurants) and ended up at a small diner that served rice and beans.  What a surprise.  But, we were able to handle wali na since we had had pizza the night before.  Truth be told, we are both getting a little sick of rice and beans after eating it for two meals a day, for 8 days straight.  On our last day in Arusha, I went to the market and bought some veggies, cut them up, and then asked a guy on the street to make me an omelet with them since I couldn’t handle anymore rice.  By the afternoon, Colleen and I were pretty tired and we just went back to the hotel.  We reunited with some of our fellow ACM students and we all exchanged stories about our breaks.  It was good to see everyone again!  We all hung out by the pool, and relaxed.  Colleen and I watched the discovery channel for a while and I took a nice hot shower again.  You’ll be happy to know that I finished my third book this week today.  Guess I’ll have to find another to read soon.  We have a sort of book club in operation here.  We each read a book and then give it to someone else when we are done.  I think by the end of it, we very well may have read all of each other’s books!  Anyway, these past two days were extremely successful and it’s amazing what a hot shower and good food can do to one’s spirit.  Colleen and I have been wearing smiles ever since we have gotten here. And surprisingly, it’s nice to be in a city again.  Well, it’s off to dinner right now.  Hopefully I can post this when I return!

Erin

Well, we finally made it to Arusha.  Everyone is here safe and sound.  It’s weird to be back in a large group.  Colleen and I have been so independent this last week.  It’s also strange to have hot water, a real toilet, and to see so many tourists in one city.  While Lushoto had some tourists, Arusha definitely has more!  You can’t walk down the street without someone stopping to show you their business card and trying to get you to arrange a safari.  It’s actually quite obnoxious.  I thought I was pretty good at getting people to leave us alone but the guides here are relentless. 

Colleen and I arrived in Arusha yesterday after our 7 hour bus ride from Lushoto.  Ironically, it was raining when we left Lushoto.  Perhaps the mountains were sad to see us go.  I was glad to have my 2 dollar umbrella that I had bought when we first got to Lushoto.  And although the umbrella is awkward and huge, it worked wonderfully and kept me dry.  The bus ride was uneventful, except for the fact that it was raining most of the way.  The rain makes riding on a bus extremely gross; the floor is covered with mud and water constantly drips from the ceiling and windows.  My backpack is so gross from being on that floor.  If I only I had a washing machine to wash it!  We walked to our hotel, Monje’s Guesthouse and checked into our room.  It was fabulous.  We had a toilet, a shower with hot water, and TV.  Colleen and I took our first showers in 8 days and were instantly happier.  Then, we walked around the town and explored a little before eating dinner at Pizza Arusha where we had, yes, you guessed it, PIZZA!  It’s funny the things I crave here in Tanzania.  Although I not a huge fan of pizza, I get really excited when we have it here just because I can’t have it whenever I want.  Then, we went back to the room to watch Criss Angel on TV.  Hah, what an evening. 

This morning we woke up and had a complimentary breakfast at the hotel of eggs and toast (well, it was actually just bread).  Then, we loaded up all of our gear and headed for our two mile walk to the Outpost Lodge, where we were meeting the group and where we are staying tonight.  Colleen and I were cheap and didn’t want to pay for a taxi so we navigated the streets of Arusha with our giant backpacks and duffle bags.  It was an adventure and I was really proud of Colleen!  She didn’t really want to walk that far, especially after our hike from the bus station yesterday, but she made it, and later told me that she was glad she had done it.  Someday, I will take that girl hiking (she’s never gone before!).  We dropped our stuff at the hotel and then went into town to the Maasai Art shops where they sell a variety of souvenirs including carved wooden statues, scarves, beaded jewelry, and paintings.  We spent all of our money, literally every coin we had, and then went to lunch (don’t worry, we didn’t have all that much in our wallets to begin with, and we got some awesome stuff!).  I bought a purse with elephants on it, among other things that cannot be named because they are going to be Christmas presents.  We had no idea where to go for lunch (we were in a part of town with few restaurants) and ended up at a small diner that served rice and beans.  What a surprise.  But, we were able to handle wali na since we had had pizza the night before.  Truth be told, we are both getting a little sick of rice and beans after eating it for two meals a day, for 8 days straight.  On our last day in Arusha, I went to the market and bought some veggies, cut them up, and then asked a guy on the street to make me an omelet with them since I couldn’t handle anymore rice.  By the afternoon, Colleen and I were pretty tired and we just went back to the hotel.  We reunited with some of our fellow ACM students and we all exchanged stories about our breaks.  It was good to see everyone again!  We all hung out by the pool, and relaxed.  Colleen and I watched the discovery channel for a while and I took a nice hot shower again.  You’ll be happy to know that I finished my third book this week today.  Guess I’ll have to find another to read soon.  We have a sort of book club in operation here.  We each read a book and then give it to someone else when we are done.  I think by the end of it, we very well may have read all of each other’s books!  Anyway, these past two days were extremely successful and it’s amazing what a hot shower and good food can do to one’s spirit.  Colleen and I have been wearing smiles ever since we have gotten here. And surprisingly, it’s nice to be in a city again.  Well, it’s off to dinner right now.  Hopefully I can post this when I return!

Erin