Africa by bathtub

November 23, 2007

Well, we are approaching the end of our time here in Lesotho. It’s hard to believe we made it to India for a month (!!!!!!), and have been living in Katse village for 10 weeks already. It has been a truly amazing trip and we have been so blessed with timing and opportunities and experiences. I think we will both come away from here with a greater understanding of what it is that we want out of our careers and what we can offer to others. Although there are plenty of things I will miss, like the grueling hike up the hill (with 5 year olds chatting and skipping up behind me like its no big deal as I am panting for my life – despite weeks of training), Sefora’s hilarious sharp and annunciated comments that take me by surprise every time, hanging out with Sam all day every day, Friday afternoon Amerula doubles, hour and a half lunches (yeah, I’m really going to miss those), Thursday night ER and Brothers and Sisters, and 2 baths (at least) a day….despite all these routines and pastimes I have grown fond of, I am so looking forward to coming home. I don’t think it could be better timing: work for a week (I miss Maka so much!) and then home to 100 Mile to see my family for Christmas. Life doesn’t get much better than that, does it? I know I’m ready because I’ve started, for a long while now, really, having those dreams and thoughts and yearnings to talk to you all….the kind you get when you are unable to communicate with the people you love, when you have a lot of time to sit and think and realize what it is that is truly important, where you evaluate your current and former life and behaviour and wonder why your said priorities are not your practiced priorities. I love that about traveling away from your comforts for a while. What I’ve spent significant time doing lately (in between reading all the girlie, “modern woman” novels I can get my hands on, and driving Sam crazy), is daydreaming about all the things I want to do when I get home…..shall I share some of those ideas with you? Perhaps it will inspire you, perhaps you will just laugh at me, but it will definitely allow you to smugly remind me of this list when I start to slip back into the fast-pace-accomplish-not-a-lot-of-what-I-want-to former life of mine. OK, here we go: Dad, I want you to teach me to smoke salmon ….Sara, I want to spend some time surfing with you, and just hanging out on the island….Mom, I was thinking I’d like to get out Grandma’s sewing machine and really give it a go, maybe even try my hand at quilting….…..Raj and Steff, I hope you’re still up for that half-marathon clinic when I get back…Bec, I look forward to weekly phone calls! I want to can salsa and peaches, and get back into karate. I want to go on a wine tour in Abbotsford - Laura, I want to drink red wine and get tiddly and do our cards…..I want to visit all my friends in Vanderhoof and Prince George…..I want to take an art class…Curtis, I want to go out for Chinese and a Cougar’s game this winter….maybe Gino and Danni could join us…..Jen and Chris, I want to get an old pair of speed skates and whip around the oval with Avery on my shoulders (LOL!!! JK about that part…)…I want to plant my own peppermint for fresh tea everyday…I want to go to the beach and walk around on the rocks and trails and sit out in the sun and read and drink hot tea….I want to go kayaking with you sometime Sherry!…I want to get a library card and read as much non-nursing stuff as I can (although Nancy Simms always used to say that all books are relevant to nursing cause you get a perspective on other people’s lives)…I want to bottle my own shiraz again with you Dolan and ride up to the picnic table with you and Ryan…..I want to go on road-trips on the weekends to visit you all….I want to learn to make my own tomato-basil soup…..How am I going to achieve all this you ask - AND still work? Well, that is what I have been doing here: prioritizing. My returning resolution: live my priorities. OKaaaayyyyyy….so with that final statement, thanks for listening to my big list (I’ve found it fun to share with you)…..I’m gonna wrap it up now… on that, somewhat sudden, note. Hope this letter finds you all in fine spirits and health, I love you and can’t wait to see you all, hope you’re now dreaming of all the things you’re going to accomplish this new year… XO, Devi

It is our first weekend back in Katse. Things at the clinic are going well. We are so proud of the nurses. They did an excellent job while we were gone, and it feels so great to see how their confidence and knowledge have grown. There have been some major staffing changes though, which has proven to be a bit frustrating. The first one is downright funny. Our matron delivered a baby boy in her hometown a few days ago, so obviously she is not at work. Now, when we left for India one month ago….we had NO IDEA she was pregnant (let alone 8 months pregnant!!!) Someone told us that the matron of Katse had delivered a baby and we thought they were mistaken. WE COULD NOT TELL!!!! She’s a bigger lady as it is, and just didn’t have the shape of someone “with child”. We were feeling super foolish, but after talking to some physicians, they had no idea either, and they had seen her only days before she delivered. Two of the remaining nurses are retiring at the end of the year, leaving us with just one superstar to focus our education efforts on. She’s doing a super job though, so I’m sure Katse will be ok.

There’s this youth program in Katse that has been funded by Prince Harry. Today, the Prince of Lesotho and Prince Harry helicoptered in to Katse village. We almost missed it because we got so into this Animal Kingdom show about Big Cats. (We were all concerned if Simba was going to lose his pride to 2 other lions.) We made it though, and by virtue of not looking Basotho (and the only people to be severely underdressed), were asked by all his “people” who we were and how we fit into things. So we got introduced to Harry and Lesotho’s prince (and I can’t tell you his name because it was complicated and my ears just don’t hear those sounds properly,). Sam’s hours of geeking out on the stats really paid off because he was able to spout them out to all these royal people. The camera was all up in his face too. SO KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR SAM ON TV WITH PRINCE HARRY (and me in the background nodding my head in agreement). It was pretty cool. Then we headed off for a hike in GREEN Katse hills. What can I say? Just another day in Lesotho.

Devi

OK, so this will be short. I have been permanently tarnished. Some butterscotch eaten, fleece wearing, football loving dumbass baggage handler stole my camera in Joberg. For the entire time in Indian, for every second of every day, we were on guard. We worked hard to not be the victim, and then what happens. We get back to South Africa, we begin to board the plane to Maseru, where you have to skycheck all of your bags and what happens, and my camera and my headlight get stolen. The first time I let my bag out of sight, when I thought it was safe, all of my pictures get stolen. All the camels, forts, Taj, trains, cows, all gone…sons of pregnant cows I am pissed. Add in the fact that the plane could not land in Maseru, so we spent entirely too much money staying in Joberg it’s been a rocky return to Africa.
Ok so I have managed to cool down, and ready to give a few more highlights. More like observations and emotionally interludes of perplexed mental abstracts of me saying internally “what the fuck!” For instance, Devi was an inspiration to the people of India. She created what I called the ‘invisible man effect’. In this, I mean that if I walked in Devi’s wake, I was unseen, 100% invisible. I could have stripped naked and, and lit my pubic hair on fire, and no one would have noticed a naked white guy screaming in agony. I have also mentioned that the Lesotho cows are the rock stars of the livestock world; well the cows of India are the Rock Gods of the livestock world. With the exception of the cow that attacked Devi (the bruise is about the size of a kiwi that has been run over by a studded tire from a 04 matrix), the cows in India have a presence to them. They walk with a “I am cow, you shall bow, and say Oh man wow, or else you’ll feel the horns of plow with echoing sounds of pow! Cows are seriously part of every normal day life, they sip tea in the coffee shops, sell photos of their kin chewing what amounts to Christmas decorations, charge toll on narrow streets, and shit everywhere with a mere shrug. Devi and I are writing a coffee table book on cows of the world; we are accepting contributions and will be giving the finished book to all family members for Christmas 2008. So keep space free because we will be terribly upset if it’s not front and center. What would any adventure be with out the obligatory run from the law? We were driving from Jaisamler to Jodhpur when we came onto a police roadblock, with real cops, real army men, real machine guns, and real attitude. It appeared to be a tourist tax collecting station, of which we had seen before and paid with out questions. This time however, our driver only slowed, and barely opened his window. The cops approached and suddenly if not a little erratically our driver hit the gas, swerved a little into the gravel as not to kill any cops with guns and sped of with the law chasing us on foot. I felt like asking “what the hell?” but a realized my voice would crack like the days of puberty, I turned to see three shades of brown, but only saw palely white girl wild-eyed saying “what the hell”right back to me. So we continued to speed with nervous glances over our shoulders every few seconds to see if the cops with guns were giving chase, alas no.
Ok in the office and gotta fly.
should wirte again in three weeks

Yes, Its been awhile since I posted, and in all honesty I have forgotten most of what we have done, so bare with me if my entry seems a little cluttered. We are in Jodpur for the next two days until we fly to Mumbai for the trip back to Africa. Jailsilmer was incredible, the camel trecking perhaps the best adventure we’ve had in India. We spent two nights and three days in the Thar desert, with our camels (Raja & Sona) and guides (Turok & Dadia, who was eight years old). Yes, one of our guide was 8 yrs old, and he was a total professional, he was the low man on the totem pole, he took care of the camels and carried stuff around and so, not to mention he walked almost the entire time. Camels are incredible, from the very moment you meet them, you understand how uncluttered their mind is. Camels do a few things very well; walk slow and chew cud. In fact a Camel spends about twenty minutes a day sleeping and the rest chew cud. They chew cud when walking, when drinking, when running, when eating. They are also very huge. I did not understand the immensity of camels until I got on Raja for the first time. My head was easily 15 feet in the air. Enormus creatures who command a lot of respect. They are peaceful, semi-graceful (for a camel), and a blast to ride. By the third day our asses were bruised, groing tired, and my back was so sore. Our first night in the dunes was full of humor, as we were accompanied by two German tourists. At about 3am a voice started calling in the distant, “hello, where are you”, “Hello”, “Heelllllllooooooo”. This voiced continued for easily an hour. It got near and far, had various different levels of stress from friendly, to anger, to fearful, to all out hysterical. I thought that is was some Indian guy trying to find us to sell us something, so I kept quite. I do remember thinking, oh great now he is mad, please don’t let him find us. I listened to this screaming forever, thinking that it was somebody important that Turok would greet him. Finally the other german tourist, called out “Were over here”, I immediatly scolded her for telling the anger Indian where we were, but “Paul is not in his bed” was here response. Opps!, the crying voice I had been listening to was the lost german tourist. I got my light and went and found him…..I laughed for quite a while of how we (Devi heard him too) mistook teriffied German for a Indian salesman..Skip ahead to our last moments in Jailismer. Devi got attacked by a cow, and not a little nudge either. This guy tried to shiskabob her. He scouped down low, to come up under her bum, and then tried to launch her. All for no reason, she literaly just walked by. READ. She is ok, 100% ok, just a scratch on her booty. We have been trying to understand the philisophical nature of cow attacks, in the last few hours….ok, need a icecream.

Hello!!!! I’m writing to you from Jaipur, in Rajistan, the most sexist state in India apparently (according to one of our travel guides, and my own take so far). We have rented a car and driver to take us across RAjistan. At first glance, from the car, I liked this state a lot (partially because the roads have been so great). Given that i Have only been here a few hours though….I”m not so impressed. We’ve had some issues trying to book tickets, and people - sorry, MEN - being total dickwads to me, but other than that….we are excited about seeing what this area has to offer. I”ll talk about our time in Agra though, as it was absolutely wonderful. I loved it there. We arrived, totally paranoid, via rail from New Delhi. I say paranoid, because everything you read about Agra is that there are a ton of touts (scammers, guys trying to sell you things), and it is dirty and hard to breath from pollution, and just way too many people. We did not have that experience at all. We ended up in a rockin hotel. We didn’t get scammed. We found a great guy to tour us around the city in an autorickshaw both days for fairly cheap. We saw the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort (where the Mugal rulers of India lived and ran the country for ages), Akbar’s mausoleum, the “baby TAj”, a tomb, and a bunch of mosques. we learned how those carpets are made (so, so much work!!!) it was awesome. the Taj was fabulous. There are so many carvings and detailed work. It took 17 years to build, and 40 million dollars. So, so beautiful. it’s totally symmetrical, except for Shah Jahan’s grave, because it was put in as an after thought by his son. it was originally just meant for his wife’s body, and so her’s is in the middle, and his is to the side. We got up early and went at 6am when there we’re as many people, thank God, cause it got busy. I tried to go incognito (because I have had a major problem with people staring at me CONSTANTLY!!!), but it did not work. I think they may have stared even more actually. Next step: pretend I am Muslim and wear the burka. That oughta do it (but we all know that I am a face sweater, and so that really isn’t the best idea). Since being in the north, I handle the dry heat so well. My face hasn’t sweated since we left Travindrum actually (and I dont’ miss it!).
What else? we have done a ton of shopping. I love how in the different states you find different things. Up here there is as lot of marble and wood carvings. it’s cool because you can drive by and see all those statues taht they export, being made right in front of you. Rajistan is also known for its silver and gems. There’s so many scammers though, and we are so paranoid, that its hard to really trust and enjoy it sometimes.

Anyways, hopefully Sam will give you his take on the last few days. it has been very enjoyable on the whole, and hard to believe we have only been here 3 weeks - it seems like a lifetime ago. Over and out for now,
Love,
Devi

So our beach time has ended, we went for our final swim this morning and the Ariabian sea pretty much rejected us. The riptide was so strong, that we could only get a few meters out before the push/pull/tug was getting unbearable in strength. Sad. The beach in India have treated us great, even given us the opportunity to discouver two tout free beaches. The snorkerling is non-exisitent but the waves are great to play. I cannot understand why we saw no surfers here. I counted an endless number of 15-20 sec rides, beautifuly shaped waves!. We head back onto the trains today. Devi’s description of the trains was dead on, I serioulsy feel like I am off to prision on them. However the experience is great, I will always remember my india train adventures. The cockroaches are just the little ones, I actually did not know that I was looking at cockroaches, and I did not see any of the mice. I slept like I was coming off a ten day meth run.
Indian coffee is so good, even in the heat I order coffee at everymeal. It beats the crap out the Lesotho coffee. I have no luck with breakfest in this country either, beware of the Bamboo cakes, they will cement your stomach shut for days. Dinner on the other hand is an experence. Varkala is expensive at the resort, so we went into town and ate at the dirtiest cafe I have ever seen. I do think the DTES could even produce a more unhygenic restuarant…and guess what. The food was incredible, and neither one of us got into the kinda of trouble you would expect from eating in a place like that.
We have decded to drop Varannasi from our nothern destination, as it just means to much travel time, we fly top Deli and then to Agra and then west into the dunes and forts
Cheers,

Good evening!!!! Life can be absolutely magnificent sometimes, can’t it? We are Varkala. Originally, we were upset by what we had come to: a tourist-packed area. however, as it is not high season yet, it really is not that busy. Plus we have managed to escape the crazy and find our own little area in this 1.2 billion populated country. Today we started off with a beautifully refreshing swim along the cliffside. Then we rented a scooter and ripped all over the place, including into some residential areas. I felt like I was in a typical Hindi movie: wind blowing through my hair, music playing over the huge speakers used for Islamic prayers, me holding on to Sam as we drove through the country side, everyone stopping and smiling and waving at us. Can’t you just picture it? LOL. During this time, we happened upon a beautiful, totally empty beach. So we decided to go back to our place, get our swimming stuff and head back. As we drove up the hill, a man stopped us and asked us to come up to his hotel. This is very common here, and we just said, no thanks, we already have a place. He insisted and said that he was opening this place in 1 week and he wanted an opinion of how it looks. so we went and checked it out. Now, anyone planning on coming to Varkala must stay at this resort. So, so beautiful. Blooming Bay it is called. They should be advertising on the internet soon. They wanted us to stay there “for free, you come and stay here.” SO TEMPTING!!! but we are leaving for the capital of Kerala tomorrow, so it shall not be this time. it was their private beach that we ended up swimming on today. So lush and perfect with these huge cliffs and rockin thick waves that kicked our asses!!!!

The other major score of the day was that we decided to eat in the town of Varkala (as opposed to Varkala beach which is totally tourist). We ate an all you can eat wicked meal with tea and coffee that cost 37 rupees (for both of us!!!) - that’s less than 1 dollar folks!!!! wooo hoo!!!!!!!!! The number one food I have discovered here that I love is Paratha. it’s a bread thing, sorta inbetween a poori and a naan….mmmm, that might be a poor description, but I totally recommend it.

On the topic of eating…have I mentioned that since being in India I do not eat Indian food? Yah. That is not completely true, but I am definately avoiding most traditional Indian food. I have been seeking out Italian and Chinese mostly. Why, you ask - when you can enjoy some of the most amazing food in the world? Well, there are a couple of reasons. the number one being that none of it compares to my Mom and Dad’s. That’s right: their Indian food is still better than anythign I have eaten here (except the Schzwan prawns but those were Chinese so it doesn’t count). The second reason, is that basically as soon as we got here, my GI system started acting up. I won’t get descriptive, but now even the smell of some spices will throw me into a fit. Its a shame really. Before this trip, we joked about how it would be Sam having all these isssues, but he is living it up ordering all the Indian he can handle! (I think sometimes they probably wonder what is going on - why is the white boy ording the fish curry and the brown girl ordering spagetti???). anyways, that is what is going on here. So I’m eating plain porrige, rice, and paratha. Ice cream too. mmmmmm…….

This is just a little excerpt (?) from a letter to my parents:

Oct5/07, 11:30 - on the train - Konkan RAilways. Headed from Benaulim (Margao) Goa to Kochi, Kerala. 16 hours I believe. The train was a little sketchy at first. We bought out ticket but were 42 and 43 on the waitlist - “the worst ticket to have” according to Rough Guide. We were told by the travel agen to just bribe the conductor to get a seat. How much you ask? We had no idea (and neither did she). 1st job though: determine who the conductor is. We thought this would be easy, as, if we were 42 and 43, then the first 40 people must also be wanting to speak to the conductor - this was not the case. I never did figure out where all the rest of those people went. Half the people on the platform were wearing Indian Rail uniforms (Indian Rail is apparently the biggest employer in the world…also has the most train collisions in the world - but it is apparently still safer than being on the road). so it looked as if the train was goin to pull away without us. We were sitting at “S5″ where the supposed conductor told us to wait for him. He never showed. Sam didn’t believe he was the conductor anyways (turned out he was though). He had a glint in his eye thta just made me think he was getting excited to be bribed. Becaus we were so naive to how to go about doing that, he didnt’ get anything inthe end. heh hehe. So anyways, we just got on the train and sat down. I was scared we were goin to get kicked to the curb at the next station. this was the right move though. We kept our seats the entire trip. So, in my mind, I picture trains as being very clean, roomy, fine-dining - very much like in the Harry Potter movies. So you can imagine my initial reaction to this one:it looks like it was created to transport slaves all over the country. Seriously. They are open windowns with bars across them. There’s these big blue benches with plastic seats. Thankfully, we are in a sleepin compartment which means that you have people sitting only 3 to a seat, and then you have 3 different levels of these benches to sleep on at night. Cockroaches are everywhere (and I even saw a mouse climbing around later), it reminds me of that ferry in Fiji. There are people walking by every 2 minutes selling peanuts and coffee and tea and stuff. There are also people on hte train walking by asking for money. I’m not sure where they come from or where they end up cause you only see them the one or two sweeps. There was this one kid, who I don’t know if he had polio or what, but he crawled through the cabin and had a rag and was “sweeping” all the garbage from the floor. Yuck. it really made me think of the caste system. so sad. I haven’t ventured into the train bathrooms yet (I’m scared). Sam says they are pretty nasty. However, I think this is a great way to see the country. The open windows are great. Southern India looks so much like Fiji. So green and lush the fields and hills and trees. Beautiful.
15:00 - ok, so I”m sweating again. Just woke up on the train. I can feel the beads forming on my neck and upper lip. Bought some chai for 5 rupees (13cents). It is soooooo sweet. Looking outsie, it seems like we’ve entered a slightly different area. I notice a lot of the women wearing jeans and t-shirts. i’ve not seen that yet in India. I decided (smartly I think) to bare my arms today - yep, I’m wearign a sleeveless top. Couldnt’ stand the thoght of boiling over on a crowded over train. As of yet, its not crowded over THANKFULLY! Ok, I have put it off long enough. 7.5 hours on the train and I finally went to the bathroom. I took my TP and hand sanitizer. I thought all was ok…and then…I went to leave……as far as I can tell, all the doors in India so far have a lock on the inside and the outside. someone locked me in!!!!AFter a moment of freaking out, I figured Sam would eventually come to see what was taking so long. I kept jiggling the door and someone came and let me out (and said sorry…I’m pretty sure he watched me actually go in!!!!!) But folks - I am here to tell the story.

OK, so in the end, I think we were on the train for 17 hours. Then we had a autorickshaw driver try to pull a fast one and get a bunch of money out of us. However, we are too smart for that. We found a hotel at about 4 am and finally got to wash our hands with soap!!!! (always the highlight of my day). It’s now a beautiful day in Fort Cochin and we are going to take some water taxis and enjoy a wonderful day in the sun!!!

Take care everyone,
Love,
Devi

So my turn. India. Let me think where to start the story. The bus ride form Mumbai to Goa, was quite possibly one of the greatest adventures I have ever had. To start, its important to understand that the center line in India is only a rough guide, and it basicly means “to the left, to the left, everything you own (like you life) in the box on the left”. This ride blew my mind, the buses move at incredible speeds on the most narrow of roads, storming through switchbacks with complete reckless abandon. The roads are narrow with no shoulder, and buses pass busess, semi-trucks, motorbikes, pedal bikes, pedistrians, and anything else that moves going flat out full speed ahead. Everytime I had the courage to peek my head out into the aisle and look foward all I could see was death. I finally develop what devi called my “Death giggle”, I could not help myself, as I gave up hope and just moved on. When catching up to another vehicle, its imperative that you do not slow down, no matter if there is a blind corner, horizon line, or even a oncoming vehicle. The driver simply pulled into the right lane and moved on by. Crazy ass times
Well, after two days of digesting the driving my manhood was being questioned (by myself) and I knew I had to drive the streets of Goa. I needed the rush of personally facing death, the whiteknuckle adrenalin of certain doom. I rented a scooter, threw Three Shade of Brown on the bitch seat, and took the town. WE crusied in style, one finger on the horn, one on the gas, singing “to the left, to the left, surivial is to the left”…We reached speeds of 65km, did multiple laps of the Margoa town sqaure, hit the country side, got hopelessly lost, only to accidently find the train station (our goal fromt the begining)……The light is still bright, and the hog is calling my name….Adios Amigos…

I see that Sam has abandon everyone on here, he doesnt’ even know I’ve written anything in India yet. Remember that everyone - DEVI cared to share the experiences we have with all of you!
So today started off Monsoon-like. It poured super hard all night and into the morning. I decided that since I would get soaked going to breakfast, I might as well just jump in the ocean right afterwards. It was like bathwater - just lovely, and I had the whole beach to myself. AFter I got out, it basically stopped raining, but it has been really over cast. There’s all these vespa-like scooters here and motorbikes. Sam’s been dying to try them out - the only problem is that traffic is so bloody scarey here, that there’s no way I would want to be on the back of one. however, we both came to the conclusion that if it were going to happen in India, it really should happen here, as these are going to be the least busy roads on our trip. So we rented a scooter for 250 rupees…which is like 6$ or so, for the whole day and we’ve had a blast. Sam was in his glory for sure (singing about heaven being on earth even!) Drove all over in the green lushness of Goa. it was so beautiful. Went into Margao and booked a train ticket tomorrow to head south to Kochi. Sam’s researching the south part of our trip, and I’m diong the north, so at this point, I really cant’ tell you too much of what we are expecting to do and see there, except I think we plan on going to the southern most tip of India. What I can tell you is that this train ticket we booked for tomorrow, is most certainly giong to be an adventure. we are 34th and 35th on the wait list, which I”m pretty sure that means taht IF we get on, then we will be on the most uncomfortable “economy” class seats available. Indian railways has a ton of different classes, some with A/C, some without, some with beds, some without. This ride tomorrow is supposed to be 18 hours I think…. in the lowest class. We were told to bribe the conductor. I’m not really sure how you go about doing that or how much it takes. I’ll let you know.

On other fronts, my legs look like I have chicken pox. To protect Sammy from any kind of discomfort, I have generously decided to be the mosquito magnet. The mosiquito lotion and the net over are bed don’t really seem to do the trick (maybe it’s all the large holes I see….) its funny how we lay next to each other and only one of us ends up with bites……

I dont’ want anyone to get the wrong impression here - I am loving every moment of life in India. AND, I’m getting better with these squatty toilets here. Trust me, I’m giong to load up on the soap and TP before we leave the touristy places!!!!

OK, over and out for me. I think Sam’s maybe writing an entry now, hopefully not too much doubling up of info (although his take is always slightly different than mine anyways). Headed for the daily ice cream stop - gotta keep my bones strong.

Later everyone,
Devi