Oct. 23 - 25: Primates, surprises, food poisoning and a hellish journey to the Congo

I promised some hair-raising tales, so here goes: On Friday evening (Oct. 23), Lizanne and I headed down to the beach after arriving and getting settled in. En route, we encountered, much to my horror, two caged primates (who, I found out later, had been kidnapped from the mountains nearby and placed in cages for the amusement of guests staying at the beach "resort"). There was a chimpanzee (who I named Phillipe) in one cage and an olive baboon in the cage next to him. At first I thought that the baboon had a baby but then, to my further horror, I realized it was a teeny tiny little kitten who had wandered into the cage over night. The poor little thing was so tiny and skinny...probably starving and dehydrated...too young to be away from her mother. The baboon had "adopted" the kitten and the kitten probably imprinted on the baboon and thought she was her mother.

Can you see the kitten?

It proved to be impossible to get the kitten away from the baboon in order to feed her or give her milk because the baboon was so protective of her baby that the minute anyone would go within a few inches of her cage she would grab the kitten and hold her close. The kitten, not knowing any better, also seemed to want to be near the baboon and she appeared to be trying to nurse. Then, there was the poor chimp who was all alone in his cage and was clearly starved for companionship, would look at me with such sadness in his eyes and would hold my hand when I held it out to him. Anyways, those of you who know me can imagine how devastating this whole scenario was. I was so angry and heartbroken at the same time. I couldn't keep from crying...

Baboon and kitten who baboon is trying to groom

Phillipe holding my hand

The next morning, on our way to breakfast, we stopped to check on our imprisoned primates and immediately saw that another chimp was there, but not in the cage. This was Lulu who belongs to a Canadian guy (from Quebec - born in Shawinigan and lived in diffeent parts of Montreal, including Pointe-Claire!!) named David. He owns a much nicer resort down the road, called Pinnacle 19. It has a pool and it is clean and his primate is free to roam around. I will be staying there next time (?). He usually comes to the place we were staying a few times a week so that Phillipe can have a visit with one of his kind. Long story short, Lulu bit Lizanne when Lizanne was trying to get her bag away from Lulu. Since the bite drew blood, Lizanne was concerned about rabies. Later that day, we went to Pinnacle 19 for dinner and asked David if Lulu had her rabies shot and, much to our relief, David said she had.

David & Lulu


Lulu

By now, you have most likely seen the video of Morag's reaction to my surprise. Essentially, she arrived 4 hours later than she had anticipated...very Moragian and also an Africa-related factor. The two combined - Morag and Africa -are deadly!! I hid behind a piece of furniture while Lizanne and Morag greeted one another. After a couple minutes I quacked (Morag's pet name for me is Duck). I hear Lizanne say "What was that?" Morag says "Sounded like a duck". I wait another 30 seconds or so and I quack again. THEN Morag clues in and starts to meltdown: "NO NO NO...it's not possible!! I then decide to emerge from my hiding spot and, well, the next few seconds are on video. It took Morag a few hours to come down from the whole experience. Initially she was shaking and crying and just could not believe her eyes. Her way of putting it is: "You snuck her into Africa!!!!!"

That night after a lovely dinner at Pinnacle 19, where we met two more Canadians (one who lives on Vancouver Island - is it me, or is the world getting smaller?), we retired to our cozy little beds. Did I mention that, while waiting for Morag to arrive on Saturday afternoon I got hungry and ate a couple pieces of (unrefrigerated) pizza left over from the night before? Neither of us could leave the room in case Morag arrived.

At around 2:00 am, the pizza woke me up. What followed was not pretty. I will spare the gruesome details. The next morning, the pizza continued to vacate my body (along with everything else I had eaten in the last week). I began to wish I was dead. I almost got my wish during the hellish journey from Bujumbura (Burundi) to Bukavu (The Congo). Take a really hot humid day in Montreal (crank it up a few more degrees). Take the worst logging road you can imagine on Vancouver Island; one that only logging trucks can drive on (drive on it in a mini-van for 4 hours). Think of the worst flu, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea you've ever had. Now put all of these factors together. Oh ya, and throw in horrible exhaust fumes, really annoying crowds of people and filth (the pre-logging road, city portion of the day's events). Prior, to all of this, we were delayed at the border for about an hour because we didn't have our Visas. We were misinformed in thinking that we could get them upon entry.

Okay...got the picture??? That was my introduction to The Congo. When we finally arrived at Morag's place in Bukavu (approximately 8 hours after we got on the first bus), I was a shell of my former self...I barely remember anything from that evening, since I spent most of it passed out on the couch while everyone else laughed and talked and ate. I woke up at 10:30 pm, mumbled a few things, tried to eat some old dried bread, gagged a few times and then crawled into bed.

Stay tuned...

Oct. 20 - 23: From Uganda to Burundi, Condo sales and pedicures

Well hello there...it's been a while. I am going to attempt to summarize the events of the past week. Last Tuesday (the day after my intense day of visiting the village where Anna and her family live) was quite different than the previous day's experiences. Lizanne and her father and I joined some old friends of theirs for lunch at a very good Chinese restaurant (see photo). Afterwards, we drove one of our lunch guests home so I got to see a little bit of the outskirts of Kampala, including a view of lake Victoria (see photo). There was an important conference going on at a resort on the lake, so lots of security. Our taxi had to drive up onto a contraption of some sort which had a mirror to see underneath the car to make sure there were no weapons or bombs...yikes!

We then dropped our guest off at her home. What really stands out for me is the overwhelming presence of walls, gates and barbed wire. I included a photo of a gate that I thought was interesting and creative. If a person lives in a home that is considered even remotely well-off, walls, barbed wire, etc. are the norm. In a part of the world where poverty and desperation are so widespread, property crime is rampant and therefore these measures are necessary. I could not imagine living this way. The other adjustment that I am finding difficult is having to get from A to B before dark (if we are walking). Being close to the equator means the sun goes down at around 7:00 all year round. I really dislike having to arrange my life around the sun's schedule. Now I know how vampires feel when they have to make sure they are back in their coffins before the sun comes up!

Wednesday was spent lounging by the pool and preparing for our departure the next morning (that night) at 2:30 am. Lizanne and I went out for a taste-bud-blowing Indian dinner for our last night in Kampala. After a 5:00am flight from Kampala to Nairobi (Kenya) and then to Bujumbura (Burundi), we were happy to arrive at our guest house in the centre of town. Morag had reserved a room for Lizanne (see photos). Crossing the street was always a test of speed, coordination and bravery. We both slept like logs that night, after having barely slept the night before. The next day we took our lives in our hands once again in order to go to the internet cafe. This is when (at approx. 10:00 am on Friday morning) I found out that my condo had finally sold - for real this time!!! I was hit with a potent mixture of relief and more than a little bit of sorrow. Even Lizanne had tears in her eyes. After all, she had been with me through the whole intense journey right form the start. Before heading for the beach, where we would meet Morag, we decided to have pedicures and manicures done...by men...a first for me. It was Lizanne's first pedicure ever! Apparently, in Burundi, this is a "thing". Young men do pedicures and manicures. They did a good job of removing the nasty dry skin and all, but an Aveda (read: high-end eco-spa) experience, it wasn't!

I will have to continue the summary in my next post. Stay-tuned for hair-raising tales of biting monkeys, hippos in the lake, food poisoning and a nerve shattering journey into hell, i.e. The Congo. In the meantime, please enjoy the video of Morag's big surprise, which happened on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 5:00 pm Burundi time.

Day Five: Our 3rd full day in Uganda

Last Monday (Oct. 19) was an emotional and eye-opening day for me. When Lizanne was last in Uganda, she volunteered at a literacy centre for a few months and grew close to one of her students (a young woman with 4 children), who was one of her brightest pupils. Lizanne decided to sponsor the children so that they could attend school, and has been doing so for the past 3 years. We went to visit this woman (Anna) and her husband. She now has a 5th child - a 5 month old boy who is so adorable that I just wanted to eat him up. We spent about an hour with this family, talking to them about their plan to buy land (which is another way in which Lizanne is going to be sponsoring them). I have decided that, once my condo sells, I am also going to contribute to the future of this family, by donating some money to the purchase of the land.

I was so moved by what I saw that I had to hold back tears. We've all seen the images of abject poverty ("third world slums") on television, in magazines, etc. Some of us, myself included (when I was in Thailand, Cuba, Tanzania), have seen what I saw today in person, but only from a distance, driving past on a bus or in a car or walking by on the road. Monday was the first time I walked through a "slum" and it was an experience I will never forget. It is almost impossible to describe in any way that can effectively convey the experience. Even photographs do not do it justice, because pictures don't include the smells, the "textures" or the details that you can see when you are right there. People live in shacks that make the backyard tool sheds we have in Canada look spacious and luxurious. There are literally piles of rotting garbage everywhere, and the stench that occasionally drifted up to my nose made me gag a few times. I was literally having to navigate my way around these heaps of garbage, while children and toddlers played in and around them. Again, there are no words to truly capture the experience. Lizanne was telling me that these living conditions are pretty much the "norm" here in terms of the percentage of the population that lives like this. There are some who are worse off (although I can't imagine how) and there are the wealthy minority, but the large majority of Ugandans live this way. It is like their version of a middle class.

The photo I took of the brick house is one of the nicer dwellings in the area, because it has solid walls. We went inside Anna's house and sat down to talk. It was the size of an average Canadian bedroom and 7 people live in it. It was hot and dark and had two beds. Furnishings were sparse and kind of cobbled together out of bits of this and that. As I sat in the dark, dank room, listening to this gentle, soft spoken man (Anna's husband James) talk about wanting to own land and build a workshop on the land so that he can make furniture and earn a half decent living for himself and his family, I felt this bitter mix of sadness and outrage well up inside me. No one should have to live this way...regardless of race, nationality, skill or ability. It's just not okay - period! I think the other reason it hit me so hard is that it was the first time I had ever sat down and spoken to a person living in these conditions and seen first hand how they live. This reality was no longer an abstract concept to me or a piece of intellectual knowledge. I now had real people, faces and names (including a beautiful, laughing, gurgling little baby) associated with these appalling living conditions.

The photo I took of the ad for Fortune cooking oil was on a wall right around the corner from the area where Anna and her family live. I thought it was sadly ironic that this ad would be located there and, in my opinion, almost a slap in the face to the people living in filth and desperate poverty.

That night, Lizanne, her father, a wonderful Ugandan woman named Evelyn and I went out to dinner at a really nice Thai restaurant (a stark contrast to what I had seen earlier in the day) and I felt a deep sense of gratitude for what I have and for the life I live.

Day Four: A few photos

It has proven to be somewhat challenging to post photos since my arrival in Africa, but I have finally managed to pull it off. Here are a few photos of the "compound" where we are staying. I mentioned the vervet monkeys in my last post, and was finally able to catch a few pictures of them this morning. Note the bright blue genitals on the male...fascinating. The goats live here (a mom and a baby) and the two dogs are Jimmy and Nero. They are both old and the poor things are always hot (I can empathize) so they just lay around a lot.

The pool (which is the size of a large hot tub) has been a god send for me. After a day of shlepping around town in the heat and the dirt, it is heaven to come home and have a refreshing dip in the pool. I also love drinking beer whenever I feel like it, because I am "on vacation".

The food here at Red Chilli is quite good. On Sunday there was a BBQ and they even had a home made veggie burger which was delicious. We also had two types of salad and baked potato...all for about $5.00 Cdn. A large beer here costs about $2.50.

We have only been in Kampala for 3 days but it feels like weeks have gone by and Red Chilli feels like "home". We leave for Burundi at 5:00 am on Thursday so we have booked a cab to the airport for 2:30 am...ugh...

Day Three: Kampala, Uganda

Not much happened on day two. After a lovely breakfast with Jane and Jonathan, we took a bus to the airport, got on a plane in Amsterdam, ate, slept, watched movies, slept, ate, got off the plane in Entebbe and then waited for luggage, changed money and took a cab to Kampala. We did, however, get a very nice surprise by Lizanne's dad who met us at the airport with a taxi. He had also booked a room for us at Red Chilli, the travellers' hostel where he was staying and where we planned to stay. After a couple nice cold beers, we hit the sack.

I woke this morning at 8:00 and was met by a group of monkeys hanging around outside our cabin. There were a few babies, including a very tiny one who was attached to her mother's belly. SO cute!!! After a leisurely breakfast, we headed into town to do some errands. It's really amazing for me to be back in Africa after 7 years. The sights, the smells, the little details (like blue toilet paper and the fact that the bottles of water are always filled to the very top and the water inevitably splooshes out everytime you open a new bottle) all came back to me.

Photos to follow...

Day One - October 15 '09: A gorgeous autumn day in Amsterdam

Our journey to and arrival in Amsterdam was delightfully uneventful and exciting at the same time, influenced greatly by the fact that we would soon see Jane, a Canadian friend living in Amsterdam with her English partner, Jonathan. They opened the door to us with a whirl of hugs and helped us carry our bags up the steep Dutch stairs to their lovely apartment. Then they welcomed us with a yummy breakfast, including pink champagne. We toasted to travel and to connecting with friends.

We took a nap and a shower and then spent the day strolling around the city streets with J & J following on their bikes, excited to show us everything. Luckily we are all jet lagged (J & J have themselves just returned from a trip to Australia and Singapore) so we were all in a similar state, i.e. a little zoned out and couldn't remember what things were called. Nonetheless, we managed a long walk through the museum district, an adjacent antiques street and all the way down to the canal ring to the elegant core of this beautiful slanted city. A quick visit to a "coffee shop" called The Grey Zone was on my agenda, while Jane, Jonathan and Lizanne went to the other kind of coffee shop.

By late in the day, we stood in front of the the Anne Frank House, which was open and surprisingly line-up-free. We hemmed and hawed a bit, and ultimately decided to skip it. I was secretly more interested in trying a popular Dutch-style mode of transportation: being doubled on the back of a bike, sitting sideways on the rack and holding onto the person riding the bike.

The locals make it look easy, and Jane made it sound easy. I lasted about 10 minutes and when my hip flexor started to seize up and I could no longer feel my butt cheeks, I decided to walk the rest of the way home. Jonathan made a valiant effort, but there is definitely a science to being a passenger which I have yet to grasp. My earlier visit to the coffee shop made the ride much more interesting, but no less uncomfortable...

After a delicious pasta dinner, everyone retired early, with the exception of me...I am up late writing this blog.

Tomorrow: Uganda!