Feb 27, 2006
Hi everyone! Well I haven’t written for few days. Anyway two days ago we were in Richards Bay, South Africa. That place was so green, hot and humid. I went on a tour with a lady that sits at our table for dinner. It was an all day tour. The place we went on the tour to was called Shakaland or also called the Zulu land. It was a tribal village. We got to see how the tribal people lived. I also got to see their hut houses which was really different from the houses we live in Seattle. The women were all dressed in their hand made beaded tribal closes. I took a lot of pictures of the place. The women and the men there were very nice. The men were too nice to me, they were asking me to marry them, which I said No! One of the mothers that lives in the village comes up to me and starts speaking in her language while looking at my rings on my hand, I thought she was complimenting me on my rings, but later I found out that she was saying I was beautiful and that I should marry her son. I started laughing later and saying no after I found out what she was saying. The lady I was with on the tour had to tell the men that I was too young to get married. Thank god she was there with me. I had a wonderful time there. A lot of the way the Zulu’s lived reminded me of the way I use to live in Ethiopia. They had similar houses and the same way of making their food. Anyway our next stop is to Nosy Be, Madagascar. I am looking forward to seeing the place.
Well until next time always, Alemitu
February 28, 2006 Nosy Be, Madagascar
Yesterday the captain notified Carter that there was a report of an emerging viral illness transmitted by mosquitoes. It’s called Chikungunya and causes a disease much like dengue fever. Carter and I worked thru the internet and all the book sources we had to come up with an understanding of the disease. He called Seattle to get more info and since there wasn’t much reporting of the disease in Madagascar, the ship decided to go for it. Once here, Carter was sent ashore to go to the hospital to get more details. The photos he has are from his trip thru town with the port agent, as well as his visit to the hospital.
General impressions were that the people are short, very short. French is the first language, everyone was very nice, but also very persistent that we needed to buy their wares. He found that the disease is more prevalent than reported because the reporting system isn’t very good. The disease is annoying, but rarely fatal. And that all of the islands in the Indian Ocean seem to be experiencing it.
Alemitu wanted to go in, so we decided that this was a chance to go ashore, but that she had to go with someone. I can’t deal with all of the humidity and heat, so this was not a place I needed to experience. We told her she could ride over on the tender, but not get out unless she had someone to walk with. Well, that wasn’t great, but it was better than being with her parents, so she opted to go. The tender was full of crew, but she didn’t know any of them. I expected her to return immediately. Well, the last person on was the captain’s wife, and needless to say, she came back much later. I’ll let her explain her adventure.
Winnie
Hello everyone, it’s me Ali. Well Nosy Be, Madagascar was a very interesting place to visit. The people were very small and short, they only spoke French as their language. The island was very green and the weather there was very hot and humid. The place was not that developed, the house there looked like ruins because they haven’t rebuilt it. The old houses there were houses of the French when they were there. The roads were very muddy and not well repaired; it looked like the roads in Ethiopia. We went to the little stores there. The Nosy Be people had made a lot of the things with their hands. Some of the animals that I got to see were little monkeys and iguanas on a stick with little kids holding them. There weren’t that many beggars and if you saw one and you tell them no they go away. While we were walking we also went to the meat market which was the grossest and the smelliest place every. I thought I was going to throw up walking through there. I did get to buy some stuff like a tank top and little handmade turtles.
Until next time always, Alemitu
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 Mayotte, Comoros Islands
We had to change plans about going to Moroni, Comoros because of political reasons. There are 4 large islands in the Comoros, 3 are Muslim and one primarily Catholic. We ended up on the Catholic one. Here Carter was going to go ashore with us, but he had to help a patient be transferred to the hospital, so scrap those plans. He was gone all of the morning and some of the afternoon. Here the medical care was better than on the ship, so it was safe to leave the passenger here. There were no hotel rooms available because the French had sent it soldiers to help try to eradicate the mosquitoes and the Chikungunya virus, so the wife of the passenger was going to have to stay with the port agent in his home. Of course, there was no air conditioning on the island, even in the hospital. It was in the 90’s with intermittent tropical deluges. No wonder the mosquitoes are multiplying! It was like a steam room outside.
Again I decided to forego the visit because of the weather and Alemitu was determined to go in. This time she went with one of the nurses, then decided to stay with one of the photographers when the nurse returned to the ship. We were in another tender situation, which meant that she had to be on the last tender at 4:30pm, or she, too, would be spending quite a bit of time on Mayotte. Around 3:50 I began to get nervous and by 4:30 I was quite worried since she still hadn’t returned. All I could think of was where she would spend the night and how she would be able to meet us in Mombasa without a passport or any money. Carter’s comment was, “If she misses the tender, she will probably never be late for anything ever again in her life.”…… Well, she made it on the last tender. The photographer would have lost her job, so were we a little reassured on that account, figuring that she would do her best to be there. Alemitu had a wonderful time in town, buying a handbag that unfortunately was filled with spider webs.
Winnie
March 3, 2006 Zanzibar, Tanzania
This morning started with a bang, literally. I was ready to go to breakfast, Carter refused to get up and Alemitu knew she had to get up because she was planning to go ashore with her photographer friend. I was finishing with my sunscreen when I heard a terrible thud, witnessed the bathroom door flung open, and Alemitu fell from the bathroom unconscious. She had almost no pulse and was barely breathing. I screamed for Carter, and tried to minister to Alemitu until he finally arose.
After about 5 minutes she came to, thank goodness. Amazingly she didn’t break anything. For the last several days she has been outside in the extreme heat and humidity, drinking minimally, working out hard in the evenings and staying up long hours. I guess it all came back to bite her. Yikes! It was too scary. I’m sticking close for a while until I know she is rehydrated.
Winnie
posted by Hills @ 12:13 PM
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