Safari and stuff

Safari

7 of us went on Safari over the weekend. Unfortunately we were separated into 2 jeeps. On Friday after the hospital we had a quick lunch then headed off to the lodge. It was about a 2 hour drive, I spent the whole ride reading the book I nought on Wednesday. We arrived at the lodge greeted with wet towels and glasses of tamarind juice. The tamarind juice tasted like lemonade with not enough water. Very sweet very tart very thick. Most of the other didn't like it, it was good but drinking too much would definitely give heartburn... The lodge was a main building with a restaurant, bar, and deck. Across was a bathroom building with surprisingly the best toilet paper I've seen or used this whole trip. I really wanted to steal some..... There were about 15 cabins that housed 2-4 people each and we were split between 3 of them. They were small but comfortable, good beds and pillows, a small shower but hot and very high water pressure. After dropping off my bag I went down right away and read my book for another hour and a bit. After more than an hour a few of the others came down and we talked. Each of us giving a family background, brothers sisters parents jobs etc. The last 2 of us didn't come down for a few hours after that, just in time for dinner at 745. Food was okay, comparable with everything so far in Africa...

I kept reading some more but they shut off the lights pretty early. All the women went to bed soon but me and Stuart stayed up til about midnight talking and looking at the stars. Very clear, no light, but no Milky Way or visible satellites, just billions of bright stars. No real complaints, it was a good night. I did continue to read awhile in bed with a lantern in our room.

Saturday Safari day arrives. Up at 630 for breakfast and leaving at 7. Still in our 2 jeeps we headed off it was about an hour drive before we hit the national park boundary and on the way we saw only a couple impalas and a dikdik. Another 20 went by before we saw our first giraffe at a distance. A couple hours til we got some lions or elephants but by then it was constant. Never in big groups we saw hundreds and hundreds of impalas, dozens of all giraffes, elephants, baboons, monkeys, colourful land and flying birds.... Close up lions we saw 4, not too many ostriches, not really any water buffalo or hyena though... It was pretty incredible overall. We didn't get back to the lodge until about 5pm.

I finished my book, we did more stargazing and slept. Sunday we headed back but spent a couple hours touring through a Masai village. There were some scoffs, exclamations, and turned noses at some of what we saw, learned, and answered questions. They explained their traditional medicines, boiling some cow dung in water, cooling to warm, then drink it to cure stomach problems. Got malaria? Dig up the root of this tree and drink tea do it 5 days and nights and be cured for life. Other ailments? Pick and eat every unidentified plant you come across while ranging with the cows, if your haphazard munching cramps your stomach we've still got your cow dung. Our Masai guide claimed a life expectancy of 100-115, though he either didn't mean years or is mistaken/misleading a fact that was rebuked heavily at lunch when I explained as much at lunch that day... Apparently 1 persons claim is worth more than common sense, most the other students have seemed pretty gullible or a little dumb... I hate to say it but hearing them talk about water energy crystals, good and bad energies, or fruits only diets curing all ailments hurts my head a little.

After our tour done, our questions answered, we went to their little market where they are selling mostly paintings(the same one seems at every stall and corner in town) bead necklaces and wristbands, and simple carvings. They are pretty and relatively cheap, but every single one of the students REFUSE to barter... The women selling just started charging more and more every time someone bought something, it made me want to scream and also made it impossible for me to get anything for a decent price when they see all the students throwing money around like nothing... My suggestions of bartering, techniques, expected markup based on experience as well as multiple conversations with the staff and locals, or my cries that they were all being robbed blind, we're met villainous glares and it was suggested I was evil for wanting to deprive the Masai of money... It just seems like a disrespect of money and shortsightedness, maybe some arrogance. It reminded me of our bus ride to the orphanage, 8 of us went and it cost 60,000 shillings, none of us had change all of us had 10,000 bills only. We had plans of going to the club that night so I suggested putting the extra aside to pay for that such that change was split reasonably, or we could get change after the fact and split it up, or for the love of god we could donate that extra 20,000 to the orphanage where they are fed porridge rice and beans out of 1 pot a spoon at a time, no toys, old clothes..... Nope any of these suggestions were too difficult lets just tip the bus drivers 33% on 2 hours work where they were already making a weeks wages...

Back Sunday evening with a new department starting Monday, moving from surgery to the OPD out patient department.

I have patient by patient notes for my 2 unwritten surgery days and my now 2 OPD days, writing it all will be pretty extensive but it's all already there for me, will work on getting it posted, pictures might not come until after I'm home for the most part.

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes, thoughts, and for reading. If I don't reply to something or contact you keep in mind I haven't contacted anyone from back home since I left, I'm sort of useless like that.