From Blantyre, With Love

And now, back to our story.

OK, so... Yuka mission is right near Kalabo (8 Km), if you can find that on a map. We arrived there after traveling 8 hrs. by bus from Lusaka, after leaving there 45 min late. Now, I have figured out the reason they leave late (this is the 3rd time I've taken what they call a "timed" bus, and they didn't leave on time). They charge you extra for taking luggage along that has to be loaded underneith. The guy who takes your money charges you more than the bus company actually expects from him at the end of the day. So, at the beginning of the day, he and his buddies divy up the extra cash amongst their theiving little selves before turning in the cash and receipts for the bus that is leaving right then. Bingo. Free money for them.

We rode through a big game park about 4 hours into the ride. I saw a lone, large male elephant, a cluster of zebra butts sticking out of the bush, a lot of impala, 2 grey monkey, and some large birds. Sorry, no picts (we were driving kind of fast).

Speaking of driving... I've been trying to learn the rules here. You know, they use the wrong side and everything, and honk all the time. Actually, they don't always drive on the left side of the road because there are SO MANY pot holes, that if the ride would be smoother, you always swerve and weave and curve to get the cleanest path possible. This is one reason why being a driver is actually a career here. I'm not kidding. It takes skill, man. All this while dodging farm animals being hearded over the road (goats, cows), small children left unattended (or more likely, orphaned by HIV) on the side of the road, a soccer match gone astray, bicycles and pedestrians going in both directions, merchants looking to sell their wares (who knows how) to cars speeding past, and the generally unattentive bystander. To effectively dodge these continual annoyances, one must use the car's horn. There is a code I've elucidate that goes a little something like this:

1 short toot = I see you, and see that you see me coming. Get out of the way, I'm coming.
2 short toots = I see you, and see that you DON'T see me coming. Get out of the way, I'm coming.
3 short toots = I see all of you, and see that some of you can see me coming, but some can't or don't seem to care. Get out of the way, I'm coming through where all of you are.
1 long toot = I see you didn't respond to my last toot/toots. You annoy me, now get out of my way! I'm coming through.
1 long toot, 1-3 short toots, followed by 1 more long toot = I see you see me, I don't think you're deaf, and your being rebellious. Now, get the hell out of my way! I'm coming through anyway, and I'm not slowing down for you (though if there are big pot holes, I may have to slow down inspite of your pig-headedness).

At least, that's what I think it all means. I asked if you had to get an international drivers license to drive here and was told "no." I thought it might be hard to learn all the rules of the road, but in retrospect it's quite easy here, compared to the US. Here, all you have to know or do is... honk all the time, and don't hit anything or anybody. Then, it's all good.

Well, we got to Mongu after about 8 hours and took a taxi to the "harbor." Actually, we took 2. See, we'd come with 13 boxes of medicines and supplies (the government hadn't supplied Yuka with any meds for about 2 months), so it took a bit of extra car space. At the harbor, I made my one monitary splurge for the whole trip: round trip speed boat for the 3 of us and our stuff... 600$ US. Why, you may ask? Here's why...

The rainy season leaves only one road open to Yuka from Mongu/Lusaka. It is about 350 Km and takes over one day to drive. There is also 2 other boat options... the slow boat (aka the banana boat), which might as well be to China. It's travel time varies from 8-24 hours, depending on the weather and skill of the pilot (one person told me they got lost in the rain, at night, and had to sleep until morning and then find their way after it was light). So, this is how it went in Mongu... Taxi from the bus station to the harbor: 10$. Cookies and water from the local "market:" 2$. Price for riding on a 80 hp Mercury outboard powered "speedboat:" 600$. Not having to sit on my but for another 8-24 hours while swatting mosquitoes, trying to stay dry, and not letting my hands fall into the water with the crockodiles (no kidding, really): PRICELESS!

Yuka translates to "Someplace to rest." No kidding. And did I ever need it!

When we got to the "harbor" in Kalabo in the twilight and transfered ourselves and 13 boxes into to 2 ORVs. I grabbed Dr. Suingini's 12 fish, hanging on a stringer, and climbed into the back of a barely running jeep/ambulance that was donated from Mwami (probably because it didn't work). I had to hold the back door shut with the hand not holding the fish by pulling on a rope. Fortunately, someone thought "Hmmmm... that doesn't look to safe, even if it is only for 8 Km." Frankly, I didn't care at that point. Anyway, I climbed back out, went to the other car, and they tied the door shut behind me after I got out.

We arrived to no electricity (BTW, I've yet to spend one day in Africa where I didn't have electricity for some part of the day, or something didn't work), lit some candles, and ate supper with the Valenciano family (She's a physician, he's the maintenence chief). Then, Ed and I went to our half of the duplex that serves as the guest house.

Elmita is in the other half, she's the 4th year Argentinian med student who's been here 7 months in a row (one more to go). She's seen 2 amputations following snake bites and said that they killed 5 cobras the first month or so she was there, and she met one on the path to the TB ward a few days ago. It was raised up on it's tail to a hight of about 3 feet, hood spread out, and about a yard in front of her. A photo I saw of one Mr. Valenciano had clubbed and held out at arms length above his head gave me my only glimpse of a snake during my 3 days at Yuka. It was about 7 feet long, and as big around as my forearm! They later noticed the snake wasn't actually dead (it's easy to laugh when you weren't the one holding on to it at the time!) The cobras like eggs, and when rainy season comes, they flee up out of the flood plain to higher ground. If you happen to raise chickens, they know, and they come to your place to eat. It's simple actually. Very predictable (and enough to make me vegetarian).

Back in my half of the duplex, I did have a mosquito net already hanging over the bed I was to sleep on. Which was fortunate, because the silicone glue I had brought with me to install the hooks on the ceiling for hanging my own jumbo-sized, safari-grade, ultra fine mesh net... solidified in the tube (I also could've used it to seal the leak in the vaporizor back at Mwami. Rats.)

I went to the bathroom to wash up. The toilet seat was cracked, and pinched when you sat on it (I shouldn't complain... at least this one HAD a seat). The tub had no shower curtain, and no shower head. The sink had one out of two spiggots working (YES!!!!). It did leak onto the floor a bit (a least I hoped that's where the water came from. The other option was the toilet).

Spiders crawled on the walls. I small frog jumped on my head while I dozed on the sofa one time. A cought an unrecognizable insect crawling up and over my right shoulder, and on another occation (on the boat ride back), one crawled off my lifevest onto my face when I turned to look back up river.

I woke up with a few mosquito bites. Which means the net wasn't treated with Permethrine. The mosquitos will bit you through the net if you lie to close and touch it during the night.

Seet dreams and sleep tight, America.