Off to Blantyre

I was able to fall back to sleep as it cooled down in the wee hours of the morning, even though I had to lay awake and wonder wether or not I was coming down with malaria. I had been taking my pills faithfully since arriving in Africa, but I had been bitten about 8 times. Seems like I swell up and itch a whole lot more when the mosquitos over here bite me.

The next morning while I was relaxing on the lake shore, an ebony carver met me to sell me some of his wares. I had seen ebony only once or twice in my life, so it took some convincing before I believed he had ebony and not just wood that had been colored by Kiwi shoe polish (a well known trick used in Africa). A little sanding and scraping with my Swiss Army knife convinced me it was for real… along with a consult from some locals. I traded my sandals and some US$ for several good sized blocks that I will carve on my own back in the states.

I got to visit with Iqbal and his family again, exchanging ideas and experiences on all kinds of things. One thing I remember them telling me is that their DVDs have 16 movies per disk! I don’t understand how they could pack that much onto one disk. However, it would stand to reason that if it is truly possible, it is probably something that was designed and engineered by the same Africans that put 26 people in a 16 person mini-bus.

It was about this time that I got a chance to shower and shave for the first time in days. The mosquitos the night before were bad enough that I had sprayed my whole body with 30% DEET, even though I was under a net. They had gotten underneith the net the night before because I had let one edge rest over top of my suitcase, rather than flat on the floor, or tucking it in under the mattress.

The final day arrived for us to be at Lake Malawi. We said good-bye to Iqbal and all his family, inviting them to come stay with us some day. The drive to Blantyre was, as usual, over the three hour prediction, and was yet another bladder testing experience. As we neared the city, past president Bakili Muluzi past us in his motorcade. He’s starting his campaing for next year’s election, and is running for his UDF party’s primary election, in 2 days (not that anyone else is running for the UDF). This guy’s an average corrupt politician, of whom I may tell you some more later. For now, let’s just say I was ammused to see how little armed guards and private security was with him on the roads.

After settling into my guest flat at Blantyre Adventist Hospital, I relaxed and did some reading. I felt a bit dizzy, kinda funny, and fatigued. That night I woke up in a hot sweat, and decided to get checked for malaria the next morning… after all, I was at a hospital, how hard could it be? And, it had been 3 days since the last time I woke up like this. Seemed like it could be P. vivax (a type of parasite that is the cause of malaria), since the best I could remember was that P. falciparum was a every 4th day fever/chills. If I had it, I just hoped the cure wasn’t worse than the disease.