Thank God for Protein Bars

Well, here we are in Manguzi.  My goal in coming on this trip was to get out of my comfort zone.  Well, I am so far out I can’t even see my comfort zone on the horizon anymore.  It’s going to be an interesting 4 weeks, but here’s to adventure!

Right now, the four of us are drinking wine and eating jellybeans (thanks Mom!) and reliving the day’s adventures.  So let me fill you in.

Right after my last blog, Bryan and I hiked up to the shopping center near our hostel and I discovered how horribly out of shape I am.  There were a lot of hills in Durban. We are now all set with a USB internet stick, something I never knew existed. But that is how I am updating this blog.

Once we were all back at the hostel we packed up our stuff and headed to something called the taxi stand.  This is a place where tons of “taxis” all gather and people with no concept of personal space try to sell you things you don’t want.  Luckily our driver from the hostel knew which stand we needed to get to Manguzi, and helped us with negotiating a price. And then the day got interesting.

Our next five hours were disturbingly similar to a circus clown car.  Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly fit one more person in the taxi…you were wrong.  The van looked full when we came up to it.  The driver looked at us for about 5 minutes, spoke some unintelligible words, and started literally rearranging people like he was trying to fit too much stuff in a suitcase.  Eventually, there were 15 people as well as our four large suitcases and backpacks.  Brett was shoved in the very back row between three sweaty and very aromatic Zulus.  Bryan was floating somewhere in the middle and Dandi and I were sharing a row with all the luggage which subsequently decided to fall over on me.  When it fell, Brett’s bottle of laundry detergent exploded all over the place which you might think was unfortunate.  Truth is, the smell of Downy was a welcome surprise.  Five hours in a non-air conditioned van with 15 already sweaty people crammed like sardines does  not make for a pleasant scent.

Aside from those things though, it was actually a beautiful drive.  While Durban was about as Americanized as can be (the first song we heard on arrival was Party Rock Anthem), as we headed north, I quickly began to feel like I was in Africa for the first time.  The scenery is gorgeous! We passed oceans, trees, fields, and lots of very rural, very traditional Zulu villages.  There were little children chasing each other with sticks, women carrying jugs of water on their heads, and cows everywhere. Oh, and more speedbumps than I thought possible.  But I guess I can’t complain since that does mean the roads were paved the whole way.

When we finally made it to Manguzi hospital, one of the doctors was waiting to greet us.  He hardly looks older than us! I guess most of the people who work here are fresh out of medical school as they don’t really have a residency and they are required to do some “community service” years.  He took us to our “rondavel” which is a fancy word for hut.  It is right next door to the hospital where the patients just kind of wander.  I took lots of pictures, hopefully I’ll get some up later.  We have four beds lined up in a row.  The sheets were covered in lizard poop, but luckily I brought my own.  There is a toilet, a sink, and a small room with a shower head that pours water out like a hose.  There is a kitchen with several small appliances, but we blew a fuse when we tried to use more than one at once.  Standing in a hut in pitch darkness was a little eerie.  We then proceeded to hang our mosquito nets, which was one of the more hilarious experiences of my life.  I can’t really do proper justice to the humor of the situation, so you will just have to wait until I post pictures.  Amazingly enough, they are all successfully hung, though I wouldn’t be surprised if we all wake up with them smothering our faces in the middle of the night.

Well, this is getting long so I’m going to call it a night, but I’ll at least make a quick reference to the title.  Dr. Marc took Brett and I to the one food mart that was open before he left us for the night.  We bought everything that appeared edible which included, noodles (no sauce, but we did find pureed tomatoes), peanut butter, jelly, bread, and drinkable yogurt.  So, I repeat, thank god for protein bars.  And wine.