Zanzibar, Tanzania Pt II

Nurses to the Rescue!!

Now about those nurses.  Lucky for us, there just happened to be two of them (one from Australia and the other from London) staying in the same resort as us.  And boy did they come in handy!  As you read in the last post, they helped to tidy up my sisters foot with some of their supplies, but that's not all.  One of my friends got terribly sick on the second day of the trip and was practically bed ridden for the rest of our time in Tanzania.  Poor thing.  It started with a sore throat, then a cough, then a terrible fever, then the runs, then a terribly achy and sore body.  We had no idea what was wrong and we couldn't get reception on our phones to call the Peace Corps doctors.  Lucky for us, the nurses came to her rescue; as did a doctor (the resort owner had one of his Tanzanian friend doctor's come to take a look).  With still no diagnosis, the nurses gave us something to stop the diarrhea and vomiting, and some aspirin to bring the fever down.  For two days, my friend progressively got worse and then on the third day began to feel a little bit better.

By the time New Year's Eve rolled around, I began to feel a little under the weather, but tried to push it out of my mind.  I thought I was just being silly, assuming that whatever my friend had, had moved on to me.  Regardless of my "feeling under the weather," we all (minus my sick friend) decided to go into Stone Town to explore a bit and find something fun to do for New Year's Eve.    And here is where it all began...

 

Stone Town

When we made it into Stone Town about mid day, I was still feeling strange, but I didn't know what was wrong.  I definitely knew I was getting sick, but I didn't know with what.  Ignoring my symptoms and willing myself to be better, when my sister asked (almost a million times) if I was okay, I just smiled and said, "Yes, I'm fine."  I knew I wasn't, but I didn't want to speak whatever the sickness was into existence; I figured "I'm fine" was the best answer to her question.  We continued on with our day as normal, with me lagging behind a bit everywhere we went.

Slave Market

The first thing we saw in Stone Town was the old slave market.  It was a place where slaves were brought to see who was the strongest and who could survive in the worse conditions; the survivors were the ones who ended up being sent away to slave, work, and be beaten for the rest of their lives.  The slave market consisted of a Catholic church, which at one point in time housed a whipping tree.  Yes, the slaves were brought to this tree inside the church and were whipped until they were practically dead.  Any person who made it out alive, were considered strong and were sold off into slavery.  The slave market tour also consisted of a dungeon with two rooms, which each had three tiny slits for windows; two of which were put in when the tours of the slave trade began.  (There was initially just one slit in each room to serve as "ventilation").  I'm not sure of the sizes of the tiny rooms, but they were just big enough to fit maybe 25 or 30 people comfortably.  Of course no one was ever concerned with a slaves "comfort" so in the slightly larger room,  there were typically 75 women with their breastfeeding children.  The other, smaller room was reserved for men and was usually filled beyond capacity with 50 men.  The men, women, and children were kept down in this dungeon, with minimal food and water, again, to see who was the strongest--who would actually survive.  Most of the men and women suffocated down there from the lack of ventilation and the fact that it was beyond over crowded. 

It was a very intense experience just to be there and see the conditions of which even dogs shouldn't be subjected to.  There were only four of us down in the dungeon during the tour and even then, I began to feel claustrophobic.  It makes you think and wonder at how people can be so cruel.  How can you sit and beat someone until they lay dead?  And stuff them into a room with no food or water for days...even weeks at a time?  I just don't understand it.  However, I am happy that we have moved so far beyond those days.  Don't get me wrong, there are still some very cruel people in this world; and people who are tortured in much the same way that the slaves were.  But we have progressed so much.  And we continue to progress with each passing day.  Thank you God for that.

Shopping

Of course no trip is complete without a little shopping!  And let me tell you, shopping with my PC friends and my sister had to one of the most fun shopping experiences I have ever had.  Not because we bought up all of Tanzania (come on now, we're on a Peace Corps budget), but because of all the jokes and laughs that we shared.  I was still feeling sick and seemed to be getting worse every hour, but I kept my spirits up the best I could.   

Here are two of the moments that had me laughing to tears:

• ·         Tanzania is an extremely Muslim country so I guess Justin (my PC BFF) decided to make the most of this fact.  Two of our friends were shopping around inside of a little boutique and myself, my sister and Justin were standing outside.  A lady started asking us questions (I think she may have asked how we all knew each other), and Justin pointed at me and responded, "This is my wife."  I nodded, smiled, and showed her the ring that I was wearing on my finger.  Then to my surprise, he turned to point at my sister and added on, "This is my other wife."  I couldn't hold it in so I broke into laughter and the lady just stared at the three of us.  She shook her head no and then my sister and I nodded our heads so as to say, "Yes, it's true."  I know, I know.  We probably shouldn't have joked in this way, but it was quite funny and for a split second, I almost forgot I was feeling sick.

• ·         At another time during our "shopping spree," A lady was trying to talk to my sister and I don't think she heard her because instead of her responding to the lady, Justin chimed in, "She doesn't speak English.  She only speaks Chinese."  This was unbelievable to the lady for several obvious reasons (she could see very clearly that we were all American), so she just smiled as if she knew he was lying.  Then Justin turned to my sister and translated in "Chinese" what the lady had said.  And again to my surprise, my sister responded to him in "Chinese."  I missed this moment, but my sister and Justin made sure to update me on the happenings later that day.  When they told me, I laughed as if I was there when it happened.  I can just imagine my sister speaking "Chinese."

Night Market

There is this super awesome amazing place in Stone Town called the Night Market.  We had all been to this wondrous place a couple of days prior to NYE, but we decided we wanted to go back to experience the food, culture, fun, and...food!  The Night Market is held right on the water from 6pm to midnight and is basically just table after table after table of ka bobs made of shark, every kind of fish you can think of, crab, lobster, and Tanzanian pizzas that are made to order right before your very eyes!!  All I had was the Tanzanian pizza a few days prior and I just had to have another one!  It was basically a bunch of chopped veggies mixed with an egg, wrapped flat in a tortilla-type shell, and grilled to golden perfection!  That thing was Gee Double-O Dee! GOOD! 

Off of my tangent (the pizza really was that good), before visiting the Night Market for the final time, we all went through the maze of roads that makes Stone Town, Stone Town, and finally (after making like mice in a chase through a cornfield), we came to the place that would make our dark world brighter--the brownie shop!  Okay, there wasn't actually a brownie shop, but there was a restaurant that sold AMAZING brownies and we found it!  Of course by this time I felt so bad I could barely walk, but I didn't want to miss anything so I tagged along for the ride.  When offered a brownie, I declined and laid down in my sister's lap.  The owner, seeing me lie down, asked if I was alright.  My sister responded, "She isn't feeling well" and just like that, the owner came back with a cup of ginger root tea, "Here's to feeling better."  I promise you I just fall more and more in love with the people here every day.  Where in America will a restaurant owner give you anything for free for the sake of you feeling better?  *pauses for response* Don't worry, I'm stumped too.  Either way, at this point, I decided that I really was sick and that I couldn't run from it anymore.  Whether I wanted to believe it or not, something was terribly wrong; I just didn't know what.

Ringing in the New Year: Sick in Bed

Once I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't quite going to make it to the night market, my sister decided that it would be best for us to go back to our hotel room so that I could lie down.  (It was around 8:00 at this point and I was thinking that if I laid down now, then I would somehow magically be better by midnight).  So we started up the road.  About 10 minutes into our walk and about 10 more from the hotel, I began to gag and so I took one of our shopping bags out of my purse.  We took a few more steps and that's when it came, just as we were passing the night market and the HUGE crowd.  I didn't want to cause a scene so I tried to be as quiet as I possibly could as I vomited out what seemed like everything I ate all week!  (Sorry for being graphic). 

When we finally made it to our hotel, I brushed my teeth, showered, and then climbed in the bed.  About an hour later, my PC friends came to our room to check on me and make sure everything was okay.  After all of the food came up, I felt a little better, but my fever only seemed to be getting worse.  (SN: all of my symptoms were the same as my friend who was sick before).  After seeing that I was still alive, my friends left, and about 2 hours later, I looked at my phone to see that it was 11:59.  When the clock struck 12, I whispered across the room to my sister, "Happy New Year sister."  I think she was in a deep sleep because she didn't respond.  I didn't have the heart to wake her so that is how I brought in my new year.  Sick and in bed.  But hey, at least I was with my sister.  I am most certainly grateful for that!

BTW, my sister joked with me for the rest of the trip for vomiting silently.  "Who tries to be cute when they're throwing up??"  she kept saying to me.  "And you even folded the bag over nice and neat before you sat it on the ground.  Who does that??" lol

Taxi Ride

Our short vacation had finally come to a close, but not before my sister and I had one final incident.  After we ferried back to Dar Es Salaam from Zanzibar, we were attacked by several Taxi drivers, but ended up deciding on the one that gave us a price. "Twenty-five" was all he said.  We hopped in his taxi and asked him to take us to Subway (there is a rumor among the PCVs that Tanzania has a subway and I have been craving a sandwich of any kind something terrible).  After driving in circles and then finally admitting to us that he had no idea what Subway was, we told him never mind and settled on finding some place to eat once we were inside of the airport.  When we pulled up to the airport, we handed the driver 30,000 Shillings and waited for him to hand us back 5,000.  "This is not enough," said the driver as he counted the bills again and again.  My sister replied, "You said 25."  "No, I said 25 dollars."  "No," was my sister's response, "You said 25.  We thought you meant 25,000.  Why would we assume you mean dollars when your currency in Tanzania is shillings, not dollars."  All we had left in shillings was what we gave him, so he and my sister went back and forth for a few minutes and then finally, she won (but of course, she always wins). 

We felt kind of bad when all was said and done, but we honestly thought that by "twenty-five," the driver meant 25,000.  Maybe next time he'll be more clear...as in, actually state the currency.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

 

PS.

As it turns out, we think the sickness that we had was food poisoning from the night market; or salmonella.  We had all eaten that super delicious Tanzanian pizza and we were thinking that maybe the egg wasn't cooked completely?  I'm not sure, but whatever it was, the only common denominator was the night market.  First one friend got sick (one day after she ate pizza at the night market), then I got sick (one day after I ate pizza at the night market), and then Justin got sick (the day after he ate pizza at the night market).  My sister never had the pizza, hence, she never got sick.  As for the fifth person that was with us, I don't know, maybe she just has a strong stomach.

PS.S.

Thank God the Sushi place we were going to eat at the first night of our trip was all out of fish (yes I know, since when does the sushi place ON THE BEACH not have sushi???).  Anyway, I say thank God because had we eaten sushi, we most likely would have blamed our sicknesses on that; and I love sushi too much to be making those types of accusations!