July 12, 2007

I am stinky. 4 days and 3 nights on a rustic island on the equator in July will do that to you (the place we stayed was right on the equator, I looked at the map I had-thanks again John J ).

I just got back to the white house. Everyone else is still in Katosi where the boat dropped us off. They are waiting for John who took a later boat. So Andrew and I got bodas to Nsumba to wait here instead of there.

This morning we had to get up early to catch the boat. There was a lot of confusion because there were two docks on separate ends of the islands. One boat left at 8am and the other at 9. We were on the side of the 8am boat but all the men were on the 9am side and were not aware of the 8 am one. We were shooting for the 8 o clock boat because it was a free ride (from the school) and made no other stops (while the 9 o clock one made lots of stops). So Erin had to go get Festus, John, and Gavah who were on the other side of the island, and they came back around 8:15. So we had to dash the “5 minute walk” to the village and then try to find out boat. We got there almost at nine, but our boat was still there (thank God for African time because we wouldn’t have made it back in time for the other boat on the other side of the island and we would have had to stay another night with the cockroaches.

The ride back was uneventful, but I’m thankful. We were all holding our breath because it looked like it was going to rain. When we got to Kitosi, everyone wanted to eat lunch, but Erin, Andrew, and I just wanted a snack. We wandered around until we found a somosa stand and got 4 each-which was a pretty big snack. All the same, Andrew ended up going back to the restaurant to eat with everyone else anyways.

They were all waiting for John who decided to take the 9 o clock boat that took twice as long (so he wouldn’t have to hike across the island). Erin, Andrew, and I tried to leave earlier and not wait around so we found a taxi that was almost crammed full (but by East African standards definitely could have squeezed us in), but they wouldn’t let us on. So we sat in this empty boiling hot taxi for almost an hour waiting for it to fill up (which it never did). Then Erin saw one of her Peace Corps friends and decided to stay in Katosi for the day, so Andrew and I caught bodas to the white house (which we could have done in the first place except Erin is forbidden by Peace Corps to ride them-if she is caught on one she’ll get kicked out).

We finally got to the white house (everyone else arrived about 3 hours later). It is so good to be back, I was never more excited to have a bucket bath or to use my latrine. It is kind of sad though because we just got back, but we are leaving for Kenya on Wednesday. It just seems like a lot of traveling and I’m not willing to give up my cockroach-less bed or latrine. Still. I get to go to Kenya, so I won’t complain that much.