Lazy Lagoon

This past weekend 5 of us went to a private island off the coast of Bagamoyo called Lazy Lagoon. Since it was my last weekend in Bagamoyo we all decided to take a trip to relax and enjoy the beach. The only thing on the island is the hotel made up of 12 huts and a restaurant/bar. It was all inclusive (minus the drinks). The huts were two stories with 4 beds in each so lots of room to spread out. The weather the past two weeks have been rainy but this past weekend was all sun and blue skies! Since we were on an island the power was run by a generator that turned off every night at 10:30. It became so dark but was perfect to see the stars. The stars in Africa are soooo bright; we laid on the beach and just enjoyed the sky. The island was only a twenty minute taxi ride and then a twenty minute boat ride. The past weekend trips have taken five plus hours to get there so this was very nice and convenient.

HIV Clinic

When I do not work at the hospital I volunteer at UKUN with Jerry. UKUN is the HIV Clinic in Bagamoyo. 15% of Bagamoyo has HIV/AIDS while all of Tanzania is a total of 8%. We rarely stay at the clinic because we go out into the community to patients house and perform home based care. The reason for home based care is lack of transportation. So when they cannot get to us, we go to them.

This particular patient needed physical therapy as well as testing. She was very weak on her left side so we did exercises that increased her dexterities. We did range of motion and showed her different exercises she could do on her own.

Most patients we see lack transportation, food, water, sanitation, and sewage. Unfortunately they encounter a lot of stigma and are shunned from the community. I am really touched by all of the HIV patients because no matter how bad their life may be they are always smiling.

Last night a few volunteers and I were invited to a locals house for dinner. We met Rasty at his art shop and have all become really fond of him and his friends. He wanted to cook a traditional meal for us to enjoy. We all met at the market where we bought the coconuts, veggies, beans and rice. We made coconut rice but in order to get the flavor we had to grind a coconut. Once he showed us how it was done he let us try (picture above). He made it seem so simple and effortless but it took me forever and made my arms tired. Needless to say, it took practice. The food was amazing and had so much flavor. Once again I found myself eating things I would not touch back home. I had a great time and it was nice to see how the locals cook with the supplies they have.

Bagamoyo District Hospital

Charting system at the hospital....

Lorraine had to come visit me in the ward because she got burned on a Piki Piki (motorbike taxi). They asked me if I wanted to do her wound care and dressing change...I passed because I wanted to keep Lorraine as a friend.

This is the Pediatric Ward. Most of the wards look like this, however, packed with more people.,

Everyone who works in Ward 4. The girls in green are nursing students, the lady in white is an RN, the two adults in the back are the doctors, and the only other white person is a swiss medical student.

Safari Pictures

This is the Sanje Waterfall; we hiked to the top but stopped at each level along the way for pictures. We ate lunch at the very top and were able to swim in the small pools that were created by the falls.
The view from the top of the waterfall! Amazing!!




The 3 animals we saw the most. You can tell in the elephant picture just how close the elephant was to the car.

Safari

This past week the internet has been down so I have not been able to get online. This past weekend 4 volunteers and I went on a Safari in Mikumi National Park which is about 5 hours west from Bagamoyo. Monday was a national hoilday so we made it a long weekend and spent 3 nights camping. This allowed us to not only visit the park but also take a day and hike to the top of a waterfall in the Udzungwa mountains.
The weather was much cooler than Bagamoyo and it felt so nice to not sweat every second of the day. We went with a safari tour company called Wild Things that provided a driver and a cook that set up our tents and campsite as well as drove us around the park. We camped right outside the park at a campsite that had bathrooms! We were a bit worried about the shower/ bathroom situation (especially with 4 of the volunteers being girls) so it turned out quite well. The food was amazing and included a starter, soup, and main dish at each dinner.
We spent all day Saturday in the park and were able to see all of the animals we had hoped plus more. The main animal that everyone was eager to see was the lion. Not only did we see lions we saw their cubs as well. It was amazing to drive through the park and be 5 feet from an elephant or zebra. Needless to say the pictures we were able to take were great.
Sunday we drove 2 hours further west to the rain forrest in the Udzungwa mountains and had lunch on top of the Sanje waterfalls. The view from the top was breathtaking. We returned to Mikumi that night and spent Monday morning once more in the park before returning back to Bagamoyo.

Zanzibar!!

This past weekend six of us went to Zanzibar to relax and get some sun. Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania and since Bagamoyo is on the coast it was farely easy to visit in a weekend. From Bagamoyo we took a dala dala (there form of taxi bus) to Dar es Salaam then a ferry ride to Zanzibar. When we arrived we walked to a beach resort prior to being picked up by our own hotel bus. We ate dinner and enjoyed the beach front view and sunset.

We stayed at Pongwe Beach Resort which is on the eastern side of Zanzibar. The resort was amazing with an infinite pool, beach front huts, kayaking, fishing, snorkling, and delicious food.

This was the huts that were along the beach that we stayed in. Lorraine and I shared the first hut and Camille and Sarah were on the other side of that divider in the same hut.

The water was clear and the sand was white which made the bottom very visible even at twenty plus feet.

This was the view from my hut! AMAZING, I want to go back!