Life is a Catch-22.

So I picked up my malaria meds today ($128.00 for 26 Malarone tablets) and I also got a prescription for Ciproflaxin ($45.00) which is a pretty potent antibiotic in case I get really bad Traveller's Diarrhea. Dr O'brien was a little reluctant to prescribe it, but I convinced him that I wouldn't take it foolishly or needlessly.

I came home and read the inserts very carefully, figuring I should know all that there is to know about NOT getting malaria. I see that one of the side effects of Malarone is diarrhea. Oh well, not a big deal because I have my Ciproflaxin. As I read the side effects for it, I see that, oddly enough, one of them is actually diarrhea. Oh well, I also have a package of Immodium. I check that out and see that one of it's side effects is an upset stomach. Well guess what ? I also have a bottle of Pepto Bismal! I read the insert of that only to discover that you should not take Pepto if you are taking Malarone!

Maybe I just won't even eat over there, I'll survive on fruit roll-ups and trail mix from home...

Winter has arrived! This is a picture from my friend Linda. Even though I hate the cold, it is so beautiful when it snows, everything is blue & white and fresh & clean.

Remember this song? "A quarter has a caribou on it, on it..."
Well, "Moyie has a caribou in it, in it..."

I am feeling very thrifty today. I have been pricing out mosquito nets for months now and I am horrified (HORRIFIED) at how much they cost. On line they are about $50 or so, and then of course shipping as well, and in town they have none, but will order them in at the insane price of $60-$75. I was aghast! The reason they are so pricey is because they need to be treated with permethrine, which is like a repellent, but more so. An untreated net is next to useless, the mosquitoes simply hang around until you emerge from the net. Normally that wouldn't be a huge problem, we have all had mosquito bites, but these Tanzanian ones carry not only malaria, but dengue fever as well.

So. What to do, what to do? It really bothered me to have to spend that amount of money on something that not only would I probably never use again, but after approximately 6 months, they need to be re-treated. Well, I did some research and discovered that you can purchase this permethrin and treat your own nets (untreated ones available at your local Wal-mart for $15) However, permethrin in not available in Canada., at least not to the likes of regular folks like us. You need to have special lisense and be some sort of industrialist. Which is silly because the main ingredient is made from chrysanthemum petals.

I found lots of it on the internet, but each time I tried to order it, la-di-da, "we cannot ship to Canada" Geez. I can go downtown and buy cough medicine and antifreeze and whip up some crystal meth, but I can't order chrysanthemums? But as it turned out, I have a friend in the states who was coming for a visit, and I ordered a can through Amazon, for $3.99 and had it sent to him, and he brought it here. Wal-mart had their nets on sale for $10. Yesterday, so I picked one up and I now have my treated net for the grand sum of $13.99, plus taxes. So I felt really quite smug about the whole thing.

Treating the Net:

This was an adventure on it's own. I very carefully read the instructions, they were mildly nerve-wracking, things like "Hazardous to humans and animals.Causes moderate eye irritation. Harmful if absorbed through the skin. Avoid contact with face, eyes and skin. Wash thoroughly after using and before eating, drinking, using tobacco and using the toilet." Well. Then they tell you to spray your clothes with it!

However, it's only dangerous in it's liquid form, once dry, it is simply a repellent. So I came downstairs, opened the basement door and windows (use in well ventilated area, away from wind), locked away the dog, wrapped a towel around my mouth, put on my winter gloves and opened the mosquito net which proceeded to explode from the package like some sort of living bridal veil, there were yards and yards of this fine netting swirling around me, blowing in the well ventilated area, (apparently not away from the wind) I thought perhaps I had purchased a multitude of nets by mistake, there seemed to be enough material there for a whole hotel. I managed to slap it down and get it under control; sprayed as instructed, then hung it to dry for 4 hours and ran out of the house.

When I returned, it was dry, there were no peculiar smells in the house, so I squished it all together, jammed it in a large zip-loc bag and brushed my hands off, heady with success.

Some hotels are very cheap. This is the Desert Rose. It is less than $1 a night. We shall not be staying here, I doubt they have internet connections...

You should "click" on the picture of Gypsy to enlarge it, you can see her worried little eyes "Do I look OK in this?? Don't laugh at me..." and the tip of her tongue sticking out. (the picture is down a little, below the pictures of the duck and goose)

Well I'll be damned, there it is. Maybe I can only do one at a time? Although it did ask me if I wanted to add another. I'll try 2 this time, and see what happens.

How annoying. I have tried 3 times to download pictures (or upload, ot WHATEVER!) and each time it tells me I am successful, yet no pictures appear. I'll try one more time and then call it quits for the night before I burst into old-lady-I-hate-this-computer tears. Tomorrow there will be 37 pictures of ducks and geese.....

All about Ducks and Dogs.

I just discovered that you can get film developed on a disk (disc?) and download the pictures that you like & then send them to people. Apparently this is very common knowledge, but it was a revelation to me! So I won't have to get a digital camera for my holiday, I can hopefully manage this way. We'll see, this entry will be all about experimenting.

If the pictures work, you'll see my "grand-dog" dressed up in her winter clothes, which she really does like, even though she seems to be sticking her tongue out at me. The jacket keeps her little bare city-bred belly a little warmer while we are on out walks,plus we praise her & tell her how beautiful she is, she rather likes that. She has a bit of an attitude...

On our walks we go to Idlewild Park, a 10 minute walk from my house. During the fall, the ducks and Canadian geese stop by to rest a bit prior to their journey south. The have become quite used to people feeding them bread, so as you walk by the lake, they paddle furiously over to you, honking and quacking and looking for treats.The drakes push the females out of the way, preening and stretching their glowing green heads towards me, the dowdy females wait and eat afterwards. The geese however, share their food and walk nicely with each other.I have read that geese mate for life, they certainly treat each other with the bird version of respect. I think you could fed them from your hand, although I don't want to try, it's really bad enough to be feeding them in the first place, but they are so gorgeous and to see them so close is such a treat. Gypsy sits amazingly still and watches, her body tense and eyes riveted on them. She is just aching for me to say "Ok...GO!" but of course (to her dismay) she isn't going to get that command. She is the best behaved dog I have ever met.

This is Haydom, the town that Nicole and I will be spending some time at. The red-roofed buildings are (we think) the hospital complex, and they are also in the process of building a new childcare clinic, which we will also be able to visit. It's quite exciting because this is "real" Tanzania, which many tourists simply don't get to see. I suspect that this is where our mosquito nets and water purification tablets will come in handy. I don't think that there is much in the line of hotels here, but the hospital will hopefully have some sort of sleeping arrangements for us. I don't relish the idea of sleeping under a baobob tree....mosquito net or not!

Wow! Will you take a look at this? This is the Dhow Palace, an Omani Sultan's home from the 1800's that has been turned into a 16 room hotel and this is where Nicole & I will be staying for 3 nights in January! The rooms are furnished with Zanzibarian antiques and each room has a balcony that overlooks the courtyard and pool. It's only $90 US a night (for the both of us) and breakfast is included. I don't think I have ever stayed anywhere quite this exotic and I am pretty excited about it!