Hardships (Beefs)

I felt it would be reasonable to discuss the difficult parts of this trip and not just glowing event after event, story after story.

For me (Ambrose) there are 3 issues that can affect my day adversely that are regularly an issue.

These differ from the day to day unpredicted challenges of work and play here in muheza …resource poor, sick people, difficult to make arrangements or the fact that we can’t really understand all that is going on due to language and culture. As a rule I can accept those challenges

1)the heat.. it is sapping and slows you down and makes you walk at a Tanzanian pace. But even though I am down to a daily shower from 3-4/day at the beginning, the heat affects daily events and comfort and nightly sleeps ( even with the fan on full all night0

I sweat through my shirts frequently and even without rain I am soaked

2) my skin…even though we have avoided major or significant illness my skin has been a big bother

bites… mosquitoes here are small and silent . daytime mosquitoes are supposed to be more likely to carry dengue fever( have not heard hide nor hair of dengue fever since we got here) and nighttime mozy’s are supposed to be more likely to carry malaria( a big concern and a significant killer here) for us they itch severely but fortunately for only about 20-30 minutes but usually worse just before bed.

The night mozy’s seem to like the lower altitudes, under tables, under desks and along the floor so sitting up late becomes unappealing and we start our nights itching and even our mosquito nets are not 100% effective. And then there are other itchy persistent bumps and welts and rashes ( causes and vectors unknown) that make me uncomfortable in my skin. Usually ignored or tolerable during the day , they are more obvious or symptomatic at night and if you add 1( above) this sense of persistent dislike of ones body ,this discomfort( not severe pain) can drive one a bit batty and make for irritable comments and restless sleeps

3) computers, computer access, e-mailing ( or the lack there of) , blogging…..

I am not 10 or 13 or 23 ( coincidental ages chosen?? I think not) so computers at the best of time are not my friend.

Now they have become some weird essential part of traveling, yet I think back to trips through Europe, Africa(1982) and south ameica1994 where we traveled well , kept in touch by mail and had NO computer access and managed just fine

I remember going to belize in 1999 with graham and the boys and the internet café becoming an important part of graham’s sanity

Here where power is inconsistent and recently where internet signal access is gone and when available speed ( what is speed???) variable, the whole mood of individuals and the family unit is affected. Our most irritable is when we have to use an internet café rather than hospital access and although cheap 1000 shillings =1$/ hour there is pressure of time and shared access and little time to read blog comments or check world news and SPORTS or follow links friends may have suggested.

Add power outages, water shortages,water rationing and recent water lack ( pump broken) and some days can be more challenging than others

Those are my complaints , I will soon return to the joys of this trip which are many and more important