Calluna has landed

[Georgina]

I received a message from her saying that she's well and fully on a whole other continent, far, far away. And she already has stories to tell.

I was glad to hear and thought I'd share.

[Brian]

Great news. Thanks!

[MacBeth]

Thanks for the update !

[Georgina]

And now..

Calluna wrote: I'm in Mozambique!

At least I'm in a nice hotel with internet access until Friday morning, then we return to Beira, head out to the rural clinic on Saturday, then spend the remainder of our visit at the university in Beira.


And other stuff. I'll leave her to share her adventures when she returns, but I thought I'd update for those who are interested.

[Brian]

Thanks, Georgina.

[MacBeth]

Thanks for sharing !

[Calluna]

Hi folks! Yes, I'm truly on another continent. It's been a whirlwind of meetings, and our original goals have expanded greatly from fixing anatomy teaching at one university to somehow getting sucked into helping all the medical schools expand all of their education, and even start building cooperation between the schools and clinics for post-graduate education (or continuing medical education). We've learned a lot about the government role in the healthcare system here, their long-term objectives, their current process of better defining their standards for awarding medical degrees, and goals to start requiring a more rigorous licensing procedure, the rivalries between the public and private university, and many other interesting things. However, I'm very much looking forward to getting back to the original task we came here to accomplish and returning to Beira tomorrow (or today actually...I haven't managed to adjust to the time change at all because I have not managed to have any regular, predictable schedule since arriving, so am just staying awake until it's time to leave for my morning flight).

Tonight is very likely the last time I'll have easy internet access. They will have it on the university campus, but I will likely not be using it much. Saturday I head off into the jungle...literally. That's where the clinic/hospital is located. I'm currently still safe and sound and only struggling to recover from a head cold I brought with me (and that seems to have already infected most of the world based on all the coughing and sniffling on the flights and in the hotels)...and am looking forward to getting over the cold so I can hear again (I highly recommend avoiding flights when one has a cold...ears don't adjust well to altitude changes when fluid filled). Today, my hearing was just about getting back to normal, and now I'm about to get on a plane again.

I've sent an email to our host in Beira requesting "NO meetings" for tomorrow, so we can catch up on some sleep and allow me to recover the rest of the way from this cold before we head off to the clinic.

I've also been very delighted this week to have gotten to know the surgeon who is currently an anatomy instructor in Beira. She is an amazingly energetic person (the one who organized all these meetings with important officials for us), and very pleasant...although I think she's a bit crazy for having just adopted 4 children at once, including an infant with a broken arm! But, that should give some perspective on her personality. She's the one who will be coming to the US in a couple of months to visit us and see our facilities and current teaching methods, which should be a lot of fun (though I feel badly for her husband who will be left on his own to care for 4 children while she's traveling...but apparently it's an excuse for him and the children to visit his mother in Italy).

So, that's the synopsis. As I've mentioned to G in my messages to her, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this country than conference rooms! We have been morning until night in meetings, and then it's time to return to the hotel and not go out again. It isn't a safe place to go out at night. Most houses have walls and gates around them for security, which is a bit depressing.

I have also learned that I really like typical Mozambican food. It has a lot of Indian influence to it, but not quite as spicy. But, I only get that for lunches. Breakfast and dinner have been at the hotel, and have been quite dreadful ordeals since the hotel attempts to serve "western" style food, but fails miserably at preparing it. It is true that the seafood is best in this country, very fresh, very flavorful, but there are only so many days in a row I can eat prawns or line fish. And I used to think I could never get enough seafood!

I'll provide more updates when I return home next week.

[Georgina]

Safe travels into the jungle!

[Brian]

Wow. Very interesting. I never realized how many different things this trip would entail. And who would have thought you'd have so many meetings during a trip to Mozambique?

I hope you get over your cold, Calluna. And thanks for keeping us posted on everything.

By the way, how is the temperature there?

Is it over 100 degrees Fahrenheit?

[MacBeth]

Brian, check out this site: www.wunderground.com/global/MZ.html

It appears that at about 2pm their time the temps ranged from 75-84 deg F with some cloudiness, but the humidity was inching up.

[Brian]

Thanks, Beth.

That's surprising. I figured any country in Africa would have temps of at least 90 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

[wheelspinner]

Well temperatures change with latitude, and the African continent covers a vast range of latitude. Southern Africa can get snow, and they are in winter now.

[Calluna]

I'm back in the US. Didn't escape Africa without a GI bug of some sort, so I'm just taking my Cipro, resting, and keeping myself hydrated. If I don't start improving by morning, I'll call up the international health office at the med school and see if they can fit me in for a visit before the weekend starts in case it's something Cipro doesn't treat.

The temperatures there were quite pleasant. About 70 or so during the day, and low 60s at night...a long sleeved shirt or sweater was all that was needed. Both Maputo and Beira are coastal cities...it was a bit too cool to do anything but sit at restaurants along the beaches and watch the ocean, but even that was nice. We were told it would be cooler inland when we visited the mission hospital, but it was actually warmer. That's when I took most of my pictures. I didn't get a lot of opportunities for photos the rest of the time.

And, indeed, parts of South Africa were getting snow this week, but that was down near Cape Town. It was still about 20 C in Johannesburg when we arrived at the airport there.

I'll report back more details and share photos after I get some sleep and get my intestines functioning more properly again.

[MacBeth]

Glad you are home safely, and hope you feel better soon !!

[Brian]

Welcome home, Calluna!

And I hope you feel better, too.

[Georgina]

Yay Callunabear! Glad to hear you're home. Hope the Cipro kicks in. I found it worked really quickly for me, and I hope it works as well for you. GI stuff sucks.

But! You're back with adventures and pictures in hand. I'm very happy to hear it.

[Calluna]

The cipro doesn't seem to be helping. So, that probably means it's not one of the nastier bacterial illnesses that Cipro works on. I'm not getting any worse, and not getting much better, but I still have plenty of an appetite, so am not having any trouble keeping myself hydrated. Pretty much everything else I could have gotten that won't be treated by Cipro should run its course in a few days, so I should be improved by the end of the weekend as long as I stay hydrated. I promise to get myself off to urgent care or an ER if I start getting any signs of dehydration. Otherwise, I think the best I can do is keep eating and drinking fluids and stay away from the general public. Ember thinks this is a grand plan since she has not left me alone since I've returned. I think she missed me.

[MacBeth]

I can imagine she did, but she must be sooooooo happy now you have come home to her.

[Georgina]

Aug 7, 2009 5:48:09 GMT -5 Calluna said:

The cipro doesn't seem to be helping. So, that probably means it's not one of the nastier bacterial illnesses that Cipro works on. I'm not getting any worse, and not getting much better, but I still have plenty of an appetite, so am not having any trouble keeping myself hydrated. Pretty much everything else I could have gotten that won't be treated by Cipro should run its course in a few days, so I should be improved by the end of the weekend as long as I stay hydrated. I promise to get myself off to urgent care or an ER if I start getting any signs of dehydration. Otherwise, I think the best I can do is keep eating and drinking fluids and stay away from the general public. Ember thinks this is a grand plan since she has not left me alone since I've returned. I think she missed me.

The whole of that sounds like a great plan. Keeping hydrated seems to be a key issue in most body interruptions, doesn't it? I'm glad you have plans in place. I'm sorry you feel bad.

I'll bet Ember's just thrilled to see you. You've been away a lot. And babysitters, however great they may be, aren't you.

I hope you improve over the weekend.

[Calluna]

Yes, Ember is getting to be almost a pest with her clinginess right now. I can barely walk anywhere without tripping over her, and when I'm in bed, she has to sit right on top of me...I wouldn't mind so much if she didn't need to "fluff" me each time she wants to change position (that kneading thing cats do). I try to persuade her to lie next to me but she still wants to be on top of me. On the plus side, it was very easy to trim her claws...for the first time since she was an itty bitty kitten, she didn't fuss at all about me holding her still to trim claws. Though, at the moment, she has left my side long enough to go sit in the sunlight on the deck. Usually I'd join her, but I don't think the hot sun is a good place for me right now. She's keeping me in sight though, making sure I don't leave again without her knowledge.

[Georgina]

Funny how they are, isn't it? Before, I'd have never been convinced that it made any difference to a cat one way or the other as long as someone was there to feed and water them and keep their litter tidy. Bean lies directly on top of me and sleeping, spreading herself the length of my body, when I've returned from somewhere. And it's not as if she's left by herself when I've gone away. (She's done that kneading on me thing since she was a kitten. Calling it "fluffing" is sweet. I thought she'd grow out of it. Eight years of us living together hasn't changed that yet.)

It's endearing that you're Ember's person. I'll bet everyone's glad you're home.

How are you coming along?

[Calluna]

Now that both Ember and I have recovered from my trip, I've gotten some of the photos into a slide show to share. These are the pretty ones taken on the drive to the Mangunde mission, where they have a health clinic we visited.

s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hjb1025/Mozambique/?albumview=slideshow

If the link doesn't take you to a slideshow, let me know and I'll figure out what I've done wrong (I haven't created a slideshow on photobucket before).

[MacBeth]

It works great....I have never seen a tree that huge !

[Georgina]

I like the different options for viewing with the Photobucket slideshows. That one shows up perfectly, Calluna! And yep, that's a huge tree. And yep, I would have stood on the ground while the vehicle drove onto the ferry too. Very neat.

[Calluna]

I was already getting carsick from the bumpy roads (they're the sort of roads where you wear your seatbelt just so you don't hit your head on the roof of the car as you run into bumps)...I'd have taken more photos along the way if I wasn't concentrating so hard on not puking. So, yes, as soon as our Mozambican colleague who was doing the driving told us we could wait outside the truck and walk onto the ferry if we wanted, I jumped out! And I certainly didn't want to be in the truck while he was driving it onto that floating platform. At least it looked bigger once it was on our side of the river than it did when I saw it on the other side. I wasn't sure WHAT he had in mind when we got to the end of the road and he said, "Now we see if we can cross the river today." The first thing that ran through my mind was, "That river looks way too deep to drive across." Then he explained the ferry, and that sometimes (often perhaps) they run out of fuel and you wait until they have more fuel to come get you (if we couldn't get across, we'd have had to backtrack about 2 hours worth of driving to take another way).

All along, we kept asking to stop to take a picture of a baobab tree, and Aurelio kept telling us, no, wait, there's a better one. Then we'd see a better one, and he'd say, no, there's still a better one yet. He was right...this one was within walking distance of the mission, which is why all those people were standing near it. They were riding with us in the back of the truck...we picked them up at the end of the road to the mission, where people wait for rides to get there, and when we stopped to take photos, most of them hopped out to walk the rest of the way. This is one of the ways that people who work at the clinic get patients there...they bring them with them as they find people waiting along the road. I can't imagine how they'd get there otherwise. We couldn't take everyone who was waiting, we didn't have enough room, and it was still a half hour DRIVE when we picked them up.