Travelling in Africa......always an interesting experience!

I've decided there is no adventure quite like travelling in Africa; you never know what's going to happen.

A couple weekends ago Alex and I and three friends decided we needed a break from the ship and we wanted to go to Banana Island and stay at Dalton's guest house. Alex made all the arrangements, got a taxi driver who said he could come pick us up at 0745 on Saturday morning, told Dalton that we would need a boat ride to the island at about 0900 and needed a room to stay in for the night. Everything was a 'go'.

We got up bright and early, and a bit sleepily, went and got some breakfast and packed lunches. The phone rings, taxi driver is by the gate, it is 0745, things are going great. We walk out to the gate - no taxi; so we thought maybe he was waiting at the gate to the Dental clinic area and started walking up the road to that. At the same time, he calls again to see if we are coming, so Alex asks him where he is;t turns out, he is at the fistula clinic in the town of Aberdeen (~50 minutes away). Apparently the locals call the fistula clinic "Mercy Ships", because it used to be associated with us. Once the confusion was figured out he said he would be at the correct Mercy Ships in 45 minutes. So back we went to the ship to chill out for a little while.

About 0845 back out we go and the taxi is there this time, we throw our bags into the trunk, pile in and we are off. The first thing I noticed, as the four of us girls were crammed in the 3-person back seat, is that there is a nice sized hole in the floor board. Oh, well! At least the car runs well enough! We are also informed that taxis are only supposed to have four passengers at a time so as we come up to intersections where a policeman is directing traffic, one of us will have to get out and walk through the intersection and get back in on the other side. Being on the edge, Becky volunteered to be the walker.

After the hour or so long ride to Kent beach, where we met the boat, we were tired of being crammed in the car and ready for the boat ride. So, we all piled into the fishing canoe along with a few locals, Dalton, a couple guys who worked with him, and a chicken. We started off across the bit of ocean between mainland and island. It was going well, then the rain came, and the water got a bit choppy, but still fun and exciting. About halfway across there is a bit of commotion from the rear of the boat (we were at the front) so we looked and the chicken had made a run for it! Right into the water. Chickens don't swim or float very well for very long, of course his little feet being bound probably didn't help. The boat stopped and turned to go back and get Chicken, who is still bobbing on the waves at this point, but these canoes don't turn quickly. Unfortunately, Chicken was flapping to try and stay on the water but kept going under, and by the time we got to her and one of the locals grabbed her, she was deceased. Becky attempted to instruct Dalton in how to do chicken CPR, but he wasn't really interested and kept saying "it take too much water inside". When we asked him what would happen with Chicken he happily said he would eat it for dinner that night.

Shortly after that, we arrived at the island. We had to wade through the water to get to the beach and there were lots of sea urchins so we kept our flip flips on in the water to keep from getting impaled. That night when asked what we wanted for supper we asked for fish, but Dalton said there wasn't enough for five people, so he could cook some chicken too, at which point we started laughing and asked if it was the one that had jumped, and he laughed and said 'no, my wife is cooking that for me right now'. Whatever poor chicken we did eat was rather skinny and tough, but the fish was tasty.

We stayed up until well after dark talking and swatting at mosquitoes. When finally decided to call it a night, we went to the rondeval where were to sleep. It was divided down the middle by a wall that didn't quite reach the ceiling into to rooms. Alex and I were on one side and the girls were on the other. We were talking back and forth as we searched the rooms for creepy crawlies; I didn't really see the point because there were big cracks around the door and shutters, and two small windows that were completely open.

Alex was stabbing at spiders and I was checking for mosquitoes inside the mosquito net when there is quite a commotion in the other room. They had found a scorpion on their wall! It was quite high up on the wall so they were throwing their flip flops at it to knock it down. It was n't moving during all this, so they thought it might be dead, but when they finally knocked it down it was definitely still alive, so they killed it. Alex went over to help with getting it; he wanted to make sure it truly was dead and didn't come back and climb over the wall to our side during the night.

The next day was nice and relaxing. At 2:30p. Dalton said we should go ahead and pack up and head back to the mainland before bad weather moved in. The way back across was nice and sunny and uneventful. Although, when we first hopped in the boat we noticed a dime sized hole that had water pouring through it, but not to worry, it was quickly re-stuffed with a piece of fabric and 'fixed'. The boats are quite leaky, several small leaks, so there is always someone elected to be the bailer and they bail a bucketful of water out every 30 seconds or so.

By the time we got back in the taxi (the same guy came back) and were well on our way home, it started raining a bit. I sent up a few prayers for safety as we careened down the rain-slicked roads with nary a seatbelt between us. At one point I looked to see how fast we were going (it felt like about 60mph) but the speedometer didn't work so that was no help. This time Alainie volunteered to be the walker through the policed intersections.

Happily, we made it back to the ship all in one piece, with lots of memories to look back on over the years.