From the hospital bed to Zanzibar.

The next step of our road trip was Moshi in Tanzania, in order to see the Kilimanjaro. Elin wanted to climb it but it would be too costly so we had to simply see it from a distance. In the evening we had something to eat at a small restaurant. There we met Jeff our waiter. He later accompanied us for a drink out in the evening.

However in the evening I started shivering heavily and I felt something was a bit wrong. The whole night I had a terrible stomachache and cramps, but the next day we wanted to continue to Dar Es Salaam so I had to eat a bunch of tablets and head on a 10 hour journey. Half way through I collapsed and started sweating like a pig. We had to get off the bus and I had to be taken to the nearest hospital. However before leaving we made sure we could travel on the same tickets since we had already paid for the full journey. The conductor on the bus said this was ok and stated that we could travel with the same ticket the following day. The village we were stranded in was named Mombo. When we arrived to the so called “hospital” we were faced with a building in really bad condition. The nurses were just staring at us and speaking Swahili.  I was thinking to myself, Oh My Gosh where have I ended up? The doctor I got however spoke English which felt comforting. I just wanted to make sure I had not got malaria, which I hadn’t. I had got a bad degree of food poisoning and needed drip and a lot of rest.  I felt bad that the girls had to forego one day of travelling and now ended up in no mans land due to my illness. However this quickly changed since the girls had got an eye on my doctor. Elin wanted to climb a mountain overlooking the village and the doctor offered to show how. Alexandra was simply intrigued by him so she also joined. The three of them went climbing and I was bed written. Later on in the evening we all went out for dinner. By then Alexandra had lost interest in the doctor since she found him a bore he on the other hand had seemed to gain some interest in her. He was the perfect gentleman and nothing happened at the end of the evening than a goodbye. I accompanied the dinner even though I could not eat. I just needed some fresh air and company. Furthermore I wanted to get out from the room we had got for the night. It was a “guesthouse” for hospital visitors. The toilet was a hole in the ground and the three of us had to share one bed. Worst of all was that the washing water was brown. It was not the ideal place to have stomach problems but nevertheless it was manageable. The next day I had to get some drip and more tablets in order to be on the road again. I was not in the right condition to travel at all. But we were on a time limit since Alexandra had to fly back to Sweden on the 17 of April and we really wanted to spend at least 5 days in Zanzibar, so the journey continued. When we arrived on the bus we had intended to take they asked us for more money. We refused to pay since the conductor had already given us the word that we need not to pay. She now had changed her mind since she was getting pressured from another conductor on the bus. We knew that they saw we were tourists and wanted more money to put in their own pockets so we refused to pay and refused to get off the bus. I can not stand unfairness or someone going back on their word. It became a bit of a turmoil but eventually they gave in and let us stay without paying double. 

We got to Dar Es salaam and then took the ferry to Zanzibar. This time we were not as lucky and we got scammed. We had to pay 40 dollars whilst a middle aged white couple we met had paid 25 dollars. Paying a higher price than other Africans I can reason with but higher than other whites, no way. Alexandra and I got quite upset about this and starting questioning why. Apparently we had got VIP room which we had not asked for. VIP room meaning a gas smelling room, with a drunkard half naked African sleeping on the floor. This was a struggle we could not win. The boat left the dock and we had lost this battle. When we finally arrived to Zanzibar it looked amazing. Stone town was vibrant with life. However our main priority was the beach. We had heard Zanzibar would be a paradise, but it really depends on where on the island you end up. We first went to the east side since we wanted to go to the more remote and calm areas. The beach we ended up in had full of sea weed and we started questioning peoples definition of paradise and if it could really be that far fetched from our conception of paradise. We decided no it can not. So we headed to the north were we knew there would be more tourists but since it is low season we decided it should not be too bad.  Thank gosh we made that choice. The beaches in the north were the best I have seen in my life so far, white sandy beaches and perfect clear blue water. It was truly a paradise. We went snorkeling and lazing of at the beach. My stomach after four days of not being able to eat finally started recuperating. Though all the hustle to get to Zanzibar it was just so beautiful and worth it all in the end. Our final night in Zanzibar we went to the full moon party with some of the guys we had met on our snorkeling trip. One of the guys called himself Mr Solution. (They had given themselves funny alias names, like Mr chapati and Braveheart J etc). We needed help to get to the beach party since we did not know how to get there. Mr solution took as there but he had a  too many sips of his friend Mr wine so he was a bit drunk. He kept saying the same sentences “hakuna matata” and “ I am Mr solution and no problems only solutions” all night. Yeah sure the sentences had a positive vibe but after a certain amount of times I shut my ears. The party was not a hit and we would be flying back to Uganda in a few hours so we simply enjoyed the moonlight and soon headed back to our hostel. After all the bus rides to get to Zanzibar we now take a flight back to Uganda. This was due to lack of time since Alexandra had to shortly after catch the flight back to Sweden. 

                                          Mr solution

After 5 hours we were in Entebbe in Uganda and exhausted. Funny, only after two months in Uganda coming back felt like coming home. I was looking forward to my own bed in Kampala and seeing the Karlsson family again. We said bye to Alexandra and after a lot of hastle fixing a taxi back to Kampala from Entebbe we finally reached home to the ADRA compound. The following day riots had broken out and we could not leave the compound area. Things are settled now again but no one knows if it will happen again. It is still the ongoing tension of the after math of the elections. The outcome is yet to be seen but regardless of the uncertainty, each day the sun sets and rises.