St. Lucia Estuary, South Africa

Hippos in the estuary; let me tell you, those teeth and that mouth are huge. Good thing that they only eat grass and other greens. Although they responsible for more human deaths in Africa that all other animals combined. On land, they can run up to 40 mph.! Below, me looking a bit too serious for as much as I was enjoying the boat trip. We saw an endless array of birds, dozens of hippos and crocidiles.

We are on a roadtrip to South Africa this weekend and yes I know that it is probably seems odd to look for an internet cafe while away but there was no line here and the connection seems in good working order. Friday was amazing, for many reasons, one of which is the incredible heat and humidity. It was near 40 degrees celcius on our drive down from Siteki in the late afternoon, the heat continued through Saturday afternoon until a thunderous storm moved in and poured down rain upon us, providing great relief. I literally thought that I might melt as if I were the Wicked Witch from the West! One should not even consider wearing anything other than a bathing suit in such weather while walking around on a boardwalk with a cocktail and an ocean breeze at your back. (Did someone mention Fire Island?) Not so in this case, just the heat and humidity without all the other ammenities.
It was quite a challening day in the bush especailly with the heat and my stepping into a giant pricker bush early on in the day. I pulled prickers out of my shorts, socks and shirt for the remainder of the day. Seeing 25 patients with sweat dripping off your forehead and nose do not make for a pretty sight. Some of the patients and homesteads were quite challening especially on the olfactory system. One unfortunate gentleman had colon cancer and had had a colostomy placed. Well that is actually quite fortunate for him but difficult as well for those around him given that he does not have any collection bags for his colostomy and he continously leaks stool and blood. The only collection aparatus he has is an old rag and a few banana leaves, not much help by any standards. I did my best to give him a thorough assessment and breathe as little as possible in the mean time. It is really quite shocking to see how the various cancers I have seen progress without any or very little treatment. Last week I saw a patient with oral cancer that had filled most of his oral cavity. We were able to get him money for transportation to the hospital to get some liquid morphine for pain control, which was very rewarding. It amazes me how we can see patients in these very remote homesteads and make referals for the clinics and they are actually able to come and be seen by a physician. Getting to these places with our truck can be incredibly challenging and it seems as if we are a million miles away from anyplace or anywhere yet the locals can manuever quite well with the bus and coombie system that exists here. On Wednesday I was visiting a Gogo (grandmother) who has HIV and had lost her son and daughter-in-law to AIDS, not very unusual at all. What was unusual was that she asked if I would assess her grandson who was about 6 years old (a double orphan, children are catagorized by being a single or double orphan, one or two parents who have died) and had a swollen testicle. It was indeed quite swollen and not painful at all so I fear that it is cancer. We had asked the gogo to bring him to the hospital on Friday but they had not showed by late afternoon. Given that about 80-90% of our Home Based Care patients have HIV/AIDS it seems a bit surprising to find other illness including cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

Anyways, back to the weekend. We are staying in a small touristy town called St. Lucia. I think that there about 600 residents in the off season but thousands abound in high season. Fortunately, we are at the end of high season and most of the tourists have retuned home to send their children back to school. I am very grateful for the school calendar year.

There is a giant estuary here and many game parks as well as sand, shore and the glorious Indian Ocean. I am not sure if this is my first plunge into the Indian Ocean so I will have to explore a map more carefully to determine the answer. Regardless, it was absolutely heavenly to thrust myself into the ocean, the healing, wet, salty, revitalizing and cooling sea. The waves were mercilessly pounding the shore with a fierce rip current to match. So we were not able to swim all that freely but there was a large outcropping of coral where we were shielded from the powerful waves and able to lounge freely in the sea. I really do love, love, love the ocean/sea and basically most any body of water. Being on the beach again and in the ocean reminds me of just how much of an important role water plays in my life. The sun and surf are a vital necessity to a full life for me. Swimming in the Indian ocean for David brought back memories of his earlier years in Kenya so it was great to hear some more of those stories of his childhood adventures by the sea.

On our drive to the ocean we passed through a large game park and were entertained by many new species. We saw some huge Water Buffalo upclose and personal. This one large male had the most devilish looking red eyes that I have ever seen. Other creatures included Nyala, well worth looking up on the internet if you have never seen one, monkeys, Impala and so forth. Now the most profound sighting was that of a Leopard and that was during the day. What a spectular cat! Amazingly it reminded us very much of a domesticated cat that you would see in anyone's home the way it laid there and cleaned herself, licking her paws to wipe her eyes and just yawning, rolling around a bit and not doing much of anything else. Not that I have a cat at home to compare it with given how allergic I am but it reminded us of a cat you would see in a store window, you know those people who love cats and take to petting stray ones on the street or in shops and adopting them in pairs, it seemed as if all of this were possible but of course it wasn't. The leopard laid there in the bush, about 25 feet from our car and just kept cleaning itself and yawning and staring at us. We felt safe in our Mazda and were able to take a bunch of photos and admire the big cat with or without the assistance of our binoculars. The leopard really is one of the most beautiful creatures that I have ever seen and that even includes those at DBG, on 8th Avenue or on the F or L trains. We spent a good thirty minutes in awe before driving on, it was certainly a memorable thirty minutes. The game wardnes we spoke to said that it was very unsual to see a Leopard during the day lounging on the ground instead of hidden up in a tree somewhere off the more beaten track. The spots were outrageous, so very beautiful and meticulous and perfect in their design. Evolution is just numbs the mind it is so facinating.
This evening we are going on a Hippo and Croc tour, just your average night here in St. Lucia. We will be on a flat bottomed boat in the wetlands skimming across the top of the water looking for these giant prehistoric looking creatures. There are so many things that I have done in the last two months that have shocked even me. I love that, I am really learning to savor the unexpected. I feel as if I went into this journey with very few expectations and that has added to the impact of all the new highs and lows.
I must say that I am still diligently working on meeting the world where it exists and not where I, and how I perceive, it should be. Trying to be patient and keeping an open mind is constant work. It is so easy to fall back into old ways and standard ways of thinking and seeing the world and its people through my limited field of vision. This awareness and concept is something that I am really praying for and spending time reflecting on it. Your support is allowing this to happen for me, not as quickly as I would like but hopefully moving forward most of the time.
Peace,
Scott