Food poisoning and other good stuff

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Well, I finally left Chameleon Backpakers' today and Windhoek itself. I see that as of my last blog I intended to stay for one night until I could get a rental car together - that was a week ago. I woke up the day after the 27 hour bus ride feeling refreshed and little more comfortable in my surroundings, however it was still my goal to rent a car that afternoon and head out to the sand dunes in Sossusvlei. This was a slight problem because I didn't have any cash on me and I also needed to transfer some money onto my credit card to rent the car. This was going to be a feat in itself. As luck would have it, the internet seemed to be down in all of Namibia. First I tried the backpackers' computer and it didn't work so I headed on into town. I was determined to leave for Sossusvlei today or at the very latest early tomorrow morning. No deal, the internet was out in town as well. This was extra bad because the only way to get money transferred into my account back in Canada was to e-mail them, especially because of the time difference. No bank transfers going to be happening today. Ok, I could head to the bank in town and cash some travellers' cheques at least. Little did I realize, this was not going to be easy either. Every bank I went to said they did not do foreign transactions at any of their branches and I would have to get to their head office. That is easy to say but I had no idea where I was really or how to get to any of these places. A couple of people gave me directions but I think I am rather like my mother with directions - they don't make much sense to me. I finally found the head office of a bank and waited in line for quite a while. Wouldn't you know it, when I got up to the teller and he started my transaction, the computers all went down at the bank as well. After quite some time the teller decided to do my transaction manually and at least I have some cash at this point which always helps when you are in a foreign country.



So I end up back at Chameleon Backpackers with some Namibian dollars at least. This is good because I can pay for somewhere to sleep now but it does not help me to get a car. That is ok, I will do it in the morning and will be on my way.



I wake up the next morning to find that the internet is still having problems. Some of the web pages work but it is not strong enough to send e-mails, hotmail is still down and I cannot yet transfer money onto my credit card - great. So we hung out in town for a while and went to a movie, a movie that cost me $2.50 by the way. Day 3 and it is back to the backpackers' I go without the ability to get a car. By the next morning however, the internet is fine again and I am able to do all my banking and make all the necessary transfers. Yay. I phone up the rental car company and a very nice lady comes and picks us up to go get the car. We spent about 3 hours at her office getting some really good information about some really cool things to do in Namibia and by the time this is all done it is much too late for us to leave today. But now I am really in business and I will be leaving in the morning.



The night time was quite enjoyable back at Chameleon. When we got back from the mall I pulled out the pair of scissors I bought and hacked off all of Jordan's hair!!!! It was so much fun. I did a terrible job but that's ok, it'll grow back. It took him a while to get used to it but he likes it now. Later on I talked to a lady named Gayle for quite a long time and joined her and her husband for dinner - I always look forward to good conversation. They were on their way to the Etosha Pan in the morning and we were on our way to Sossusvlei. I had told her about the hassle I had been having trying to get the car and get out of there and that I was happy to be on my way - finally. Wow, no sooner was I finished talking about being ready to go when all of a sudden I felt really sick. It came on instantly. My head started to hurt like mad and my stomach was going nuts. I actually felt like I could vomit all of a sudden. I felt kind of bad because I left the table so fast and left Gayle and Robert, who I had been chatting to for the past couple of days, just sitting there without even saying goodbye and they were leaving in the morning. I wouldn't get another chance.



I went to bed and had the worst night ever. I was in so much pain all night, my head felt like it was going to explode and it kept me awake the entire evening. I woke up feeling like s@*t - actually worse. I obviously wasn't going anywhere - again (I am starting to see a pattern here). I slept all day and Jordan was amazing, he entertained himself. He chats anyone up so I am sure he had company all day, I wouldn't know because I was too sick in bed. Day 4 was a write off.



The next morning (day 5) I thought I felt better but really I was only trying to convince myself and it was really just wishful thinking. I had also convinced myself that I was going to leave again but everytime I thought I could leave I would start getting these hot flashes and get really dizzy and nauseous. Not very good to drive 6 hours through the African desert on gravel roads feeling like that. Never mind that at the other end of the drive was more hot desert and huge sand dunes, a lot good that was going to do me. But that's ok.....day 6 I would be ready to go. I woke up, packed everything up, got the car ready, checked out and was going to be on my way - finally going to the dunes!



Not so fast. Hot flashes again. Dizzy again. Nauseous again. By this time I had really gotten to know a few of the people that were also staying at the backpackers and they were really neat people. They kind of convinced me that I should go see a doctor, better safe than sorry, especially in Africa. So Jordan and I spent the afternoon in the doctors' office instead of driving to the dunes. It turns out it was food poisoning from bad salad dressing and the doctor said it could take up to a week to get over it and gave me some medication. I liked the doctors' name, it was B.S. Haufiku. Maybe it is just my mind, but I see a whole bunch of funny things in his name. Back to Chameleon I go. Day 6 down.



So as it turned out, I would not leave on the first morning as planned, it would be day 7 but all's well that ends well and I met some really great people. Gayle and Robert were so interesting, I loved what they were doing with their lives. They had both kind of "quit" there real lives back in England and had been travelling the world and volunteering for the past three years. They were working in the township in Port Elizabeth, South Africa now and Gayle told me some really interesting things and kept me entertained with her conversation for a very long time. It was nice chatting with them over dinner. Even though I did not get to say good bye to them as I was becoming poisoned, they left me a nice letter and I was happy to wake up and find it. It will be nice to contact them again.



Then there was Toby. (Hello if you are reading this.....don't tell me you are still in Namibia, ha ha!) He was really fascinating and smart. He had driven his motorcycle from England, through the Middle East (through some really crazy places might I add) and the entire way through Africa, right down to Cape Town and was now heading back up. He was trying to get back up through Angola and the Congo and was having some real problems getting a visa for Angola. I believe he had been stranded at Chameleon for almost three weeks waiting for it to go through. Talk about driven people, Toby you are one of the most driven people I have ever met, you have so many interesting things on the go. I was glad he was there because he told me so many interesting stories (with an accent) over so many days that made the food poisoning easy to deal with. I really enjoyed his company (so did Jordan) and I was really glad I met him. We will hopefully be able to meet up with him somewhere along the way.



Of course there was Trish as well. She was really neat. She had a kind of a light-hearted but serious demeanor - the perfect mixture. Someone you could take serious advice from but laugh with (and at!) as well. She was so good at explaining things to both me and Jordan and I can see why she would be good at her job as a speach therapist. She has that somewhat reclusive side to her that I can so identify with too. I really enjoyed our time together and it looks like we will be meeting up in India in March. That would be "ace" as the English seem to say, Trish taught me that one.



Victory is definately worth a mention. He works at Chameleon and even though you couldn't believe a word that came out of his teasing mouth, he was funny and full of personality, just like his picture says. I loved the really drunk lady from England, she was so funny. She kept telling us how "proper" English women were as she flashed her panties and said obscenities. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Burn, the dog, was kind of screwy but adorable in her own way and even the arrogant, mean spirited journalist from Turkey and the over-zealous, curfew watching, baby-sitter, stick-up-his-butt guy (Code name: Agent Blue Shirt) that worked at Chameleon helped to create funny memories.



The final night that I was there we ended up drinking wine around the bar with everyone I had met there (eventually in the dark because "blue shirt" turned all the lights off so we would go away, ha!). It was nice being with familiar faces and they were especially funny after the wine. I decided that wine would be just as effective as any medication I had to kill the bugs left in my stomach and it seemed to work pretty well. Except the fact that I was extremely absent minded in the morning. After being on the road 6 weeks at full tilt, it was really nice to stop and breathe again. We really needed the break, especially with the food poisoning. I actually felt kind of sad to be leaving after trying so hard to get out of there.



So it seemed fateful that I got stuck at Chameleon Backpackers', there were so many memorable people there. I will have to remember to stop long enough on my way to get to know people better. It is so easy when you are travelling to skip around so fast that you don't take time to smell the flowers. I would have missed out on some really great people if I hadn't gotten sick. I hope I get to see them again.



Take care,
Heide and Jordan
xo



Times of our lives - David Usher
Sometimes the worst times are a door to the best times. It reminds me of when my house burned down and how I couldn't tell what those dark days would bring or how good it would be and how free I would become.





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Photos

Oh no you don't!
These two pictures were so funny.

Trish giving advice
Trish, I think this picture so captures your demeanor..... cute and soft but stern!

This is Agent Blue Shirt
His job is to make sure everyone goes to bed on time.....it was funny what a hard-nose he was. Opposite of Victory = Agent Blue Shirt.

Comments

[Deanna and Nat]

Glad to hear your okay
We had not heard from you for a few days and wondered if something had happened. Yep, it did the food poisoning. Your journey is amazing and we love to read your blogs when they arrive. Keep safe, Deanna and Natalie

[Alyshia]

Hey
Hey Jord i like your picture you look like a little sweedish girl lol