That's no moon

Feb 1, 2012: 
I'm not enjoying Ethiopia much. Africa has finally taken its toll on me. Man, am I ready to get out of here. I couldn't get a visa to enter the country because I didn't have a flight to leave. I didn't realize it but my flight purchase was canceled due to me overlooking an email where I had to confirm the flight. I was afraid someone would steal my bag from the baggage claim. The customs attendants where not very friendly or helpful. 

Once I finally got a visa, I couldn't get a sim card. Walking around these two clever punks almost picked my pockets. By punks I mean about 10 years old. 

This city, Addis Ababa, is huge, crowded, and polluted. It has over 3 million people. There are cool things here I just have no motivation to see them. I found a nice hotel with a gym and besides looking for a store to buy cereal and going for a run I haven't left all day. 

Now I'm having some flight problems because I tried to change flights. I hope to figure them out soon. I have a cheaper hotel that is for travelers that I'm moving into tomorrow. Then I want to do this hike. 


Feb 18, 2-2012:
I'm in New Jersey at Helen's parents. I ended up flying out of Addis at 4am February 2nd. Last week Helen and I went to Canada. We went to Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls. I didn't like Montreal much, it was another big city to me. The people in Montreal are the most unattractive people I saw, so pale too. Toronto had a better feel to it. I cant explain why; it more modern and brighter at night so maybe that helped. Niagara Falls was a huge tourist trap, and to my surprise I actually enjoyed it the most. Everything to do is all downtown, so it was easy to get around.

It was so cold in Canada, and a bit expensive. We drove too much for a week vacation. We went ice skating, saw Life of Pi, played lazer tag and mini golf, spent a day at the US embassy because we (by we I mean Helen) lost our passports, and of course saw the falls. Life of Pi was really good, almost as good as the book. Too bad we didn't go in the fall or summer or even spring because these places would be more appealing when it is not freezing and full of dead, bare, plants and trees.

I'll be home in Oregon on the 26th. See most of you soon. Peace love and do good things



Jimmy

We meet again, at last

I wanted to write a closing of service blog because I was all butt hurt over the National Exams. I started writing my frustrations on my computer but my computer, with all my files, was stolen in Maputo from the Peace Corps office. I still plan on writing a letter to express my concern and disappointment with Mozambique's education and government later, maybe when I get home. The country director already offered to help me get it out to people who might care or do something about it. To summarize I was fed up with all the corruption on every level and just not seeing anything changing anytime soon. (I have seen that these same problems exist in the African countries surrounding Moz too)

Helen and I spent over two months together. She came out to Mabalane and got to deal with the rats, cockroaches, latrine, spiders, cooking on charcoal, and she handled it all like a champ. Forrest and I had a good rat killing team going. I didn’t like the killing part but he was going to do it anyway so I helped and even got a kill in. A rat entered so I tried to stick Helen into the routine. I was like are you ready? She expressed that she was. This was a nonviolent operation she only had to force the rat outside if it came towards her.  Of course it went towards her and she started screaming “I can’t do this” and jumping out of the way. It was so cute. Anyways I got the rat out solo. It was great having Helen in Mabalane. My neighbors all loved her and told her how they wish she was there instead of Forrest and me. I think that is a compliment on how awesome Helen is and not how much Forrest and I suck??

After we left Mabalane I processed out of the Peace Corps and we hit the beach for three weeks and camped out in a tent in Tofo. I surfed most days and we ate a lot of seafood. The waves sucked the first couple weeks. I had a few highlights and good rides. Although most days I was just waiting and then struggling when a wave finally did come. The last couple days a storm down south push some good waves in. and this guy took me out to this one spot were the waves were pretty big. I was way over my head. The waves were so strong and big. I felt like houses were falling on me. It was really difficult to get out past the breaks and scary. After watching Nicholas for a while I decided to go in and catch a wave. I missed a couple and then I finally caught one.  It was so scary I didn’t even try to stand up, haha. I just hung the board and got trampled. It was a good experience and I feel a lot more comfortable out there now .

We left Tofo and traveled in buses for two days to meet up with Drew. Then we traveled another two days by train and bus to go hiking in Malawi. I wanted to climb the highest mountain in Malawi. We didn’t end up trying because the lazy guide lied about how dangerous it was. We later met these two South Africans who did it and they said it was fine. But it was great to hike around for a couple days, and it was beautiful there. The first day we climbed and climber. It was the steepest trail I have hiked, even harder than Kilimanjaro. 

Next we went to small tourist trap on Malawi Lake. After a 12 hour overnight bus, we arrived tired and disappointed. In a 10 day stretch Helen and I spent 5 of those days on buses for 10 plus hours. It was brutal. The highlight of the lake was me caughting a fish (about 2 inches) Then we traveled across Tanzania to go to Zanzibar. After two more long days of buses, we would get to relax for a few days. Zanzibar is a pretty big island so we spent a week there. I caught a virus, and spent two full days in bed to open the New Year. Finally, we rediscovered airplanes! Man that was nice. Helen and I left Zanzibar by air and did a sweet four day safari. We saw everything. After Helen went home and I met back up with Drew. Then we set off to the Roof of Africa.

Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a pretty crappy time for me. The first day my virus relasped. I had a fever, my body ached, and I didn't have an appetite. (In two years in Moz I only got sick twice, from food poisoning, and I recovered in less than 24 hours both times) Luckily my fever broke that first night although I didn't sleep well. The next day I felt ok hiking but once we stopped it came back. It got a little better each day. My hardest workout of the trip was eating. The first three days are supposed to be easy but they were poopy for me. If I wasn’t hiking or eating I was in my sleeping bag trying to sleep. Finally the day before the summit I felt ok. We set off at midnight. It is really cold. We went up at a good pace. I felt great. Then at the ridge line I kind of lost it. I could not balance and I don't remember what all happened up there. Thee only thing I remember I was pissed because I couldn't walk without one of Drew's poles. As I debated in my head whether I wanted to continue, I decided, about an hour or 100-200 meters from the peek, that I wanted to turn back. I thought, "If I can't walk myself there, I'm not going." So I turned around. The head guide and I went down and Drew and the assistant guide summited. I don't remember the ridge line which is unfortunate because that is where the best view are. I saw but mentally missed the sun rise. I remember it felt so long going down. I just wanted to rest and gain my balance back. The guide kept telling me rest isn't going to help you. Luckily it is lose gravel going down because I kept losing my balance. Though we made it down in two hours, it felt like four or five. We rested at Kibo camp, the base camp, briefly before continuing down that same day. I was freezing in my sleeping bag even wearing everything I had. I was feeling the altitude big time. I didn't see how I could continue down the mountain. But once I started moving I felt much better. The summit day was 12 hours of hiking, over 1100 meters up and then over 2000 meters down. I finally felt ok that night. And the next day for the first time on the hike I felt good. 

Not to make excuses, but we carried all our stuff and didn't take any meds; that was how I wanted to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. I didn't make it, but I'm ok with that. I got up to about 5700 meters and I know I don't really care to go up that high again. It’s too cold up there!

Now I'm in Iten, Kenya. This is a small town along ridge line of a high plane. The altitude is about 2400 meters in Iten, making it the perfect home to hundreds of elite Kenyan runners. In addition several other track teams from Europe and America are here training now. As if one elite sports scene is not enough, there is a huge world class paragliding scene. It is beautiful here. It’s so green, and ridge overlooks this U shaped valley. There is a nice gym and training center. The British track team is here with a couple Olympians, including running god Mo Farah. The villagers are friendly. The ccost of living is cheap. You can eat a meal at a small restaurant for a dollar. I have a private room with a bathroom and hot shower for 8 dollars a day. I'm running in the mornings and lifting in the evenings. There is a big race I'm going to watch on Sunday. 

I would love to come back here for a few months later in life. But I miss Helen. It was so nice having her around and being able to experience everything with her that now it just doesn't feel the same. As much as I like this place the days seem wasted. I don't feel there is much left for me to experience in Africa or at least these parts. All the cities, people, roads, buses, food, and everything are old and the same. I'm ready to leave Africa.

(Most of this was written a couple days ago. I went to the race and ended up running) Discovery Kenya 2013 Cross Country Race. It was huge and great to be a part of. There were about 12 races from age groups 6 and under to adults. Lots of fast runners. I couldn’t help myself I had to register. I was thinking ill register and do a lap or two and drop out. Which is what I did. I ran one lap and dropped out. I’m making a bad habit of quitting here my last few weeks but whatever. It is about 2400 meter elevation and I’m out of shape. It is so hard for me to try to run fast. Running slow is hard enough. There were maybe 2 or 3 people behind me when I stopped. But several Kenyans dropped out before me, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Mozambique has severe floods right now. (This was also written a few days ago) People are suffering and living on their roof tops and in trees. It sucks because they need relief bad. But this happened in 2000 and nothing was done to prepare or prevent it from happening again. And the worse part is knowing that nothing will be done to prevent future suffering either. I could start a rant from this and might later. Poor Africa! Will people ever stop exploiting them?


That is a quick wrap up of the last three months or maybe not too quick. I'm sure I missed some things but whatever. Traveling has been taking a lot out of me. Peace, love, and do good things



Jimmy

hindsight 20 Feb 2015: my writing is, well, poop. I also missed many details.