Malaria Negative!

Overall, Zanzibar has been great. We stayed in Nungwi, on the northern tip of Zanzibar. Our days went as follows: get up, exercise a bit, eat breakfast, lay out on the beach, eat lunch, lay out or head to the shade, take a nap in the bungalow, clean up for happy hour, then dinner, then bed. The sun is extremely intense here so we could only lay out for a few hours a day as our skin could only stand so much heat. We ate delicious food, read books, drank wine, and always made it for happy hour by 6pm. We also discovered a beach party down the beach from our bungalow, which was quite a good time. We met some interesting people and managed to have dinner with a big tour group, and then one night with a father and son who had hiked Kilimanjaro. The son, Greg, had just so happened to have went to U of A, where Michele went. He was a few years older than her, but they had known the same people, and he had recognized her. He had volunteered with the Peace Corps. for over 2 years, after he graduated college. He was placed in Paraguay and was able to bring running water to his community. It made our 4 week volunteer trip seem a bit small. He is now a lawyer in the Virgin Islands...what a life he has. We had planned to spend the last 2 days and last night on the eastern part of the island, Paje. On our last night in Nungwi, we decided to go all out and order the lobster and crab. After dinner I began to feel realllly sick, and it hit. Let's just say it was a horrible night. I wasn't sure if it was food poisoning as Michele didn't reach my level of sickness. The next morning I couldn't move, but we had to check out at 10am and head for Paje, which ended up being a 2 hour ride...absolutely miserable. When we arrived at our new bungalow, we just looked at eachother and laughed. It reaked of mildew, the bathroom looked like a prison cell, and there was no air conditioner, which is essential in this type of heat. The beach was out our front door, but the tide was almost 1 mile out from the beach. I took a quick nap, then we headed for lunch. It was awful....I ordered soup, thinking I needed something in my stomach, but the soup was onions, tomatoes, and green peppers, which I hate! There were flies and cats everywhere and a cat actually jumped up on our table to eat Michele's disgusting fish. We then decided that I could possibly have malaria and that we should get to the hospital so that I could get tested right away. It would have been a bad situation if I had gotten worse, as we were over an hour away from town. We had to pay for part of the night, but we didn't care. We had the driver take us to a nice hotel that we remembered from before, which just so happened to have one more room left. Thank God!!!!!! We then went to the hospital. I walked up to the desk and said that I needed to be tested for malaria...they said ok, go to the back. So I walked to a tiny room, sat in a chair and was searching for the needle they would be sticking me with...but didn't see one. The man then grabbed a blade from the counter, then pricked my thumb with it before I could say a word...I was appalled. All I could think was I realllllllllllly hope that blade was sanitized. About 2 minutes later the man came out and said negative...woop woop!! I say "man" because I am pretty sure he wasn't a doctor. We went back to the hotel and I slept for a few hours. I am feeling a bit better today. Just feeling quite achy all over. We are heading for Kilimanjaro tonight, then have to sleep in the airport because our flight is at 6am tomorrow for London. It is going to be a long night, that's for sure. All is good here. Hopefully I will get a chance to write in Munich! Much love!!!