Alive and well in W.Africa

Four days in-country and all is well. Orientation "staging" in DC flew by quickly but I did manage to squeeze-in a tour of the monuments at our nations capital. PC gave us a hefty stipend for two days in the city and they've been taking care of us quite well in-country. The first days have been overwhelming but amazing. It feels like weeks and not days since I was at LAX and I feel like I'm a million (or 7,000) miles from home. We have a great group and tomorrow we're being sent to our "homestays" where we will live with a Senegalese family (alone) and train in our languages for the next two months. I won't have internet for at least a week so I wanted to post a note and say that I'm alive and made it to West Africa safely. Thoughts, photos, and amusing stories to come. A bientot.

Goodbye, RIM. I won't be too far away.

Peace Corps informed us about a month ago that Mauritania (RIM) will be cancelled. I then heard through the grapevine that 1st year volunteers were given the option to leave the country will full-term benefits. They've scattered our group throughout Africa and luckily for me, I'm one of the few who was placed in the adjacent country: Senegal. So, my packing list will hardly change but from what I've gathered, Senegal will be a very different experience. For one, the Sahara desert does not cover ANY of the country, so we can conclude that I won't be dealing with 125F degree days and sand storms ruining my electronics and zippers. Senegalese culture is less conservative than that of Mauritania, so there's no need for ankle-length skirts and head scarves. Alcohol is legal. Street food is plentiful and delicious. There's a mango season, and I'll have regular access to fruits and veggies. The country is, for the most part, green and it's inhabited by animals such as giraffes, antelope, rhinos, hippos, monkeys, and warthogs. Senegal is the Africa I had imagined living in when I first applied for PC over a year ago. But since they assigned me to RIM, I had been mentally preparing myself to live in exile, in a sweltering land of sand dunes and camels, surviving on oily sandy couscous, and gatorade flavored water. In a strange way, I began to look forward to it.

This is new assignment is a blessing, as I've heard from many that the programs in Senegal are much better organized and the country is filled with more amenities. I can do without the sand-filled meals.

I've been doing a good job of keeping my days jam packed. I spend much of the time explaining to people why I'm still in the country, and the rest is divided between selling my furniture and car, spending time with friends and family, studying french, and eating everything in sight. I've been indulging on Pinkberry, Krispy Kreme and a mountain of chemical-filled junk food that I haven't had an interest in since grade school. Cheetos, Twinkies, Slurpees, boxes of Nerds and bags of Pixie Sticks, Laffy Taffy's, ice cream bars, and spicy chips. I must be nostalgic of childhood and Americana. Two more weeks of lovely hot showers and soft down blankets. Then, Africa here I come...for real this time. Inch'allah.

so i was wrong...

I'm not leaving in 6 days. I woke up this morning to an email from the peace corps country desk officer who left a cryptic message asking me to contact them as there have been a change in my departure plans. I first thing that came to mind was "oh by some miraculous twist of fate they've decided to station me in Fiji instead." I left a voicemail at the number I was requested to call and between then and the 15 minutes it look her to return the call I went through a full range of emotions from fear to relief to sadness. As much as I kid about RIM (Republique Islamique de Mauritanie) being hell...I've had six months to accept it, learn about it, and practice my french. It's a shock to the system to suddenly hear that I'm not going there for now...or ever.

So our visas have not been approved by the RIM embassy meaning we aren't legally able to get on a flight bound there. Our staging (orientation), flight, and training have been cancelled. Peace Corps is hoping things will settle down after the elections in July and we'll be on our way mid-August. In the meantime, they say they have not heard a definite answer from the Mauritanian government so no one's really clear what the chances of us going are. This is all stemming from a military coup that occurred last August; since then there's been a lot of political tension and instability. They're hopeful that all Peace Corps programs will continue since the agency has a long history in the country and this is the first time they've run into this problem.

I'm still letting news of this unexpected delay soak-in. I've quit my job and arranged my travel plans around my Africa departure. Basically all the decisions and plans I've made since last December have been for this program. I guess for now all I can do is wait. They said if this continues into August Peace Corps will start to look into alternative locations for us. Fiji here I come?

17 days and and i'm off again...

so nepal came and went, as did china. i'm now home in los angeles for a few more weeks then i'll be on a plane to....africa! i never realized how much time it takes to wrap up "affairs" for two years, pack for the sahara desert, take 40 hours of french lessons......not to mention consolidate my endless medical bills. blue cross will have to shut down a division after i leave the country.

what does one pack in anticipation for living in the sahara? lots of gatorade powder mix, high spf sunscreen, and three pairs of sunglasses i suppose.

the annapurna circuit

230 miles. 18 days in the nepalese himalaya. they say it's one of the best treks in the world. i can't wait to find out for myself!
will update in a few weeks.
love from nepal!

no love from Agra

each time i get sick in india, it seems to get worse and worse. it's a good thing i'm off to nepal today. the first time i had indigestion and was woozy the rest of the night. the second time i had a fever, chills, couldn't move for a day, and was afraid to leave the security of my toilet for the next few.

i should have known better; not to consume every buttery lassi and paneer pakoda i see on the street. but i never learn and i rarely stop myself from sampling the tasty treats found on the streets of india. i joke after each bout that it's almost worth the sickness...but when i'm laying on the floor with india's grimey foot stepping on my neck...all i want is a one-way ticket back home.

this last time i woke up in a hot sweat at 3am a few minutes before my body decided to angrily reject the banana lassi i drank a few hours prior...in the toilet, on the floor, and in the bathroom bucket that indians use to bathe out of. for the first time i understood the panicky feeling one gets when they can't decide which end of their body more urgently needs the toilet. the rest of the night was a blur and by morning i had kicked over my water and was laying next to my security bucket. needless to say, i didnt make the 5 o'clock alarm set for myself the night before...just so i could get a glimpes of the taj mahal at sunrise; when i heard you can see it's reflection in the stretch of pond leading to it, and watch it's colors change from pink to orange to white. by 9am i decided through a hazy fever turned headache, turned earache, that i didn't travel 10,000 miles and two months through india not to see the taj--vomiting or no vomiting...i was going to see this monument to love that took 20 something years and a fleet of thousands of elephants to build. i dragged myself through the dusty streets of Agra and after 3 security checks, layed my tired eyes on the pearly white walls of the taj. i then spent the next 4 hours alternating between sleeping on a park bench and the cobble stone floors leading up to the monument. i have to admit, waking up from my sickly state and turning my head to see the glowing sunlight reflecting from the marble-lined taj made for a pretty spectacular sight. thank you, india, for humbling me once again ... then showing me some sweetness. you are never short of surprises.

where have i been?

the last month and a half of travel through india has been an incredible experience. i feel like i took a tumble through the looking-glass the night i arrived--and though it's just as disorienting and perplexing as ever, i think i've finally stopped looking for my way out. i'm better adjusted to the ropes here (and boy, did i need to learn them)...but india has a way of tossing surprises in your face just after you start to feel settled. just when you think you've got a grip on things your ego gets a hard kick in the backside. it's mother india's way of humbling you.

this country is mad. at first, it's bizarre. it seems contradictory....it balances between extremes. it's a sensory assault. it's serenity. it's heartbreaking. it's heartwarming. and what i call "heart-making". it tears you down then teaches you a different way of looking at things. it pushes you to new limits and just when you think you've had enough, it "gives you some sugar" as my travel buddy amy put it. it's rough on your body and your mind; it nourishes your soul. it jostles and shakes you from the outside-in, and then the other way around. it's rich in ancient spiritual and religious tradition that permeates even modern indian culture. india is heart-healing.

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and since the last post i've traveled through much of south india. from hill stations of munnar to kodaivattakanal; i spent much of my time in the southern state of tamil nadu, including a short stay in kanyikumari, the southernmost tip of mainland india. there, you can sit on a rock and watch the confusion of the waves at the only place in the world where three oceans meet. the waters from the bay of bengal, the arabian sea, and the indian ocean come from all directions and swirl into each other, creating a distinct color and pattern in the sea. because of it's location, there's a time of year when you can see simultaneous sunset and moonrise in kanyikumari, but i missed it by a month! i relaxed on the sleepy canals of the backwaters in kerala, then headed 2,000 km north to the capital of delhi. i'm now in north india; a much more aggressive place, or so i hear from the travelers i meet. so that's the geographical update of my journey thus far. stories, incidents, and my random ruminations to come!