A little dose of reality....

The time will come for the exciting post(s) about everything I've experienced so far in Africa, but right now there's some other stuff on my mind that I want to write about.

After the mess with getting out of Sri Lanka, getting delayed on my arrival into SA and having to catch up with the tour group and pay my local payment.... I was COMPLETELY broke. My account had a negative balance. And I don't have a ticket home yet!!

The first two weeks of my time in Africa have been filled with worry and stress. I've abstained from activities that I originally wanted to participate in and have done everything I can to not spend money. I've prayed and cried about how this is going to work out. How am I going to get home. I'm not worried about eating, the tour was completely paid for and includes all meals.... but when I'm done in Kenya and catch my flight to Turkey... how am I going to get home!!

I reveal this level of candidness because you have to know how extreme my situation is to understand the level of God's faithfulness. I'll keep the manner to myself, but God has continued to prove himself faithful, even in my darkest hour. When despite all my planning to avoid the situation I found myself in, I still ended up there. God used it to show me how much he loves me, to provide for me. If He clothes the lillies of the valley and provides food for the sparrows, how much more does He love me and will provide for me.

It continues to amaze me that God, the creator of the universe, loves me, a little, puny, finite, broken human so much that he takes my worries and provides a solution for them. That being said, I'll be home very soon!!

I knew it was time to come home even before my money ran out. I really knew it was time to come home when I realized I was starting to no longer appreciate the opportunities I was experiencing. God's faithfulness has renewed my awe at this opportunity, but it is still DEFINITELY time for me to come home. Not in a state of giving up, but rather a state of me realizing i've reached my limit; the unknown that I needed to happen in my life when I left, has happened while I've been gone and I just miss home all around. I find myself enjoying my time in Africa and longing and looking forward to the day I set foot on US soil again!

South Africa and Zimbabwe

So, this is going to be quick because I only have about 20 minutes left on the internet!

I finally arrived in South Africa, after a number of additional expenses I finally met up with my group. And a lovely group it is... all my fears that i would be stuck with a bunch of miserable people were unfounded. We drove into Zimbabwe the day before yesterday. Today we're at Antelope park and tomorrow we move onto somewhere else that I don't know the name of and we go rhino tracking... on foot!! With a guide, who has a big gun! So far I've seen giraffes, impalas, baboons, zebras, ostriches and lots of monkeys!

Not sure when I'll be online next, but just wanted to check in and let everyone know i'm safe and ok.

Detour in Doha

Today was pretty much any travelers nightmare!

To start, I had to wake up at 1:30 am to get to the airport and do all that stuff for a 4:25 am flight. Everyone at the hotel was money hungry for tips and the mosquitoes were out in full force... no big deal, I was just glad to get the hell out of Sri Lanka. Longest two weeks of my life and I don't think I've ever wanted to leave a place as much as there!

So I get to the airport and start the check in process when the guy's taking longer to give me a boarding pass than they normally do.... "madam, you're ticket is for 14th May."

Excuse me!?! WHAT!?!

How did I manage to book my departure for the wrong month!?! But I did... so I had to scramble around the airport at 2:45 in the morning trying to fix this fiasco. The counter was telling me I had to call my travel agent and my travel agent was telling me they should be able to change it and just charge me the fee. I pretty much lost it. I couldn't help but cry when I was talking to the supervisor about fixing the situation. I wanted so badly to just leave that place and now I was being told I wouldn't be able to leave until the next day at the earliest. Long story short, I had to bite the bullet and buy another ticket. This was not my first choice, but I was desperate to leave and needed to get to Johannesburg to get ready for the safari and make the meeting tonight, etc. etc. etc.

Well, as it turns out... the flight from Sri Lanka to Doha was late.... late enough that I missed my connecting flight. And of course, to keep with the theme for the day, they didn't have another flight to Johannesburg until early on the 15th. Part of me wanted to cry, but part of me was just relieved I wasn't still stuck in Sri Lanka, so I did my best to stay calm. I am not above begging and I pretty much begged the agent about there being another flight earlier. Because today, there's an orientation meeting at 5 pm J. burg time and the safari leaves tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. So, my flight out of Doha leaves at 1:20 am and I arrive into Johannesburg at 8:30. I've already emailed the tour company asking what to do about this situation and am waiting to hear back. All of this happened before 7 am... that makes for a LONG day!

But my God, He loves me a LOT!! Because it was essentially the airlines fault that I missed my flight and the next flight isn't until tomorrow, I've been put up in a hotel. So I was thinking, Ok, it'll probably be some typical corporate hotel close to the airport with a view of the airport.....

OH NO!!!

I'm staying in a posh hotel, in what I'm assuming is the downtown area and right across the street from the water front. Very cool I say to myself as we pull up. Still thinking it'll probably just be a small room with a view of the construction site next door......

OH NO!!!

They put me in a suite... a huge suite at that!! And I have a view of the waterfront!! This room is bigger than my apartment at home, it has TWO bathrooms, and yes, I've used both! And the bed, OMG, the bed is like a cloud. And the shower looks phenomenal. I don't think you can really REALLY appreciate a good shower till you haven't had one for months! I even got meal vouchers. And the food is..... I'm stuffed! Everything I've been craving from home, pretty much, is here. In fact, this whole place is like being at home. It's even diverse. I was eating breakfast thinking, this must be what the UN is like. All different kinds of nationalities!!! At home there's diversity in skin color, but this was actually different nationalities and languages and cultures, all crashing together in a hotel in Doha, Qatar!

With the way the day started, I had pretty much reached the end of my rope... I wanted to come home. I was done... I quit!! That's where I was this morning. When I got to the hotel and saw the room and the view, I cried tears of gratitude, awe and appreciation. That my God loves me and cares about me enough to pamper me to this degree.... He continues to amaze me!!

Africa!!!

I leave Sri Lanka in less than 24 hours and head to Johannesburg, South Africa to start my overland camping safari. It departs June 15 and is finished July 16. It starts in Johannesburg and goes thru South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania (including the spice island of Zanzibar) and ends in Kenya! Then I have a free add on from the company that includes a trip in Kenya to see the Masai tribes people, that is from July 17 to July 19. I leave Kenya on July 20 and head to Turkey.

Needless to say... I AM VERY EXCITED!!!

However, after tomorrow night, my internet access will be sporadic. So I'll do my best to make a blog posting when I have access to a connection... but there's no guarantees. Worst case scenario... there's a LOOOOONG posting after July 20 when I'm in Turkey.

daytripping

While the thought of laying on the beach or by the pool for two weeks sounds like an excellent idea, i know myself well enough to know i'd get bored with this luxurious lifestyle. So I took a couple days to wander around Sri Lanka. One day was spent wandering around Negombo where I'm staying, another day was spent taking a cruise through one of the many lagoons in Negombo and another day was spent driving several hours in a tuk tuk down to Bentota so I could see one of the sea turtle hatcheries and see if the beach was any different there.

Negombo is just a ramshackle little beach town. Lots of Germans come here. I know this because everything is in German as well as English. It's very laid back, simple and easy going here. It's also a major fishing village. I think they have every type of fish you can eat here. And I don't want to ever hear that there's a shortage of tuna, because i saw more fresh tuna in an hour at the small fish market than I've ever seen in my life.

There are a series of lagoons here also, it actually reminds me of the delta area back home.... but more humid and much more green! So I took a boat cruise thru the lagoon which was surprisingly a lot like Disney's Jungle Cruise. Except smaller. It was complete with birds, restless
natives, crocodiles or in this case a couple big lizards and even the hippo, which was really a wild pig. I even managed to keep up the trend of injuring myself at least once in every country. While
getting out of the boat, i cut my foot on either the algae covered slimy green brick or the thing that looked like rusted metal. Odds are, it wasn't the brick. Thank God I got all my shots, including tetanus, before I left home!! I've decided I can't be in a country for more than
three days without getting hurt. I didn't hurt myself in Singapore or Thailand, but I was only there for 2-3 days. And this injury happened on day 4!

Bentota is really only about 40 km away. In my American mind I think...hmmmm... ok an hour, but this is Sri Lanka so we'll say two hours. Nope, 4 hours to get down there. Granted, I was in a tuk tuk... i LOVE riding in tuk tuks, but they don't go very fast. And there's traffic.... oh yea, and the driver kept falling asleep, while driving! Regardless, I survived and i got to see the sea turtles, which I really wanted to do. The only thing I'm missing out on here in Sri Lanka, is
riding an elephant. But I don't have the money to do an elephant safari, so maybe, hopefully, I can accomplish this somewhere else!


I've decided the spend the last few days lounging around. I got books when i first arrived that I haven't taken time to read. Now I'm halfway thru one, making good progress. And the men here have been creeping me out, so I kind of just want to keep to myself and not have to interact with anyone. I don't mind the questions, normally they're innocent enough. But when you get asked questions in this order, it gets a little creepy!

1. are you single... why?
2. would you like an Ayurveda massage, I'll perform it!

GAG ME!! Especially if you could see the guy that this particular come on came from.... And then the persistence of trying to get me to engage in some sort of activity with them which will either cost money or cause me to be alone with them. This is the first place that i haven't felt
comfortable in regards to interacting with the locals and I've actually used the fake boyfriend thing!

You should write a book....

.... Really?!? Ehhh, why would anyone be interested in reading my story!
Are you serious, you're living the dream!!

This is a conversation that took place earlier this week. And then again yesterday.

While I was on my crazy jungle boat cruise we stopped to watch a guy retrieve and taste "dirty milk". Essentially it's fermented coconut milk that's alcoholic. DISGUSTING!! But I digress. There was another boat that arrived at the same time as myself and a south Indian couple, around my age, maybe younger were the passengers. We started making friendly conversation and my trip came up. I just want to say, I don't go around advertising how long i've been traveling or where I've gone. These two actually asked where else I've been, which led to the comment... You should write a book about all this!

Again... really? Is what I'm doing that extraordinary and exciting that people would REALLY be interested in reading a book recounting my crazy adventures? I did a facebook poll and was surprised to see that everyone responded positively. Not just positively in, yes write a book, but they'd actually buy it and read it. I guess maybe it is that extraordinary and exciting... I think maybe someone is trying to get a point across to me.

I was thinking about it yesterday afternoon and this is the conclusion I've reached. After I get home, I will pursue writing a book. However this will not be with the intention of being published and becoming some world renown best seller. I am NOT Eat Pray Love!!! I will write a book partly to have a more consistent formal way for my own self to recount what a wonderful opportunity I was given. But more importantly, I will write a book to keep all this fresh and in front of me. To keep my goal of getting back to India in front of me. To prevent myself from getting distracted with the 9-5 lifestyle and bills and debt and 'things'.

A Quote

Someone posted this on Facebook the other day and I like it enough to share it. And it seems appropriate for me and my journey on a new outlook regarding shedding tears.

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love."
Washington Irving

A day in the life of....

me, while I'm in Sri Lanka.

Today's my first full day here and I have nothing on the agenda except lounging around my hotel enjoying some time to rest and relax. I'm laying on my bed with the balcony door open, enjoying a pleasant balmy breeze listening to the ocean in the background. Eventually, once the chairs dry off from the rain yesterday, I'll actually sit on the balcony and watch the ocean.

Tomorrow the plan is to go into Negombo, get some cash, pickup a couple books to read and just kind of wander and see what there is in the village. I've been reading the lonely planet for Sri Lanka and seeing what else there is to do on the west coast and in Colombo and will probably have some day excursions while I'm staying here. Even if I don't, and i stay in the hotel and Negombo the whole time, I can't really complain. After all, this is what I see when I look out the window!

Farewell my love....

Today I left India and arrived in Sri Lanka.

I had always been fascinated with India and always wanted to go there, but was always afraid to go alone. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the country, especially Calcutta. I've left a piece of my heart in India and even though I don't know when exactly, I know I will return to call it home.

As I was thinking about what exactly to write for this posting, I realized that it's not just my love, India, that I say farewell too, it's also Jeff. As my flight took off from Chennai, I left behind any lingering hopes that I had that he would come around and make it all right. I left not with anger or resentment, simply questions and forgiveness, even if he never knows about it. I left with a heart much healthier, happier and put together than the heart I arrived with. I left as a new person. A person who recognizes a distinct path for her life, appreciation for the simple things in life and a person much happier and more satisfied with who I am and where I'm at in life.

Love, whether for a person or a country, can do funny things to you. My love for Jeff brought me to India, only to be abandoned and picked up and loved again by a whole country. You can't really beat that deal... trade one guy in for 6 billion people, not bad! :) Despite all the hurt and heartache I went thru, it was all worth it, if that's what it took to get me to India.... I'd do it all over again!