Into the Wild

Here's the deal: I'm going to keep my post as detailed as possible without it being so overwhelming. I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging thing now.

So everyday after the first day I've woken up late and gone straight to class, after snacking on things in my room. It's been really all the same. Class in the morning. Then we go to lunch. Really all that really differs is what we do in the afternoons. Wednesday afternoon, we hopped in the vans and drove out some 40+ km outside of Gaborone to visit two boreholes, which are just wells tapping into the underground aquifers, which then pipe the water to the various villages in the bush. This is relevant to what we are doing in thermodynamics. At the first borehole we found these really cool seed pods of trees, serving the same purpose as pine cones. They consisted of an ovoid shape with four fins, equally spaced around the pod. Also, while leaving the first, a huge storm system was on the horizon again. It was majestic, reaching taller and farther than any other system I've seen before. Fortunately for us our road route took us in a way to bypass the storm. To get to the second borehole we had to turn off the main highway and take this really bumpy, dirt road. Took forever; probably drove two kilometers. Taking that road certainly brought us closer to the African wilderness. We crossed a dried up river after man and his family crossed with his cart and five donkeys. The rainy season would have made the borehole completely unaccessible, the river bed was really deep and wide. The landscape was magnificent and on the way back, the sun painted a beautiful landscape with its setting palate: emotional oranges, reds and violets.

Thursday afternoon was really uneventful. I napped. But a couple things of note did take place. One, this was the last day that diarrhea waged war with my bowels. Wednesday was for sure the worst of them, but I cut out this one drink that they keep serving, that weird mango stuff, and now I'm fine. My trip today (Friday) to the john was simply splendid. But don't count your blessings before they hatch. As diarrhea stopped bothering me, I ended up horsing around with my one friend, Doug, who I knew before the trip. Remember that hairline fracture on my right big toe? Yeah. Well, ended up catching my flip flop clad, and exposed toe nail on the back of Doug's shoe. Now, he's a big fella and his body would not yield an inch to whatever measly force that I could muster . I hit a wall. And with that, I ended up ripping my the right half of my nail off, up to where that hairline fracture was. It hurt. And it bleed. Some of the bed is now exposed. But once I cleaned it up and dressed it (the alcohol hurt a wee bit more than just a sting) it was fine. I carefully took off the other half of the nail so that it could not contribute to any more accidents and snags.

Now, we come to today's (Friday's) afternoon activity: Climb one of the many mountain-hills that surround Gaborone, each one rising like a breaching whale out above the shrubland sea. We set off, and arrive within a half hour at Kgale Hill Public Park. Grabbing some water and making sure my camera was at the ready, I set off on the trail, determined to be the first of our group to summit. The Sir Edmund Hillary in me urged me to climb higher and faster than the rest. Huge rocks made up this lone mountain. It was challenging, but I knew the view would reward the sweat shed. Every rock landing we past came with a view even more astonishing than the one before. I ended up summiting first with one of the UB research students working for Dr. Lacks, his name I believe is Mosaic, pronounced Mo-zaik. Any parallels with the first summiting of Everest anyone? Foreigner and Guide? Actually, he's never been up the hill himself, this is the first time. We arrive at the top to find a sign pointing northeast with "Beijing" written on it. This message is not the only thing written at the summit. Amongst all the rocks, vandals, tourists and namemakers have all scribed their graffiti and marks all over most of the accessible surfaces. Atop this hill also lies a downed radio spire and other still upright communication devices. You could see for miles. The panoramic was breathtaking, nothing short of it. To the west and north you could see the rest of the Kalahari Basin. Nearby, all of Gaborone bustled about in minute fashion. Visible to the south was Gaborone Dam and reservoir it made. Beyond that, South African hills rolled up from the plain. Some time later, when most of the rest of the group made it, we broke out a cake for it was Corey's birthday, a girl I've made new friends with. After eating bakery and resting up a bit, we prepared for the descent. I traveled slowly, wanting to see the sunset while I still had the vantage point of the hill face. Another sight worth seeing before dying, an African sunset. Once it had passed beyond the horizon, I picked up my pack and continued. I discovered a gorgeous spider in its web, completely unnoticed on the way up and most likely everyone else. Took pictures. After climbing three quarters of the way down, I met up with Mosaic, and he inquired as to when we were gonna play football. I told him that I'm thinking tomorrow afternoon. We had a really great conversation along that trail, talking about sports and such. It's beautiful how sports can transcend cultures and nations and bring us closer as people. I later had dinner with him and his UB companion and fellow researcher, "Onks." I'll definitely how to figure out how to spell those names correctly. They've said that they are going to teach me how to football tomorrow. I am excited.