1) Dale, Adele, Hav and I and our tour guide/friend Avijiat took a bike trip out to the villages in the surrounding area. Although we were rather sore after a full day of riding bikes, it was worth it. We were able to see some of the crops - mustard, wheat (sounding a little like Saskatchewan!), rice, eggplant, banana, etc. We stopped in at one of the villages and were promptly seated as the crowds gathered around us and the chief came to greet us. We took a short walkthrough and looked at all the cool mud/plaster houses and ended our tour by receiving a bag of guavas. After that, we went on to a Catholic run orphanage that takes in boys and girls from Calcutta. It was quite a large facility that had a focus on agriculture and self sufficiency. They even used the cow manure to make bio fuel to use in the kitchen. We met the fellow who ran the boys side and he was quite the character. He obviously took a great interest in design as he created the facility that had a very nice layout with lots of colourful buildings and flower gardens. We also found out he was the first person to start a night club in Goa. We also went to meet the sisters who ran the girls side of the orphanage and they were really kind to us, inviting us in for tea and giving us a tour of the facility in which girls learn to knit, sew, batique, embroidery. One girl gave us a demo of the knitting machines they use.
2) I became sick with a fever at 4 am the day after our grueling bike trip. This fever continued to rise until by afternoon it was a whopping 104 degrees farenheit. I have never felt so ill in my life. We became a little worried that it may be malaria since we had just been in Cameroon which is a high risk area for the disease. Later that evening the fever was still quite high so Adele had some of her doctor friends come over and check me out. They said it was ok to wait until morning to get checked out again and maybe have a blood test done but that I had to get the fever down. Needless to say it was not a fun evening - shivering with wet towels all over me until morning. But the next day, I actually felt much better as the fever had subsided a lot. Another doctor came over and diagnosed it as some sort of gastro-intestinal illness and prescribed the proper medication. I was assured that I didn't have malaria but there was still some concern from the doctors and nurses in Hav's family and the concensus was that getting the blood test done anyway wouldn't hurt. So, Hav and Adele went to the pharmacy down the road to pick up some antibiotics for me and casually asked where we could get a blood test done. "No problem" the pharmasist replied, " I'll send my chap right over." 15 min later a guy came over from a lab with all the necessary equipment and sucked the blood out of me (would you ever get this kind of house service in Canada?) Over the rest of the day, I continued to get healthier and when I received the results, they stated that I tested negative for malaria. So that was quite the load off.
3) Other random highlights included watching many episodes of Corner Gas to make us feel like we were back home, unlimited internet(and fast internet at that), hanging out with the boys, going for a picnic with their staff members and enjoying some good home cooked meals.
(rickshaw ride to the train station)
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