Email: Parasites

I came into Kombo briefly because there were these dots on my hand,
like pimples or heat rash, and they itched like crazy. I would wake
myself up at night scratching at them. Then I noticed. They were
moving. I couldn't "feel" them move, no more than the itching, but I
could see the tracks or paths they were making in my skin. It's like
that Snake game on Nokia cell phones. They move around and leave a
trail, and the trail is all curved and wrapped within itself.
Naturally, I sought treatment. I guess I got them from working in the
dirt, which, as a farmer/gardener, means I will undoubtedly get more
of these. I have been applying some topical medicine to suffocate and
kill them and I think it's working. They don't itch and are now hard
little cysts.

If this is not the good morning from Africa you expected then I'll
skip the descriptions of the parasites in my stomach. I'm doing well
now and about to head back up country but there was a few days where I
literally couldn't eat. I would look at food, good food, American
food, and could not make myself eat it. That, is something new for me.
I LOVE to eat. For the first time in my adult life I cracked the 160lb
benchmark, albeit Im at 159. But now that I'm retaining water, that
will shoot back up. It's just neat to come to town and see myself in a
mirror for the first time in a month. I have a small hand mirror up
country, but there are days where I actually forget to look at it,
because I don't have to. Think about it, how often do you look in a
mirror? Once, twice, a billion times a day. Or catch yourself as you
walk by dark glass, or a car window, you see yourself all the time.
But for a month, I see myself only occasionally, I have to make an
effort to look at myself, then I get here and there's wall mirrors, I
just stand there with my shirt off looking at my bones. It's so funny.
You have an idea of who you are in your head, and then you look at
yourself and say, "who the hell are you?"

Yes, I have been farming. A lot actually. I have cassava and rice and
sweet potatoes all going well. I planted a bunch of trees and melons
and salad fixings before I came down here so I'm curious if any
germinated. The rainy season is a tough time to direct seed I guess.
No rain for two or three days and then it comes down like a mack
truck. I'm kind of a design freak and spend hours shaping my garden
beds, only to have them destroyed by the rain.

It's gorgeous here right now. The reds of the soil against the greens
of the foliage against the blues of the sky against the whites of the
clouds, and then some black figure walks into view and the whole scene
paralyzes itself and it all seems to become perfect. Right now Africa
is a crayola box, everywhere you look. Not a bad place to be.
Parasites and all.