Emily's Travel Injuries (Part II, including companions)

I haven't updated my list of injuries lately. I had unexplained hives again back in Cambodia, and I'm pretty sure I hurt myself another time, but now we've got the good stuff. You know how your medicine bottles always say to swallow medicine with a full glass of water? Well, I forgot about my doxycycline the other morning until just after I finished a Coke, so I swallowed it without any liquid. It felt uncomfortable at the time, but I didn't think much of it. Well, now it's three days later, and it hurts to drink, eat, and swallow my saliva. Apparently, the doxycycline dissolved in my esophagous, eating away at the lining and creating an esophageal ulcer. Isn't that nice. So now I'm chugging Maalox (nasty stuff) and trying to avoid spicy or acidic food.

I'm in Africa now with Allen Frost, my childhood friend (his mom and my mom were college roommates), and his friend Catharine from Swarthmore. We started out in Cape Town, South Africa, which is just a stunning place. It's cradled between mountains and ocean, a little ways north of the Cape of Good Hope. Let's just say Allen and I have taken our Christmas card photos for the year. We rented a car, so we drove down all the way to Cape Point, navigating hairpin turns perched on mountains that abruptly drop to the sea. We also saw baboons, springbok (antelope-like creatures), and penguins! The penguins kind of freaked me out, actually. We were taking a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held, and every time I turned around there'd be a penguin. Standing in the middle of the road, staring at me. It was a little creepy.

We also spent some time in the wine country around the Cape. It's sort of like Napa and Sonoma, but with more dramatic scenery. It was a little surreal; we kept having to remind ourselves we were in Africa, what with the B&B, French restaurants, vineyards, university students, cold weather, etc. We actually met a girl working at a vineyard who is considering coming to the University of Arkansas for track and field, so we gave her the low-down on Fayetteville.

Today, though, there's no need to remind ourselves we're in Africa. We flew to Zambia this morning and stepped off the plain into a hot, dusty savanna. We saw Victoria Falls this afternoon - it's absolutely gorgeous. We were walking along a misty path admiring the rainbows, when Allen slipped and scraped his knee up pretty badly... so we retreated back to our taxi driver, who laughed at us but took us to see an elephant so we would feel better. This one was wild and not miserable-looking, but it was alone, and the driver was worried that it was hurt. :(

Time to get dinner now. Hope you're all doing well! Much love.