Fresh Fish

Since the education team of 10 people left on Wednesday a lot of our free time has been spent with a medical group from California. This morning we all got up early, for a Sunday. The reason? We had a rubber dingy reserved at the lake. There is an island nearby and someone had suggested visiting the island.

It took two trips to get about 15 people to the island. The first half were taken to the island, and the second half were the swimmers, not to be taken the whole way. The rubber dingy took us out past the shore, where all the fisherman were preparing their little boats. As we stripped down to our bathing suits, all the fishermen were watching us as though we were crazy. Apparently thighs are the big deal here. I think it's because people always have them covered, but there's the chicken or the egg question.

The island was much closer than I expected, and smaller as well. After we stripped there wasn't much hesitation. Everyone was in the water within 10 seconds, thankfully it wasn't cold at all. It had taken the boat about 10 minutes to reach the island with the first group, but it took me almost an hour to swim. The biggest concern for the medical people was getting sick. They discussed and discussed the risks before we got to the lake. I have already been exposed to schisto, and plan on treating myself in a few months, so my biggest fear was any creatures that might have been swimming with me.

Once I dove in I found myself in the dilemma of how to stick with the crowd. Half of the group paced themselves at what I thought would be too fast for me, and the other half went too slow for me. I feared not being near another person, because I felt like a bigger target for anything below me. Also, if a creature were to choose only one meal, my odds became better in a group.

I don't know about the logic, but I ended up paddling along with the slow group. Some swimmers slowed down, and were picked up by the rubber dingy, but another girl and I kept a pace that turned out to be perfect. The island kept slowly growing and growing, and I kept thinking that it would have been a nightmare if this wasn't by choice. It seemed so close that there is no way it could have been so far. I kept comparing it to the wall at the other end of the pool, and my judgement was continually wrong.

Regardless, algae swirled around my face, and I kept thinking of our water samples and the E. coli we find in even a single drop. Great for improving your immune system, although I might have a different take on it tomorrow. As we neared the island, there were some rocks with tropical birds, and bird poop, on them. I considered climbing onto them and using them as stepping stones to the shore, but the poop and the 'just finish' force kept me away. Good thing too, as we swam past I saw an enormous lizard, maybe a monitor lizard, sunning himself on a rock. We swam as fast as possible till the last second, then I stumbled up a rock and ran for the sand. The boat was just a little behind us, and when the boat people got out they told me that there had been a lizard, about three feet long with a head as large as mine, swimming right next to me, although someone else thought it was an otter. Either way, I was so grateful not to know until it was over. Then we wandered around the island and enjoyed ourselves for a while. I'm exhausted, but it was amazing!!