Attack of the Animals

What started as an innocent blog on the animal life here has quickly turned into my harrowing escape from the fire ant attack!! Ok, a little dramatic -- but my somewhat brazen attitudes towards these insects totally came back to bite me -- literally! All of a sudden I felt this sharp sting on my knee and yanked the ant out of my leg, then another one from my foot. And then I just started freaking out with every slight twinge on my body. I thought they had crawled
halfway up my thigh so i stuck my hand down my pants and broke my pant button in the process! But I'm ok and with a newfound respect for ants. Yet another reason to walk with a flashlight here -- I'll have to take a picture of these ants streaming across our paths all the time.

Anyway, I was initially going to post about how we really live in harmony (almost) with the animals here. And I'm not even talking cool, safari animals, but the roosters and chickens, the owls, the dogs, the cats (including the black cat that stalks our house -- at least i'm not superstitious!), the bush babies, the amazing birds, the rustling in the bramble we suspect are snakes. I will admit, I was definitely a little weirded out at first, but now the sounds are soothing and just seem to make sense -- it seems only natural we share the world with animals. Today I saw these geckos defying gravity and I just don't get it -- how do they climb up a wall?? And this amazing blue bird perched on my office window and just peered in for a bit. I definitely have to
get a much better camera for safari. I mean, how many times am I going to see lions, rhinos, ostriches, flamingoes, timon, and pumba? :)

Tonight was total mzungu (foreigner) night at the watering hole, this bar owned by an american who goes to medical school here (yeah, kind of confusing, but it's not like the granada thing). it was my first time and bev's last night there, as she leaves for the US tomorrow -- so the only time the 4 girls would be there together :(

the watering hole has great drinks, yummy quesadillas, a movie every thursday night, and pretty much all the foreigners hang out there on thursdays. i still prefer tusker beer to the other beers here but i'm trying them one by one (no dogfish head though) :) and animal-themed south african wine. somehow i'm definitely going to have to figure out what all these people are doing out here?!?! but we were by far the most 'touristy,' to the horror of brandi, bev, and ruchi, as I sat there taking a million pictures. but how can you not, when the night started off with our
getting there in an army jeep? :)

PS -- had to add the picture of me with my tanzanian bag -- so cute :) and i have a matching wallet (of course), to the great relief of Brandi, who thought my bright orange wallet was asking for trouble. now it's getting dusty in my drawer :)