Man. I woke up from my two hour nap feeling awful. AWFUL. What was I thinking last night? I HATE drinking. I don’t know what was making me feel worse, my ridiculous amount of alcohol mixing or my disappointment in myself. We were supposed to go to Akagera today, see Freddy for the first time in weeks, and now I was feeling like total garbage, and it was totally self-induced. I still managed to get up, get showered and get ready. I dragged my poisoned body out to the car using as little energy as possible and then tried not to move. We picked up snacks at a gas station but all I wanted was water. We picked up Joseph too and it was another person I felt like I was letting down since I was feeling too sick to even talk or socialize.
The drive for me was sitting as still as I could, eyes closed, concentrating on not throwing up and trying to just deal with the sickness mentally. It was working alright. I didn’t watch the countryside that I so love because I just didn’t think I could handle it. We arrived in Kibungo and Alice wasn’t at the house so we had to wait outside for her to come and unlock it. I sat on a ledge quivering. I took advantage of the waiting to go puke in a bush. When Alice finally arrived, I started grabbing all my gear so that we could shoot video and photos. Kara and Lama wanted to know if I just wanted to stay home. I said I did, but I was going to feel like garbage no matter where I was, I wasn’t going to miss out on the park. I did this to myself, so I would just have to deal with it.
We made it to Akagera around noon and pulled up to the lodge. As soon as we stopped the car I went straight to the bathroom to throw up some more. Since we hadn’t eaten, everyone wanted to grab lunch. I absolutely did not want to eat, so I thought my time would be better spent sleeping in the car. I mean I could have sat at the table, resting my head and being miserable, but I didn’t think that was as polite. The car was sweltering hot in the sun but I fell right asleep regardless.
I woke up two hours later drenched in sweat. I was soaked. And parched. And I was feeling surprisingly better. I could walk without feeling like I was going to collapse, and although my head was still pounding, I had gone from feeling awful to just below tolerable. I went inside to meet the others and they were just finishing their dessert. I sat with them until they were done. At this point though, we had to decide if it was still worth going into the park. It was late in the afternoon since every step of the way took longer than we anticipated from getting ready, stopping in Kibungo, grabbing lunch etc. We went to see if we could just do an hour tour of the park but we had no luck. We’d have to pay full price and it was already getting dark. There were no assurances we’d even see anything, and we didn’t have much time. We all agreed it would be better off to come back another day, very early in the morning and get a full experience out of it. I felt bad that Freddy and Joseph had given their Saturday to do this and in the end we decided not to. I felt worse that all we could offer them in return was our company, and mine had been worthless all day, if not a burden.
So Freddy and Joseph dropped us off in Kibungo and we said goodbye. Alice had dinner ready and I did finally feel capable of eating and keeping something down, despite still feeling weak. I did eat, I did keep it down, and I did go straight to bed at about 6 pm. This was without question the worst day in Rwanda, and it was all my fault.
