Cape Town and Rabies

Hello Everyone,

So, I thought it was about time that I fill everyone in on what my last few weeks were like here in Botswana. They were definitely far from ordinary. As I has mentioned in my last blog, I had planned a trip to Cape Town over the Easter Long Weekend, it was a great trip and before I get into that let me fill you in on the incident with the dog. So on the tuesday before I was supposed to leave for Cape Town. Ed and Agatha (my friends from work) and I decided to make the 20-25 minute walk to Fresh Cafe for lunch. A walk we have made many times before and well worth it. Fresh Cafe for those who dont know is a restaurant/cafe with delicious western style food, ciabatta sandwiches, smoothies, thai chicken wraps, real salad etc. I could go on for a while! So, as I was saying we were heading to Fresh Cafe, and along the way we ran into two dogs across the street one big brown one and the other smaller and black. Now for the record most stray dogs or any dogs in Gabs are extremely skiddish and wont even come up to people because they are afraid of getting beat.

However, these two seemed extremely interested in Agatha and I and stared us down a bit before deciding to run across the street and bark at us and threaten to bite. At first they kept their distance, but then they tried to bite. My initial reaction was to yell "HEY!!!" very effective! haha. It did keep them away long enough for Agatha and I to walk away a bit, but the little black one came back a second time and managed to nip my left leg just behind my knee before I kicked it. I was wearing pants and noticed that nothing ripped so I thought nothing of it. While at Fresh Cafe, the place where I got bit started to sting and I went to the bathroom and saw that it had actually broken the skin and there was a defined bite mark on the back of my leg. I thought nothing of it, washed it and that was that. While at lunch two doctors from Baylor, friend of ours, came into Fresh Cafe. In conversation we told them about our run in with the dogs and my bite and they both immediately wanted to see it. I told them it was barely a scratch and nothing to worry about. However, they insisted and once they saw it they went into full doctor mode. Talking about the type of wound and then began to tell me that it was more serious that I originally thought.

While the cut wasnt big, the simple fact that it broke the skin, that it was unidentified dog, that it attacked unprovoked made them think that I should get the rabies vaccines, especially if we couldnt find the dog or its owner. (we couldnt). Now the likelihood that the dog was actually rabid was slim, but with a disease that has a 100% fatality rate, it wasnt worth the risk.
So after lunch we went back to the clinic to talk to the associate director. Dr. Mike Tolle who back in texas, used to have a travel clinic he began the process of locating the series of vaccines I would need. Turns out that I would need a total of 11 vaccines. 5 of the rabbies vaccine and 6 shots of the Rabies immuno globluin ( which they had to inject around the wound). However, it turned out that the globulin was nowhere to be found in Botswana and was only available in Johannesburg, South Africa. So it was now a scramble to book an appointment at a clinic there and find out how I was going to get there.

Luckily I had already planned to be in Joburg on friday to catch my bus to capetown, so I simply caught a ride with two friends who were heading there on wednesday and I hung out in Joburg for two days with Agatha.

*Sidenote* Joburg is nowhere near ready for the World Cup. The construction is still far from being done, the traffic was terrible and the crime is still a big issue.

Anyway I Got the globulin and day 3 vaccine and caught my bus to cape town, where I still had to get my shot for day 7 and I have two more to go 1 on tuesday and then one a few weeks later. It was kind of a pain in the ass, but I am extremely lucky that I work at a clinic with doctors who helped me out so much. If I had to arrange getting to Joburg on my own or finding my own vaccines it would have been an even bigger nightmare. Dr. Tolle was such a huge help and he even talked to my mom on the phone so she didnt freak out haha. Also, all these shots were uber expensive...thank god for insurance and for WUSC who will cover the remainder of my shots here in Gabs.

So that was that, definitely an adventure but a good story and I am now vaccinated againts rabies, which would have costs way more in Canada!

Anyway, let me also tell you about my little trip to Cape Town. It was AMAZING! I would argue it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The food was amazing, great seafood, sushi and everything else. I even tried some game meat (crocodile=disgusting, warthog=great, ostrich=delicious). I still think I will just stick to the classics. While there we went to Cape Point the most Southwestern point on the african continent and apparently it is the location where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic battle it out. Unfortunately, the weather was really windy when we were there and robben island was closed most of the time or sold out. Also, the cable car up table mountain was closed most of the week and there was alot of cloud cover. However, we did climb lions head which was equally as beautiful and the views were great! We of course headed to Simonstown and Boulders beach to see the Penguins, which were pretty cool.

It was definitely an fantastic trip and a place I can see my self visiting over and over again. Now, I am back in Gabs for my last month. Time has flown by and I will be home before I know it. In terms of traveling, I have one more place I would like to visit. I am thinking of a weekend trip to Victoria Falls, I orignially ruled it out, but being this close and not going would be a shame! I am thinkning the first weekend of May, once I am finished my main projects at work and before I start packing up to leave.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Easter, I know I did.

ps. Sorry but the pictures were not loading properly, so I think I will just create a Facebook album for Cape Town.