If you haven't seen Darryl Hammond do his impression on Dan Rather on Saturday Night Live, this'll make no sense. But just in case, here's what Matt and I have been laughing about for a while...

Hold awn. Maybel go down to the basement. Floyd bring in the dog, find the remote and turn the volume way up 'cause this one is a doozy.

CBS News hahys confirmed that John Sanders... hahys... Malaria. Say again. John Sanders... hahys... Malaria.

"The diarrhea began around noon."
It was the day we got off the Ilala ferry in Nkhata Bay. The diarrhea began around noon and the fatigue got worse as the day went on. By bedtime I was feeling very, very sick. As luck would have it, Matt and I had met a nice Scottish girl named Jenny in Monkey Bay. She was getting on the Ilala ferry to the same place we were. Turns out she's a doctor.

The next afternoon it was decided for me that I was going to the doctor. He immediately ordered a Malaria test which came back negative. But the thing is that when you're on Malaria prophylaxis, the drugs can mask the appearance of the parasites. You can be sick without it showing up in your blood. This is what the doctor suspected and gave me a treatment dose of Fansidar and Doxycycline. The cost for the consultation, Malaria test and drugs? About US$3.50.

"I'm cautiously optimistic."
I woke up this morning feeling much better, but I felt

A Beautiful Place to Be Sick

better yesterday morning too...
before taking a decided turn for the worse. So I'm cautiously optimistic.
But now guess who's feeling sick? Both Matt and Jen. Matt's the worst of us, so we left him in bed in Nkhata Bay to make a quick trip in the back of a pickup here to Mzuzu to do some email and find out about buses into Tanzania. But we can't do anything till we're all well again.

"I've seen the Atlantic Ocean have smaller waves."
Nkhata Bay, by the way, is an absolutely beautiful place. Tough to enjoy it fully while being eaten by blood parasites, but it's amazing. The most ocean-like lake I've ever seen. It's been rather choppy the last two days... so much in fact that I've seen the Atlantic Ocean have smaller waves than what are pounding the beach outside our cabin.

We're staying at Njaya Lodge, a backpacker resort right on the lake. Matt and I have a reed hut right on the beach. Our front porch overlooks the sand. An idyllic setting for the quite reasonable price of US$4.00 per person.