Weekending, 9th October 2010

Bijilo Monkey Park

On Sunday we took Lynn off to Bijilo Monkey Park which is where we visited last October near to Senegambia. As we were walking down the road towards the park Abigail suddenly shouted monkey’s and as we looked in the trees there were loads off them just sat with their babies walking along the telegraph wires it looked as if they were heading for the park. We paid our entrance fee and then started walking it was nice to be shaded from the sun overhead. We reached the end of the track and headed back along the beach I was unaware that we were actually taking a different route back to last time which ran along the edge of the sand dunes. We eventually arrived at the seated area and a little further along we saw an abundance of Green Vervet Monkeys lazing around in nearby trees or grooming each other, unfortunately we didn’t see the Red Colobus Monkeys this time.

It's A Hard Life

On Monday we received a phone call from school saying Abigail was unwell again. I picked her and Bradley up as on seeing her I decided to take her off to Africmed. She was very unwilling to go as she just wanted to sleep and was scared about any needles. When we arrived at Africmed it was very busy people were sat outside on benches waiting their turn. Luckily there was a hospital bed up against one of the walls so I laid Abigail down whilst we waited to be seen. At one stage one of the male nurses showed some concern by checking her temperature it was showing 39.9 very hot. After another wait we were seen by another nurse who took details of her symptoms and did another temperature check. We then waited again to have some blood and urine tests done before actually seeing the doctor. Two and a half hours later we were called to see the doctor, although no malarial parasites had shown up in her blood he was confident that she had malaria so prescribed her a course of coartime as well as some amoxicillin for a chest infection. Once home Abigail went straight off to bed and slept for the rest of the day. On the evening I went off with Lynn to do my yoga class whilst there Paul experienced some funny yet concerning noises from Abigail she was feverish and delirious which resulted in her making animal noises. She spent the rest off the week off school on Tuesday I took the day off work, on Wednesday Paul looked after her and on Thursday I took her to school with me. She seemed okay however at about 11 o’clock she started to feel tired so I laid her down in the library to rest. On the afternoon Abigail was in a fighting mood with Bradley mainly because she was so tired an early night was called for. By Friday she was back to normal and able to take a dip in the pool at safari garden. She does look very skinny after her illness as she had no appetite to eat anything all week.

Marielle's Welcome Back Party

On Saturday evening Max held a welcome party for Marielle who arrived back last night for a weeks holiday. It was nice to see her again and catch up with her life back in the Netherlands. She produced some little presents for us all, hello kitty purse and watch for Abigail, colouring book and felt tips for Bradley, a football lolly for Paul, clogs fridge magnet and waffle biscuits which were yummy and reluctantly I had to share them with the family for me. Max as usual gave us all a supper party with plenty of good food and drink. He had also invited a group of Cubans who put on some salsa music so they were up dancing it was great to watch them move. Jane is good at salsa dancing so her and max were also up having a boogie. Abigail started to get tired around 8 o’clock so she laid down on Max’s bed and fell asleep. Bradley was well up for a party and showing no signs of flagging so by 10.30pm we decided to make a move for home. We later found out the party went on until 5am Max having crashed out on the bed whilst others carried on partying.