9/19/07 Africa a retrospective

Its months later and Josiah has still not paid me the money owed me for the kit rental fee. I have a signed contract saying he would pay me 30 days from the end of principle photography. I wrote him many times to try and get my money. With little or no word back. He did pay me $200 he still owed me from meds & the confiscated xlrs. The kit rental fee is a bit more money, had to call off my trip to LA because I couldnt afford it. Which probably lost me a job on a film. I was going to meet with the producer out there.

Back to the Mzungu zoo

Awoke rested but still feeling crappy. Still have a fever, my body aches and feels weak. Had a light breakfast of PB & J..After a quick shower the Sofia van arrived to pick up the "crane" that nevr worked for us. We promised it to Sofia. They left & we sat for a while and trid to figure out where I could get a Malaria test. Rajabu came and picked us up so Jason could update Sofia's software for them. Tried to go to a nearby clinic, but no dice the lad tech was out for the day. So I checked my email & posted a blog on myspace about being malarial & habging out in Zanzibar.
Something I forgot to mention the night before I asked Josiah to help me find a hospital or a good doctor. He said he would. Then promptly dissapeard the following day. He left me to find my own way in his country where apparently there is a hospital that has a wing named after his father. I wont even tell you how I felt or what I think of him after this.
Anyway back to my original story. We went to another clinic a chinese one near the brake point restaurant. They had no electricity. Power outages are common in Dar. So we went to The Mission Mikocheni Hospital. A nice place, Rajabu took me in.. A couple ladies in the waiting room laughed when I mentioned Malaria. Some dark humor. So I went in a room & told this guy who I can only assume was a doctor, that I thought I had malaria. Went a few doors down and after a short wait got my finger pricked for the blood smear test. 20 min later I knew, I had Malaria. I had it in writing. So I went to the Catherine & Charles pharmacy near Sofia. They gave me some pills with no prescription thought the paper I had was a prescription. It was just my diagnosis.
Went back to the condos & got ready for dinner in a flash. On our way out the door we saw Josiah. Who asked me nothing about how I felt or if I was sick. What a pompus self absorbed prick!
We jumped in a cab and picked up Xandra the beauty from Colorado, Who works helping out at a local orphanidge. Went to slipway and had another amazing and relaxing sushi meal. I had the tuna platter. There was a ton of food, good convo & jokes. After dinner Sam, Xandra Chris and Jason got ice cream. We sat by the water. Chris Josiah right hand man, went to the bathroom. We briefly discussed keeping the hard drives with the footage on them, till we get full payment. Josiah still owed us all money. Keeping them is still an option.
Tomorrow could get ugly. Ive heard of ransoming the film before with reluctant to pay producers. Never thought I would work on something where we would have to do it..Life is crazy..

Malaria Day 2

I feel a little better rested but still sick...So I had breakfast with Alex, Sam & Chris..Took the afternoon ferry back to Dar it was a bumpy ride a bunch of people puked or looked as if they were ready to. Customs was an open door & few officials hanging around and making conversation. They paid us no mind as we walked through. Every cabbie in Dar was there saying "Sir", "My friend you need taxi". We pushed through them & said hapana(no!). Walked a couple blocks and found another taxi who quoted us a price of 15 thousand shillings. We talked him down to 10 thousand(10 bucks) and rode home slowly through rush hour traffic.
Arrived at the Mzungu zoo(the condos) & said hello to Josiah then showerd went to dinner at that Intlain place Servio's or Stevno's. I still sick feverish & weak. Tomorrow I have to go get a blood test to see if its Malaria

Malaria Day 1

Awoke feeling slightly better..So we all went to the beach including Laurel from the night before...Stupid Idea I felt like a shit sandwich. Slept in the van while they snorkled. It sucked I was feverish & weak all day, hated it...After the beach went to the hotel & slept feel somewhat rested..Was sick all day the rest of the guys dissapeard, except Chris he brought me a juice & a chapati bread..I have no appetite forced down a ew bites & went back to sleep..was hoping to get up intime for breakfast. They are all gone somewhere in the twisting winding streets of stone town. Guess Jason slept over at Laurels hotel =)..Sam woke up early to take soome pics of Stone Town..Wish I felt better wouldve done the same.

Exotic Isle of Zanzibar Day 2

Our plans today were to go snorkling, so we woke up early. Had a great little breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit & toast & got a ride north with our driver Soloman. After a long drive we arrived at a beautiful beach. We being Jason, Sam, our new friend Alex, Chris & Me. The tide was out when we got there so we got our snorkling gear & hiked a bit through all these tide pools with various sea creature hanging out in them. We got in our boat & rode out about a mile or 2 off shore. Where the Mzungu feeding frenzy was going on. About 7 or 8 boats were chasing down a couple of Dolphin. When the boats got close the Wazungu(many white people) Jump in or rather on the dophins to swim with them. Jason & Alex jumped in & got pretty dam close. I was of the opinion that the dolphin should be left alone & stayed on the boat. It just didnt seem right..So we suggested going & checking out a near by reef. Here I jumped in to realize my face masy was faulty..While in the water trying to fix it. I for some reason remeberd theis footage I once saw of a woman being attacked by a great white off the coast of Africa. I promptly swam to the boat & got some sun while the rest of the gang checked out the reef.
After that we went to the Jozani Forest where we saw monkeys & walked through a mahogony forest. We were like 5 feet away from the monkeys. Pretty dam cool wild African monkey just hanging out with us..
That evening we went to the new Africa Hotel for drinks. Sam, Jason, Chris, me & our cute friend Alex All went. There we met a cool male nurse who worked in the DRC(Congo). Also met a cute gal named Laurel who was sitting alone & we asked to join us. Laurel was teaching sustainable agriculture to people who had Aids. Very cool everyone we meet here is doing humanitarin work.
All of a sudden I began to feel...a bit Malarial fever, aches, chills. While feeling crappy our friends from France arrived. We chatted them up for a while & then Jason & I walked them home to the pyramid hotel. After we got lost & walked around till we finally found a guy nice enough to show us where our hotel was..

7/31/07 The Exotic Isle of Zanzibar Day 1

We took the noon ferry to Zanzibar. Arrived in Stone town an hour later. Stone town is like a maze of many little twisting streets not big enough for cars. Lots of mopeds & bikes traverse these charming alley ways. And tons of people..We immediatly met a guy named Eddie who took us to a hotel. The Riverman hotel Ive gotten lost trying to find this place at least 7 times already.
The 1st night we went to this huge outdoor fish market right on the water. They had every kind of fish & sea crustation you could imagine layed out on tables ready to be cooked. I picked out my fish & the guy propmtly put it on a makeshift BBQ to cook. Got my huge plate & sat down with Sam, Jason & Chris. Sam was chatting up these two french girls one of whom was gorgeous.
After dinner we went down the block to Mercury's. Actually Freddy Mercury's of Queen fame. Apparently he was from Zanzibar & owned a pub/eatery there & this was it. So we sat down got some drinks & I began to flirt a bit with Clair one of our French friends. Who were actually were there in Zanzibar helping built a school. After some flirtations & more beers. We found our way to this dance club where we danced a bit. They even played my favorite African jam banchuka chu. After some exhausting dancin, we sat down with some other Mzungus(white folks)..Where we met a cool chic named Alex. I had a great chat with Coleen about world politics & burned one with the locals right in the club which was right on the water & had a huge empty pool in the middle of it. After ll was said & done we walked the girls to thier hotel & went to sleep..

7/30/07 African Nights

Slept till noon, hung out around the Mzungu zoo..In the late afternoon we went to a local Italian place called Stevanos..Saw Sarah the girl I danced with from last night there. A pretty woman even after a long night of partying. I orderd pizza with shrimp and mushrooms..It was good, but I tried some of Jasons totellini & that was better. Xandra the gorgeous aspiring nun met us there, She was charming as usual. After lunch we went back to the Condos to get ready for the One Mic concert. An African Hip hop & r&B concert.
The concert was enormous. There was easily 5000 people there. Saw all te top acts from Tanzania & Kenya. Saw DNA, Prezzo obsession & many other who's names I forget. They only sold warm beer which I thought was a bit strange. The show was amazing but tiring. Tons of acts, they just kept coming. later we went to a big outdoor club with a great band. With like 14 members on stage it was like P-Funk..