Scary-ia malaria

25th September 2011

Well today is Sunday and marks the end of my 3rd week here in Mali. Apologies for the substantial time lapse between my last post. It has been for a good reason (as the title suggests) and we shall discover the whole truth soon enough my friends, aren't we excited? Read on...

Well if the last few weeks can be described as anything it is eventful. As ever work is a constant, consisting of underground scan line mapping in the morning, for those who wish to know, a scan line is a length along the ground which you measure. In my case it is projected onto the mine walls. I record all fractures, faults, joints etc. that cross cut my transect to enable me to analysis the data at a later date...sorry I'll stop with the geology talk soon.

In the afternoon I head on over to the core logging shed for yet another action packed evening of fun! I sit quite still and record every fracture, fault, joint etc. within the >200m core (a column of rock drilled by a bad ass drill rig). It is tedious but some one has to do it and I did sign up for it I guess.

The food is still good, mainly meat and rice, with occasional spaghetti or pizza! I have learnt not to trust the sources the hard way. When I sat down to what I though was a lovely looking bolognese sauce (by the way google bolognese dog, its quite funny, anyways) I was met with horrified looks. In fact the red substance that I had mounded onto my pasta was one of the hottest...and I mean hottest chilli sauces I had ever tasted! =)
That is one way to ruin your evening.

http://a-z-animals.com/media/animals/images/470x370/bolognese_dog.jpg

One good thing to come out of my culinary mis-adventure was the apparent healing properties it had. Thus brings me to the meaning of the title that I'm sure has intrigued you to read my drivel so avidly. It has been a little while now but had you spoken to me several days ago you would have found me suffering from a fate worse that man flu. Now before I alarm you, the blood test came back as negative for Malaria. This however did not convince the doc here and so I have been on a shock treatment of maladrom that has kept my quinine levels way past my eye balls and allowed me to continue to work. I feel much better now, and am not convinced if it was Malaria. Only time will tell if it was or if I have fully recovered. I would like to put it down to an exaggerated, less entertaining, freshers flu. The chilli sauce seemed to help, as unexpected as that may be, presumably making my stomach etc. an inhospitable place for a short period of time...A lovely thought.

On a lighter note, I am making some good friends here. Everyone goes out of their way to help and I have successfully hunted down the majority of people aged 30 or below. A hard task. In fact if truth be told they found me and were kind enough to invite me to small gatherings or movie nights despite my lack of french linguistic skills. I have been trying to learn more french but I find it quite a challenge.

Today I have been to the mill for a guided tour. The mill is the set up of crushers, mixing tanks, and ovens where the ore is turned to gold bars. One of which I have held if you care to look at my fb. It is quite possibly the single most expensive thing I will ever hold in my grubby little geologist mits.

Thank you for your persistence and patience as I took you for a slightly more elongated tour around my brain dump. Until next time...