Day 8 Bwindi

Sweat is a normal human response to heat.  It moisturizes the skin so that any breeze can cool the skin, using the principle of both conduction and convection.  The smell of sweat can be offensive, hence the market in antiperspirants and deodorants.  In Africa, you just can't worry about it.  Most people, including whites and blacks, bathe frequently and are clean, but there is no escaping the humid heat that causes people to perspire.  Generally, deodorants and antiperspirant aren't used nor should they be, because blocking this natural normal process that occurs twenty-four hours a day is not healthy, and the products are expensive.  So, I've smelled sweat on everyone I've come in contact with here at some time or another, women and/or men, myself included.  It is a normal smell and like everything else about Africa, part of the undercurrent running through the continent.

Today I went on a walking tour of the area with a guide, it was raining most of the time, but I stayed humidly dry under my rain gear.  We went to see a village, Mokono, just a short walk up the hillside.  No surprise, there was a bar and a small store.  We went on to a banana plantation where I got to taste banana juice (sweet, fermented flavor), banana wine (no sweetness at all, clear and a dry finish), and banana gin (70% alcohol--a lot like good tequila, goes down pretty easy), and a drink called Matwa, which is the banana gin plus banana juice.  Tasty, but I'd watch out.  I was offered a pint of the banana gin for $10 US and did not dare to buy it.  I'm all alone here with no one to say "are you sure"?  So, no.

Night, banana plantation worker

Then we went on to see a Herbalist, a healer or "witch doctor" who uses herbs to cure.  This was all on trails through the jungle, mud and cow dung everywhere.  The herbalist showed me a lot of different herbs that he uses--one to cure "tiredness with breathing problems" (probably CHF, maybe he was showing me digitalis...I didn't recognize it).  Also one he dripped into baby's mouths with a funnel for problems with feeding.  Also a gourd with measurements on the side that he would prescribe amounts of depending on age for those who needed a concoction of multiple herbs.  He explained how he examined the person afflicted (looked in eyes, ears, mouth, etc.), and put together the mixture based on their complaint.  It was horrifying, not because of the herbs--there are many that are effective against various medical conditions--it was the showmanship of it, and the appeal to mysticism that was appalling, especially if, as has been reported, the people spend their money on the witch doctors before seeking medical care.

Herbalist, Witch Doctor

Last we visited a faux Batwa village, the huts where they prepared food (or ones just like them) four generations ago before they left the jungle, the family eating structure, and the ladders into the trees where the women and children would hide while the men went hunting.  They danced and sang for me (I'm not sure they did that in their previous culture), and showed me baskets and beads that they made (I know they didn't do that in their previous culture).  The Batwa were forest people, who hunted for their food, had no permanent villages, and gathered as small family units for protection.  They were removed from the park when it was created, provided housing and land, and encouraged to develop some crafts to sell to instead of begging from tourists who patronized the national park.  Of course I bought a basket and tipped them for the dance....too much it turned out--to see the expression on the "chief's" face.

Batwa villagers dance