So there is only one flight to and from Jinka every other day, so we could’t leave until Wednesday. But our guide, Tofa, was stoked to take us on another adventure. He’s like, “Okay we’re going to walk to this other tribe, it’s a beautiful nature walk.” Well once we started, and the car was gone with all out stuff, we realized this was no nature walk, but a decent uphill hike. He pointed to the top of a small mountain at a huge tree and stated, “We’re just going there!”
But what do you do?! You just go for it! I had no water or sunscreen and it was hot…. We were all in jeans and not hiking shoes…. I’ve been hiking a lot this summer so I was okay with it but some others were struggling. It was hot though… and it was really straight up and the path was almost like climbing giant knotted tree roots the dirt had been so warped. But man it was beautiful!
We were getting close to the village and Tofa says, “I’m going to get you guys some of the best lemons ever!” And disappears into he trees. He took a long time but finally was heading back to us quickly and suddenly he did something odd…. He darted into a bush like someone was after him and then he comes back out with a branch, hitting himself and rushing around like a mad man!
“There were bees!” He exclaimed as he dropped limes at our feet. (Yes they are what we would call a lime but they call them lemons apparently.) One bee was still after him but then finally left. He stopped moving, panting, I could see dots of blood on his shirt on his back…. And large spots swelling on his arms and head…. He said a whole swarm got him! We helped pull out some stingers and told him we should probably go back, that is a dangerous thing to have happen. “No no I am fine, I am fine!” He insisted as he charged up the mountain again. We all hesitantly followed behind him again….
I caught up to him and noticed that he was starting to cough and spit, like he was having a had time swallowing. I asked him if his throat was getting tight, I tried telling him that’s a sign of a dangerous reaction to the stings. He tried to tell me he was fine.
We got to the village, which was, admittedly, super cool…. It was beautiful! Surrounded by full green trees and plants and dotted with orange mud and grass huts. The people there had small farming fields growing anything from onions to coffee beans. The few people we saw were so friendly too! But Tofa was getting worse. He was coughing more now and sweating and hives were breaking out. We told him he had to go back, it was life threatening! He was still trying to refuse and we were like, “We’re going to pay you the full price but please we need to get you help!” After talking to a couple villagers he agreed. I was trying to think through what we were going to do if he passed out or stopped breathing. We could carry him down the mountain all together. We gave him water to drink and some Tylenol. It’s all we had since we weren’t prepared for the hike!
It was a miracle, it just had to have been, that we made it down and he didn’t die or have to be carried. Neba rushed to us as close as he could get and we rushed to the hospital clinic in town. Thankfully they had what was needed for him and gave him shots and such. They told us he was having anaphylactic shock for sure. Alyse had also had an inhaler in the car in her bag that he used as well.
So…. That was all pretty nuts. I was of course just grateful he was okay but I admit, bummed we didn’t get to stay longer at that mountain village! It was so amazing! But I’m glad we did get to see it at least.
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