Maggot Mac and Cheese

            Peace Corps Volunteers have two main topics of conversation: poop and food.  Whenever I meet up with a fellow volunteer, it is inevitable that we will touch on both of these topics.  We always talk about the food we wish could eat: cheeseburger from In and Out, bagel and cream cheese, homemade mac and cheese, a fresh salad with feta or goat cheese, nachos, etc.  Are you noticing the theme here?  Cheese!  We can find a lot of American type food in Uganda, but good cheese is hard to come by.  Kampala, the “Forbidden City” for Peace Corps Volunteers, is the only place where you can buy decent cheese.  We are able to find cheese in the bigger towns, but it always tastes like a sweaty gym sock and has a disconcerting texture.  Nevertheless, we continue to buy this awful cheese because we always think, “Maybe if we cook it this way, then it will actually taste good.”  Two weeks ago, Maggie and I had this exact thought – we decided we could make good mac and cheese.  We were really excited and got our hopes up that the mac and cheese was going to be delicious.  When we tried to grate the “cheddar” cheese, it just kept crumbling…this should have been our first clue that the cheese was no good.  The cheese also had the funky gym sock smell, but we kept saying, “Oh it will be fine once we melt it.”  We melted the cheese with some milk, and then decided to add some flour to thicken up the sauce.  We opened Maggie’s flour and there were a bunch of brown things moving about. 

Me: “Hey Maggie, what’s in your flour?” 

Maggie: “Maggots.”

Me: “Ok, I’ll just sift them out.”

Maggie: “Ya, it’s okay. Protein, right?” 

            We did not think twice, and used the flour anyway.  I’m fairly sure no maggots made into the sauce.  The mac and cheese turned out to be awful.  Once again, our expectations were too high.  The cheese had a funky aftertaste, so we just had to eat it really quickly so we wouldn’t notice.  The cheese was also kind of a weird, crumbly texture.  Then again, those could have been maggots. 

            Maggie has not had the best of luck with maggots.  She soaked her underwear and bras overnight, and when she woke up the next morning, they were covered in maggots.  She tried to wash them out, and even boiled her underwear and bras.  They, however, were then covered in dead maggots – so she dumped everything down her latrine.  I now know never to soak my laundry overnight!

            This past weekend, I visited my friend Willysha at her site near Entebbe.  She has a nice house with running water and tiled floors – it’s like staying at a hotel!  After I got out of the shower, I noticed some dry looking skin on my big toe.  I started picking at it, and asked Willysha what she thought was up with my toe.  She took one look and said, “Oh my god!  You have a jigger!”  Now, this is not be confused with chigger.  A jigger, also known as a chigoe flea, burrows into your skin and you have to dig them out.  They are really common where I live because they like dry climates and live in the dirt.  You can get them from walking barefoot or even wearing open toed shoes.  Naturally, I started to freak out, and ran to Willysha’s bookshelf in search of our medical handbook.  As I was looking through all of her medical information sheets, I saw something crawling on my leg from the corner of my eye.  I could not tell what it was at first because it was blending in with my pants.  I then realized it was a giant cockroach; it was probably 3-4 inches long!  Willysha was skyping with her friend, and I didn’t want to make a scene.  So, I calmly flicked it off my leg and continued to read the medical handbook – a true testament to the fact that I have been in this country far too long. 

            We could not find anything about jiggers, so I decided to call our medical office.  The PCMO told me that I could either dig it out or come in the next day and get it removed.  I opted for the latter option because I wasn’t sure if I could trust Willysha with a needle in my foot.  We spent the next fifteen minutes googling images of “jigger feet” and were horrified by some of the pictures.  We then decided that if we didn’t try and dig out the jigger ourselves, then we weren’t true Peace Corps Volunteers.  Thus, I let Willysha perform surgery on my foot, while I filmed and my dad watched via Skype.  I was expecting something big to squeeze out, sort of like the mango fly, but there was only a lot of pus and blood.  A little anticlimactic, but we decided I should go to medical just to make sure my toe was okay.  Medical told me that I definitely had a jigger, but we got it all out.  Oh, and that pus, was not actually pus.  It was an egg sack and the white stuff was all of the eggs.  Cool. 

            I do have the video of us getting out the jigger, but I am not sure when I will have fast enough Internet to upload.  Don’t get too excited because it is not nearly as good as the mango fly video.  You cannot see anything because I’m far away – it’s basically Willysha and I joking the whole time.  I know, however, some of you are still curious, so I will upload next time I go to Mbale. 

            Willysha, Maggie, Elizabeth, and I went to the pool on Saturday and met some guys in the US Military.  After we told them we were Peace Corps Volunteers, they informed us they call us “dirty feet.”  I have to say…they were pretty spot on with that one.  Naturally, I showed them my toe. 

            Well, I think I have sufficiently grossed most of you out, now.  My family is getting really excited to visit – my sister says she is wrapping herself in saran wrap :) 

Jigger!

People are always asking how I bucket bathe - so I thought I would take a picture.  I stand in the kiddie pool and the red basin has my bathing water (I fill it about 3/4 of the way).  I use the cup to pour water on myself.  And that purple shelf has my shampoo, conditioner, and all that.