And now, the rest of the story...

I apologize for the gaps between blog posts. Mostly I am at the mercy of spotty WiFi and random power outages.

There's so much to talk about, but I need to back up a bit.

The morning I arrived in Tanzania, no more than two hours after stepping off the plane, I took a heinous misstep and rolled my right ankle. Pop, pop, pop, crunch.

The pain about made me black out. I knew it was bad but after the 32 hours worth of flying it took to get here all I wanted to do was lay down.

I couldn't sleep. I just laid awake wondering how I was going to cope with the injury.

For those of you who are like, “why didn't you say something sooner,” I didn't need a deluge of medical advice or sympathy. I needed to assess the situation and make some decisions.

I have extensive first aid training in my background, from the Army to being a certified CPR/First Aid instructor for several years.

Immediately I ruled out a fracture. There was none of the telltale signs or ongoing pain when I manipulated my foot or moved it. Tendon damage was my main concern.

I knew I needed to ice my ankle and elevate it. I was able to do both for the first two days here. I also immobilized it using two bananas I'd brought along for just such an emergency.

It wasn't until day three that I'd sourced an Ace Bandage and was able to properly wrap it.

Here we are a week later. Pain is greatly diminished and I have near normal mobility. I am continuing to wrap and elevate my foot every day.

I consider myself lucky and greatly on the mend. And, yes, I forced myself to take the time to take care of the injury.

Tomorrow is the first major test of how I'm doing. I'm going on a 3.5 KM hike through the forest to see colobus monkeys and visit a Chagga village.

I walked around downtown today and feel good about this trip. Of course I will take care and will tell my guides straight away about my injury.

As they say, hakuna matata. No worries.

Now, for my family and friends who are upset that I didn't tell you sooner, I didn't want you to dream up horrible worst-case scenarios. I had to take care of myself and making you worry from day one was not a rational thing to do.

I'm fine now, and it's all part of the adventure.

Cheers!