During the night in my stuffy, single room (the ceiling was riddled with rivet holes, casting down circles of light on me—thank God it didn't rain) I felt a bit queasy. I had a very restless night and when I got up in the morning I had a bout of Montezumu's Revenge. Not too bad, though I didn't feel great.

We decided to take advantage of the cool morning and cycled onwards until stopping for breakfast. Not hungry, I abstained, brunching on Gastrolyte, Aspirin and two of Doug's Activated Charcoal ("That'll sponge up everything in your system."). Feeling a bit bloated but okay, we went on, climbing a long hill. We rested at the top and waited for the others to catch up. When we continued on I was feeling extremely exhausted. We stopped to watch workers using machines to harvest tea leaves and soon after came to the tea factory itself.

A man gave us a tour of the factory which had become more and more automated over the years. (Hand picked tea is still the norm, and of better quality, for the record.) Throughout the tour I had to sit down—I didn't think I could stand for much longer. We left, stopping shortly to watch the workers who hand picked the tea (1300 UGS per day -- about $1.50 CDN). Ate a Powerbar... the only thing so far today; it helped slightly, but even eating that was an effort.

When we stopped for lunch I got a big plate of rice and beans. The rice was congealed together, and I could only eat a few mouthfuls. Even the one Coke I had didn't go down easy. I was still feeling quite bloated. I spent most of the time trying to grab a short nap on the bench because I felt so tired.

Along the way, to make my day, my front tire went flat. I had pushed the bike along the road waiting for shade; several Ugandans asked me what was wrong. "Flat tire," I responsed, pointing. And, of course, once I was stopped a crowd had gathered to watch us work. David stopped and helped... in fact, he practically did all the work himself. Must of felt sorry for me. (He was appreciative I found shade to do it in, though.)

We passed through the town of Ishaka. I waited at a post-office with the others before climbing the big hill at the end, where we were supposed to stop for a drink. Didn't see the lodge, though. A woman and man (officers, I think) chatted with me as I waited. And waited. I pulled over and sat down in the dry grass by the side of the road. And waited. People went by, staring at me, as usual, as a roadside attraction. I tried not to pay much attention to them. Finally the others came—the lodge had been at the BOTTOM of the hill. I wish I had been there, but at least the rest helped.

We went through 5 km of dirt road, rough and bouncing us the entire way. At the lodge I had a warm pop and soon collapsed on a bench inside while we waited for the rooms to be ready. When they were, I went into the first and collapsed on the bed. David brought in my bike at one point. I felt a bit like a baby, but I suppose I didn't care much.

I forced myself up for a cold bucket bath. Nathan was sitting outside his room and said his stomach wasn't feeling too well, either. As I went to the bathing area I stepped in some fresh cement, leaving a nice solid imprint of my shoe. Greatly embarrassed at what I had done, I apologized to one of the women working nearby and she told me, slightly amused, "You are forgiven." After bathing I got dressed and lay down, my stomach growling and gurgling. David invited me to supper at around 7:00pm, but I thought better of it, skipping the third meal of the day. I stayed in bed, pulling the blankets over me to fight off the chills.

After dinner David visited and found me feverish. He came back with his sickness chart and a thermometer (102) but we still weren't sure what it was. Possibly mild food poisoning. (I blamed the chicken, but it likely was that fish we had in QE Park.) He got me a Sprite and once again I went under cover, sleeping rather well despite my rumbling stomach.