Jambo (Hello) from Tanzania

What an adventure! Spent 24 hours (almost all on a plane) traveling to the other side of the world, south of the equator. I’ve never been south of the equator but it is a very temperate climate, hovering around 60-70 degrees year round. Tanzania is currently in its rainy season, and it apparently rained the three days before we arrived.  It was surreal landing in Africa and then not being able to see anything. I was in the middle of the plane in a middle seat, so not even a view of the Sahara for me.  That made it even more magical seeing Africa for the first time this morning. And we saw so much this first day! First of all, the hotel we are staying at is sweet!  More like a resort.  It’s down a bumpy dirt road on the outskirts of the town of Moshi.  Not quite a city, but moving in that direction. The “mountain” (Kilimanjaro) can usually be seen from the upstairs balcony near my room. We couldn’t see it this morning due to the clouds, but as I write in this journal at quarter to 7 pm, I can see her in the fading light.  She’s a beast, so majestic and magical with her flat top. 

This morning (May 11), we woke up to a tasty breakfast of eggs made to order, toast, porridge, and mangoes. Dr. Whitney taught us an introduction to the continent of Africa and about the mountain we will climb at the end of the trip.  I don’t know if the students or myself are more excited and as each hour passes, I find more and more to be excited about. After our lesson, we headed into town for a walking tour.  First stop, the markets where you can buy the biggest avocados I have ever seen to fried dried fish to electronics to clothes to whatever you need.  We saw that there was a lot of new construction in town and that most Tanzanians do not see white folks very often. There was a lot of staring and people trying to sell us stuff. We saw several mosques and churches as Christianity and Islam are two major religions here.  We went back to the hotel for a lunch of naan-like bread, rice, and a slightly spicy mushroom dish with chocolate-frosted yellow cake for dessert.  I don’t think I’ll be losing any weight on this trip!

We departed our afternoon walking tour right from the hotel. We walked past many types of residences and fields of corn and beans mostly.  We had a gaggle of children following us for a mile or so, all wanting to give us high fives and fist bumps, and even hold our hands. It’s hard to not want to take them home with you. First day in Africa and my heart is already melted for these kids, so many kids.  We also saw maribu storks that stand 4 feet tall and two different types of monkeys – colobus and virvet. It’s hard to get a good picture of the monkeys but they are super fun to watch!

We walked through a swampy forest and saw the second tallest tree in Africa – Millicia Excelsia. Then we walked through the rice fields (my favorite part of the day) with palm trees, rice fields, cool looking birds, and mud up to your knees if you took the wrong step (which most of us did repeatedly). What’s not to like?  We also got our first peek of the Maweksi peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, then Kebo peak, which is the one we will be summiting.  I always make fun of Dino for taking too many pictures, but that is definitely me on this trip.  I mean, how often do you go to Africa?  Let the crazy amount of picture taking continue! I can’t believe this is only day 2 and there are still so many places yet to visit and be inspired. I feel like the luckiest gal alive.