Jambo!
Sally and Sam arrived today around 11am and surprised Heidi and me as we were sitting on the balcony and Sally's head peeked around.... it was such a fun moment! Based on how the hotel had reacted when we asked to be next to each other we thought there was no way in hell it'd happen. After some catching up we went and had lunch then decided to go to "town" to check out the market and just get a look around. First stop, was the Chagga (?) museum. While I was setting us up for a self-timer photo (it was brilliant... us in the banana trees) John came up to us and offered to take our picture... then he gave us a tour of the museum area and wanted to bring us to town. He was very nice and informative (the Chagga are the people of the tribe that surrounds Kilimanjaro) but we wanted instead to just hang out with one another instead, so we kindly refused his services and decided to go on our own. He tried to explain to us that he'd guide us through the bush so as to avoid the dusty road, but being the smart and independent women that we are, we, of course, knew what was best.
About halfway down the road we realized that walking in flip flops (well, Heidi had sneakers) perhaps wasn't the wisest thing as in addition to being crazy dusty, there we tons of rocks and uneven ground (it is a dirt road). On a small slope Heidi, the one with the sneakers, slipped and fell... followed with Sam sliding along (but successfully catching herself before hitting the ground) and sending all of us into a fit of laughter -and perhaps wondering if we weren't as wise as we thought. We got to the "city center" which was no more than a market (which we took pictures of and then were asked to give the people money - seems you pay for pictures... noted) and a store that was called "city center". The sun was beating down and we'd forgotten to put on sunscreen - plus it was such a short walk, we decided it would be fun to venture off into the brush and find our way back through a jungle of banana trees.
Walking through the "woods" we came across a number of little homes hidden from the road - really, one would never know so many people lived in the area if you never went off the road and onto these small paths. At one point we went through a group of homes together where 3 little boys ran after us asking for pens and we promised to return tomorrow with some writing utensils as we didn't have anything with us. It didn't seem unreasonable that we'd make it back at the time, but as I write this now, I'm not sure we would (of course, I don't know that they had any idea that we said we'd be back tomorrow as they didn't seem to follow "tomorrow" nor my brilliant choice of using the name of the day and speaking slowly "we'll be back sat-ur-day" as if that'd make all the difference. Continuing on our walk, thinking of Blair Witch and other scary stories (with Sally reminding Heidi who was at the back of the line that it's always the last person who gets taken) we find our way to a camp and a sign for a waterfall. For $2 each, Helen brings us to her waterfall (and gave us all postcards!) to show us the beautiful view and where kids jump off. The kids jumped off from the top (and were rewarded with $1), we took pictures and explored the area nearby. We walked down some very steep steps (3 of us in flip flops) and hoped we wouldn't fall and hurt ourselves prior to even getting on the mountain. Mission accomplished - down and back. Helen had given Sam directions to get back through the woods to the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort (right at the school, down the hill) and we walked in confidence.
We came upon a river we needed to cross and rather than follow the path across the rocks that the locals take (since there is a path on the other side) Sally, Sam and Heidi decided to be more adventurous and cross a bit upstream. Some locals down river saw this and came to explain they were crossing in the wrong place. Unfortunately it was a bit too late and the young man went over to "rescue" the ladies (oh, and don't you believe I got pics of the entire thing!).
Finally on the other side of the river, we hiked up the hill, past the school (we think) and came to a T where we went left since it was down as Sam remembered Helen saying we'd have to go down. After that I'm not sure why we made any of the choices we made when we got to each of the following forks in the road. We tended to go right and up.... with every new road Heidi said "I recognize this path with the banana trees" (the funny thing is she was completely serious!) Finally we decided to ask a woman through who's yard we walked and she didn't understand any English (not to be discouraged, I tried charades and pretended to sleep at a hotel as well as drive a car -thinking I was demonstrating the main road). To no avail, so we headed back in the direction from which we came. Suddenly a little boy came out of a building, she spoke to him, then in perfect english said to us "he will show you the way" Interesting. Well, he only showed us how to get to the next person's house which was where he got distracted by a woman working there, pointed at the path and left. Great. We continued our "up and right" journey and passed by a pub (of sorts) and wondered how much higher we were going to have to go. Finally I asked a man on the road if he knew where the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort was... he said "yes, that way" and pointed down the path where we'd just come from. He asked if we'd give him a gift for telling us where it was, I said "we'll give you a gift for taking us there". So, we headed back down following the random man who was hoping for some money. Poor Sally started to get blisters and decided to go barefoot down the dirt road over rocks and pebbles... and Sam was hurting from blisters as well. It turned out we were actually about 15-20 minutes (maybe more?) away from the hotel... oops. AND we were going in the complete opposite direction - so it's a good thing we got turned back around. We gave our new guide $5 and couldn't wait to get back and wash up after our crazy adventure.
Needless to say, a simple walk to the market turned into a great adventure (this is why I love these women!) and I'm sure townspeople from all over will be telling of the 4 muzungu (white people) who kept wandering through the bush, laughing until they cried, with no clue where they were going.
Fun times had already! We'll be heading out tomorrow with John (the guy from earlier today) to see more waterfalls, caves and something else. Or, more likely, whatever he decides we'll see - as you never know what it will be, but you know it will almost always be a story!
I tried to post a picture, but this computer won't let me :(
Hope all is well stateside!
Cheers,
Kristin
Click for Pictures
Sally and Sam arrived today around 11am and surprised Heidi and me as we were sitting on the balcony and Sally's head peeked around.... it was such a fun moment! Based on how the hotel had reacted when we asked to be next to each other we thought there was no way in hell it'd happen. After some catching up we went and had lunch then decided to go to "town" to check out the market and just get a look around. First stop, was the Chagga (?) museum. While I was setting us up for a self-timer photo (it was brilliant... us in the banana trees) John came up to us and offered to take our picture... then he gave us a tour of the museum area and wanted to bring us to town. He was very nice and informative (the Chagga are the people of the tribe that surrounds Kilimanjaro) but we wanted instead to just hang out with one another instead, so we kindly refused his services and decided to go on our own. He tried to explain to us that he'd guide us through the bush so as to avoid the dusty road, but being the smart and independent women that we are, we, of course, knew what was best.
About halfway down the road we realized that walking in flip flops (well, Heidi had sneakers) perhaps wasn't the wisest thing as in addition to being crazy dusty, there we tons of rocks and uneven ground (it is a dirt road). On a small slope Heidi, the one with the sneakers, slipped and fell... followed with Sam sliding along (but successfully catching herself before hitting the ground) and sending all of us into a fit of laughter -and perhaps wondering if we weren't as wise as we thought. We got to the "city center" which was no more than a market (which we took pictures of and then were asked to give the people money - seems you pay for pictures... noted) and a store that was called "city center". The sun was beating down and we'd forgotten to put on sunscreen - plus it was such a short walk, we decided it would be fun to venture off into the brush and find our way back through a jungle of banana trees.
Walking through the "woods" we came across a number of little homes hidden from the road - really, one would never know so many people lived in the area if you never went off the road and onto these small paths. At one point we went through a group of homes together where 3 little boys ran after us asking for pens and we promised to return tomorrow with some writing utensils as we didn't have anything with us. It didn't seem unreasonable that we'd make it back at the time, but as I write this now, I'm not sure we would (of course, I don't know that they had any idea that we said we'd be back tomorrow as they didn't seem to follow "tomorrow" nor my brilliant choice of using the name of the day and speaking slowly "we'll be back sat-ur-day" as if that'd make all the difference. Continuing on our walk, thinking of Blair Witch and other scary stories (with Sally reminding Heidi who was at the back of the line that it's always the last person who gets taken) we find our way to a camp and a sign for a waterfall. For $2 each, Helen brings us to her waterfall (and gave us all postcards!) to show us the beautiful view and where kids jump off. The kids jumped off from the top (and were rewarded with $1), we took pictures and explored the area nearby. We walked down some very steep steps (3 of us in flip flops) and hoped we wouldn't fall and hurt ourselves prior to even getting on the mountain. Mission accomplished - down and back. Helen had given Sam directions to get back through the woods to the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort (right at the school, down the hill) and we walked in confidence.
We came upon a river we needed to cross and rather than follow the path across the rocks that the locals take (since there is a path on the other side) Sally, Sam and Heidi decided to be more adventurous and cross a bit upstream. Some locals down river saw this and came to explain they were crossing in the wrong place. Unfortunately it was a bit too late and the young man went over to "rescue" the ladies (oh, and don't you believe I got pics of the entire thing!).
Finally on the other side of the river, we hiked up the hill, past the school (we think) and came to a T where we went left since it was down as Sam remembered Helen saying we'd have to go down. After that I'm not sure why we made any of the choices we made when we got to each of the following forks in the road. We tended to go right and up.... with every new road Heidi said "I recognize this path with the banana trees" (the funny thing is she was completely serious!) Finally we decided to ask a woman through who's yard we walked and she didn't understand any English (not to be discouraged, I tried charades and pretended to sleep at a hotel as well as drive a car -thinking I was demonstrating the main road). To no avail, so we headed back in the direction from which we came. Suddenly a little boy came out of a building, she spoke to him, then in perfect english said to us "he will show you the way" Interesting. Well, he only showed us how to get to the next person's house which was where he got distracted by a woman working there, pointed at the path and left. Great. We continued our "up and right" journey and passed by a pub (of sorts) and wondered how much higher we were going to have to go. Finally I asked a man on the road if he knew where the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort was... he said "yes, that way" and pointed down the path where we'd just come from. He asked if we'd give him a gift for telling us where it was, I said "we'll give you a gift for taking us there". So, we headed back down following the random man who was hoping for some money. Poor Sally started to get blisters and decided to go barefoot down the dirt road over rocks and pebbles... and Sam was hurting from blisters as well. It turned out we were actually about 15-20 minutes (maybe more?) away from the hotel... oops. AND we were going in the complete opposite direction - so it's a good thing we got turned back around. We gave our new guide $5 and couldn't wait to get back and wash up after our crazy adventure.
Needless to say, a simple walk to the market turned into a great adventure (this is why I love these women!) and I'm sure townspeople from all over will be telling of the 4 muzungu (white people) who kept wandering through the bush, laughing until they cried, with no clue where they were going.
Fun times had already! We'll be heading out tomorrow with John (the guy from earlier today) to see more waterfalls, caves and something else. Or, more likely, whatever he decides we'll see - as you never know what it will be, but you know it will almost always be a story!
I tried to post a picture, but this computer won't let me :(
Hope all is well stateside!
Cheers,
Kristin
Click for Pictures
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