day 16

Tanzania Day 16

June 27, 2010

This morning, I woke up feeling 10 times better. I took a quick shower (cold of course) then came out to breakfast. After we ate, we went on a tour of UAACC, and then had dance class for 2 hours. That was interesting. We had to learn a song in Swahili and sing it while doing some sa-weeeet moves and at 3:30 we performed it in front of a bunch of students and children and random people that heard music and came to watch. Talk about an experience. We also taught the dancers the Cupid Shuffle and we all performed that too. After dance, we had free time to call our parents or get on the Internet or get caught up on uploading pictures. We also took a bunch of Photobooth pictures with the precious orphans that live here. Then we ate dinner and afterwards watched a documentary on Pete O’Neill, a former black panther, and the founder of UAACC. When the video was over, we had a question and answer session with Pete which lasted until bedtime.

night visit

Well we weren't supposed to post about this until we got home, but Lexi accidentally did yesterday so Ms. Bottoms said we could since we've all talked to our parents and they know we're safe...

So the night of June 16th at 10:30, about 15 men roll up to our gate in a huge jeep with machine guns. Our guards are supposed to keep us protected and not let people in but you don’t really say no to an AK47. I am 75% asleep when Lexi walks in and tells all of us we need to get our passports. Apparently, Peter went outside and one of the men told him there was a big problem but they couldn’t tell him what the “big problem” was until they saw “documentation”. After all our passports were rounded up, Peter went back outside to show the men our passports and find out what was going on. Meanwhile, I am in my room with Lexi, Rachel, Betty, Ms. Bottoms, Tracy, and Kevin, who is standing guard at the door. Kevin likes to act like he can protect us from anything and tells us not to worry because he’s “ready to kick someone’s ass”. We all have no idea what is happening so naturally, I, being the biggest scaredy-cat, take a peek out the window. Big mistake. That was a biiiig gun 20 feet away from me. So I curl up in a ball on the corner of the farthest bed away from the door and start bawling which doesn’t help anything. Lexi is shaking uncontrollably and Kevin wisely announces that we probably shouldn’t blog about this. Besides me trying to keep all the snot in my nose, there is no sound in the room and we are listening to Peter talk at the door to one of the men. He is firing questions at Peter, asking if we came here to work. Side note, before we left for this trip, Ms. Bottoms and Ms. Hartman drilled into our heads that if they ask us why we are going to Tanzania at the airport, we say for tourism or for photography but we absolutely DO NOT MENTION that we are going to be doing work. So the men have heard that we dug a trench and there are 2 huge coils of pipe sitting smack dab in the middle of our front yard. Looks like we’re caught. Peter denies that we came here for work and when asked if we know anything about the pipe, Peter replied, “yeah, its sitting in our front yard”. So after an hour of straining to hear what’s going on, the men finally leave. We have a big meeting on our hallway floor and Peter and Erin tell us that the men were the River Police, who we passed on our way to the Internet café yesterday… It’s hard to miss 8 mzungus crammed into a jeep, going 10 mph on the main road of town when people on bicycles are passing us. Anyway, the police didn’t know we were here and were “concerned for our safety”. So it makes sense that 15 of them need to show up at 10:30 at night with machine guns to tell us that they are just looking out for us. Also they didn’t tell us the point of their little visit until after 58 minutes of scaring us half to death. Welcome to Africa.

poa poa

Ok so after we left the Internet café, we went back to our house and waited for a little over an hour for Mcala, who is basically our coordinator while we’re in Maji ya Chai. After awhile, Dominic (one of the guards) came inside and told us that Mcala had been waiting for us down the road. As we figured out today, Mcala is very prompt and walks very fast down the road when we are late. After waddling after him for awhile, we arrived at the Leprosy Center. Since we were late and Mcala was angry with us, we only had about 5 minutes with the patients. No one in the center still had Leprosy, but they affects are permanent so many of them cannot care for themselves and that’s what the center is for. Victims of Leprosy have severe nerve damage and cannot feel if they are hurt. As a result, the majority of them are missing fingers, toes, or both. But they were all incredibly welcoming and sweet and it was so fun talking to them, if even for the short time we had. We bought a few trinkets at the gift shop that were hand made by the Leprosy victims then speed walked after Mcala back home to eat lunch. After lunch, we went next door to the dairy farm to take pictures of the cows. The actual cows were boring but it was fun to sneak-attack-photograph the people on the farm! Upon our return home, our friends from yesterday (I got the school wrong its UAACC which stands for United African Alliance Community Center) came over again. We went out into Maji ya Chai with them and they helped us with Swahili while we helped them take pictures with their digital cameras. After an hour and a half of walking around and taking a “short-cut” back home, we ate dinner, then the students left and we have been working on pictures ever since. Tomorrow we go to Arusha for the first time and I am a little nervous but really excited to see what it’s like! And I definitely can’t wait to get souvenirs!! I wouldn’t want to come home with useless African money so I better spend it all!

Tanzania Day 6

June 17, 2010

Today we woke up and ate breakfast, then the students from UAACC came over and we went on a 3-hour walk. 3 hours is a long time to walk around a village with population 50. But Lexi and I went with Shams and he took us a little ways outside the village to where he lived. Lets just say it was like the hood of Maji ya Chai. Lexi and I were more or less scared out of our minds, but it was a good experience. We got stared at a lot. Also, we walked right alongside the highway with the crazies driving everywhere. But it was nice to get out of the area we walk around everyday and see new things. After the walk, we ate lunch then went into Arusha to shop. That was another fun experience. At first, we walked around where they were selling food and the most random things you could ever imagine, but after awhile we walked to the Maasai market and that’s where the real fun happened. It was a small area with 3 columns and 2 rows. These shopkeepers are insane and frantic for people to buy from them so they are 10 times worse at pestering people than I have ever seen. Worse than the tattoo and headband people that constantly surrounded us on the beach in Cabo. These people called us “sister” which annoyed me like no other and several of the reached out and tried to physically usher us into their shops. Now that I think about it, it’s sad that they are that desperate for money, but at the time, I was so irritated. Lexi and I walked around together and got the art of haggling down perfectly. We’re so good now!! After the market, we went to a restaurant in Arusha for dinner, and we were there for literally 3 hours. Now I appreciate the service in America! I ordered pizza but it was more like a melted cheese stick on top of pita bread and barbeque sauce. We also got to watch a little bit of the World Cup, which felt really weird because I haven’t thought about technology at all since I’ve been here. After we finally left the restaurant, we came back home and went straight to sleep. The days here are so action packed and super fun but they leave all of us with no energy by the time 10 comes around.

Tanzania Day 7

June 18, 2010

I cooked breakfast again today and it was such a struggle to wake up. After breakfast, we loaded up into a van and went to an orphanage. I am not kidding I will adopt every single kid there. They were PRECIOUS and loved us being there and taking pictures of them. I can’t even put into words how much I loved every single one of them! Everyone was snapping away at them with their cameras but I put mine in my backpack and set my backpack down because I would so much rather play with them! They were all so sweet and I am so obsessed with them. If anyone wants to know more about it or how to help and donate money I have a brochure!!! When they finally dragged us away from the kids, we got back inside the van and drove about an hour to Arusha to go to a different market that’s only open on Tuesdays and Fridays. I have never seen anything like it before. I took lots of pictures but a lot of them aren’t very good because we had to sneak them. People are really weird about pictures here and if you ask if you can take their picture, most of the time they want money for it. So the only way you can get pictures is to “sneak them”. For example, I had my camera resting on my hip and I would aim it as best I could at something I wanted to take a picture of, then I would look the other way and casually snap the shot. It is way harder than it sounds I got a lot of pictures of rooftops and the grass. But the market was definitely an experience and I’m glad we went! We ate lunch there and we all got sodas for the second time this trip but the Sprite I ordered made my stomach hurt so maybe I’ve weaned myself off of diet coke. We’ll see how long that lasts. Also at the market, we bought two goats which we named Appie and Trey, short for Appetizer and Entre. We shoved them in the back of the van to take home. After the market, we got back in the van and drove to see a waterfall. Well, drove is a relative word. It was uphill, and the roads are unpaved. So you can imagine how that went. More times than I can count we had to file out and push the van. I tried to help push once, but the boys like to take on a macho man role so I got shoved out of the way and didn’t try to help again. Not that I minded. Finally, the van got to a point where it just wasn’t going up anymore so we had to walk the rest of the way. We were wildernessing it up out there. It was all uphill and slippery and it was cold, but we were sweating so it was just uncomfortable. Finally we made it to the waterfall and it was all worth it. It wasn’t that wide, but it was beautiful in its own little secluded valley so I’m also glad we made the hike to see it. The hike down took no time at all and we all piled back into the van. Everything was going fine until everyone started screaming and suddenly the left side of the van was stuck completely in the ditch. We all got out again, and about 20 of the villagers that lived close by had to push the van up and back to get it un-stuck. After it was out, we got in and came back home to dinner. Kylee and I took a shower and Ms. Hartman got a lovely voice recording of it. Now we’re all sitting around blogging and uploading pictures, which takes FOREVERRRRR because we have to go through every single one and then pick out our top 10 of the day which always becomes such a big ordeal. But at least I’m done blogging for today!

Tanzania Day 8

June 19, 2010

We finally got to sleep in! …until 7. We’re leaving tomorrow to go on safari so we had a really relaxed day so we could get caught up on blogging and uploading pictures and pack for safari. The stuff I needed for safari I put in my huge backpack and my Northface backpack, and everything else went in my huge duffle bag. Peter drove all our stuff to the O’Neill’s house where we are staying when we get back from safari. After relaxing for a few hours, it was time to slaughter the two goats we bought at the market. I went outside with my camera ready to take pictures, but I ended up covering my eyes and not watching. Kevin filmed it on my point and shoot but I’ve been too scared to watch it. After the goats were killed, we cleaned the house and got ready for dinner. For dinner, we had a “going away party” at our house. The village council came along with a few other people that Mcala invited. For entertainment, we hired two gymnasts around our age to perform. They were good and did some really cool tricks. Then it was time to eat Appie and Trey. Usually I am picky about the type of meat I eat. I don’t even like fish, and I never try new foods. But, I figured it’s Africa so I might as well try some new things. I tried a small piece of goat meat and did not like it at all. But at least I tried it!! When the party was over and the goats went home, we finished cleaning and packing, then went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 9

June 20, 2010

Today, we woke up, ate breakfast, and loaded all our stuff into the huge monster truck that drove us to Safari. When I say huge I mean HUGE. This truck could run an elephant over. We left at 9 a.m. and had a lovely 10 hours in that tank. It was the most miserable car ride I have ever been on. It is a legit army truck, and the sides and front are open, so it was freezing the whole way there. We stopped a few times for lunch and to go to the bathroom, but other than that we were in that thing all day. When we finally started getting closer to our camp, we saw some gazelles, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeests. We also saw a lot of vultures hopping around on the ground, so we went to check it out. There was a dead wildebeest on the ground with most of the meat already eaten out of it. Most of its legs were still there though so naturally, one of our guides, Killerai, cut some meat off to bring to camp. We arrived at about 7, got situated in our tents, and it was time to eat. My tent is me, Lexi, and Kylee. It’s a little crowded but we’re having a LOT of fun in it. Like this morning when Lexi woke up and pulled a tick out of her hip. Dinner was delicious and believe it or not, Killerai and the Maasai warriors guarding our camp cooked the wildebeest. Sticking with my adventurous attitude, I tried it and it was actually really good. But it kind of freaked me out a little bit so I only had 2 bites. After dinner, we went to sleep and all of slept surprisingly well for being out in the open with the wilds. Kylee and I took a trip to the bathroom (a canvas tent thing surrounding a toilet seat over a hole in the ground) and were scared out of our minds that something would attack us, but we didn’t see or hear anything all night.

Tanzania Day 10

June 21, 2010

This morning when we woke up (after Lexi pulled the tick out), we ate breakfast then got all our stuff together to climb a mountain. And this mountain was not kidding around. It was gigantic and we climbed all the way to the very tippy top. It was definitely a struggle, but it was really fun and we saw baboons and a bunch of buffalo. It took us from 8:30 to 1:30 to climb up and back down again but it didn’t seem that long. We all slid and fell on loose pebbles at one point or another but Sarah twisted her ankle and was in pain on the way down, so a truck picked us up at the base of the mountain and drove us back into camp. The truck was probably a little smaller than an F150 and we managed to squeeze all 18 of us in it. Gawwwd love Africa (Katie that’s for you). I’m starting to miss my friends more and more and when someone asked me what I missed most about home all I could think of was how badly I want to hear Kat laugh!! Even though I do miss everyone, I still LOVE it here and I am definitely not ready to come home yet!!! When we got back from the hike, we had a 2 hour “siesta” and I was dead asleep. When I woke up around 6, we drove for about 30 minutes then got out of the man van and walked around for a little bit looking for animals. We didn’t find anything, but we learned a lot about the area from Simon and Killerai. After our walk, we went back to the campsite for dinner, then the Maasai warriors sang and danced for us. One of them, Paolo, got attacked by a lion when he was younger so he told us that story while we were sitting around the campfire. We sang “Deep in the Heart of Texas” for them, then we all went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 11

June 22, 2010

I was so disappointed when I woke up and didn’t hear any animal noises during the night!! This morning, we had to pack up all our stuff because we’re going to a new campsite tonight. When all our stuff was loaded in the man van and we had taken the tents down and eaten breakfast, we all loaded in the car and left. We drove for about 15 minutes, then got out to walk. For 16 miles. The walk itself would have been really refreshing and interesting but carrying the 30 pound backpack on my back while wading through waste high grass made it extremely difficult. We walked from about 9:30 to 1:30 only stopping to go to the bathroom. Bathroom = finding a bush and crouching behind it. We saw no animals of interest, but I can tell you just about anything you would ever need to know and more about wild animal poop. Killerai is very experienced in this area and likes to stop the whole group to identify all the poop we come across. When we finally saw the van through the trees, we piled into it then drove to our next campsite. This time, it was me and Tracy in a tent. Sooo much better with just 2 of us. Also, we got to shower for the first time since Saturday!! I was literally covered in dirt and who knows what else so it was top 3 best showers of my life. Even though the water was ice cold. Tonight was round 2 of goat killings, but this time was way worse but also way more interesting. Instead of slitting the goat’s throat to kill it, the Maasai warriors suffocated it to death. I turned the other way but it was absolutely awful to hear. Not to be graphic, but you could hear the goat gasping for air and kicking around, trying to break free. When it was finally dead, they skinned it, then cut its throat and gathered some of its blood into a bowl. Naturally, this blood is for drinking. Never ever ever in a million years would you think I would be one to drink goat blood. But Kylee and I found our adventurous, wild girl attitudes and tried it together, along with Rachel, Cade, Jacob, Travis, Betty, and Peter. It tasted like water-flavored syrup with salt and wasn’t exactly bad, but I didn’t particularly care for it either. And it ruined it a little when I looked over at Kylee and her teeth are covered in the blood of the goat we just saw being killed. But this trip is all about new experiences so why not!? After dinner (I figured I had enough goat for one day and stuck to eating chicken) we discussed plans for tomorrow, then went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 12

June 23, 2010

Again, no animal noises during the night. I did wake up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom, but I was too scared to walk to it by myself in the pitch black, so I just went back to sleep. We’re moving campsites again so our stuff had to be all packed up and loaded back into the truck. When we were finally ready to go, late as usual, we got in the man van and drove for a loooong time. Today was the start of the real safari. First, we had to drive a ways to get to Tarengerie (I think?) so that took us from about 7:45 to 2:30. Once there, we stopped at a rest stop to eat lunch, then we drove around the park until 7:15. We saw around a bajillion elephants, and it was the most at-home I’ve ever felt. I KNOW the elephants recognized me as their kin and that’s why they were making so much noise around us. I also did my elephant call to them and they did it back. Not even kidding. They practically had to tie me to the truck to keep me from going off in the wild to join my true family. We also saw a lot of giraffes and 8,000 zebras. Still no lions, but I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Especially since I am sitting in my tent, with my roommates Rachel and Claire, and I can hear some suspicious noises coming from somewhere a little too close to our tent if you ask me. The professional National Geographic photographer, Massimo, joined our group today and we got to learn a lot about him over dinner. He seems incredibly talented and is super nice and friendly so I can’t wait to work with him and ask his advice while we’re photographing tomorrow! According to Killerai, it will be another long day of driving in the car, but I have nothing to complain about! Each day that goes by I get more and more excited to go home, but the sadness I feel about leaving overpowers the anticipation. I’m not even dreading the 5:45 a.m. wakeup call because I want to spend as much time as I can experiencing Tanzania and all the amazing things that come with it!

Tanzania Day 13

June 24, 2010

When 5:45 a.m. rolled around and the wakeup call came, we packed up all our stuff, ate breakfast, and were finally ready on time! Everyone was completely done with everything by 7 (for the first time), but the kitchen crew didn’t have the dishes washed in time so we didn’t leave until about 7:30. But this time it wasn’t our fault! Once we got going, we drove around Tarengerie National Park and saw a bunch of animals. I really could be okay with never seeing another zebra in my life because we have seen so many here. We also see a lot of elephants, giraffes, and impalas. But still no lions. After riding around in the park for a few hours, we left the park and drove to another one about 2 hours away. We ate lunch once we got there, then drove around the new park for awhile. This park is a little different because it’s a forest instead of just a grassland so there were a lot of monkeys and birds. We also saw a few elephants. The animals are starting to all look the same and I have over 300 pictures of elephants, so safari is getting a little repetitive. But I’m still having so much fun!! When we finally left the park, we drove another 2 hours to a new campsite where we will be staying our last 2 nights on safari. We just got here and it is so nice! Finally we are at a place with no scorpions! Now Kylee can sit by the fire in peace. Tonight, we are getting caught up on our blogs, uploading pictures, and I think we might even get to shower! I’m used to going a few days without showering though, so I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t get around to it.

Tanzania Day 14

June 25, 2010

Today, we had to wake up at 5 and Kylee and I struggled so hard to get up. When we finally got around to it at 5:30, we ate breakfast, then loaded up into 3 stretched land rovers to go to the crater. Actually it’s called a caldera which forms a different way than a crater. They explained it to us multiple times but I still don’t really understand. My land rover was Cade, Betty, Rachel, Travis, Ms. Hartman, Massimo, and I. We drove for 20 minutes to get to the main gate, then another hour and a half to get down into the crater. Our whole car was dead asleep during the drive. Once we got inside at about 8, we drove around until 1:30 when we had lunch. And we finally saw lions! We were literally less than 20 feet away from a beautiful lioness devouring a zebra. The zebra’s face to be exact. Also, we saw 3 lionesses and 1 lion lying down by a lake, but they were far away and didn’t’ make very good pictures. We also saw cheetahs, but they were super far away and it was hard to photograph them too. We did see a hyena laying right on the road with some nasty bites and wounds on its legs. It looked like it was about to die but we still took pictures of it. The only animal we didn’t see was a black rhino, but I couldn’t care less about those so I was satisfied. To be completely honest, I was completely content after we saw elephants on the first day of safari so I’ve just been cruising ever since. After lunch, we drove around for a few more hours, then came back to camp. We downloaded pictures and ate dinner, and right now we’re making friends with some high schoolers from Switzerland that are camping at the same place we are. We’re about to project our top 5 pictures from the day in front of everyone for a “group critic” and I am hella nerv because I am lacking in the photography department. Tomorrow we’re driving back to Maji ya Chai but we’re staying in a different place than before. I can’t believe the trip is almost over!!! It’s too short I want to stay forever!

Tanzania Day 15

June 26, 2010

We woke up today, ate breakfast, and loaded all our stuff into the man van. We left our campsite at about 9 and drove alllllll day. At first when we left, we stopped at a few tourist shops to buy more souvenirs, but we didn’t find anything. We drove some more, and finally stopped for lunch at the Dorobo headquarters at about 2. Dorobo is the company that we went on safari with. We all bought t-shirts, then got back in the van and drove to the Maasai market that we stopped in before to spend the rest of our shillings. We had 30 minutes there, then we got back on the van and drove another hour to the UAACC school where we’re staying for the rest of our trip. I got really carsick because the roads were really narrow and bumpy and I was just exhausted. My stomach hurt and I had a headache and I felt like I couldn’t move so I just went straight to sleep at 6. I woke up for dinner but my stomach was still hurting so I only ate half a tortilla then went back to sleep. Kylee and Rachel came in the room just before 11 and I woke up feeling 95% better. I brushed my teeth, took my contacts out and went back to sleep.

poa poa

Ok so after we left the Internet café, we went back to our house and waited for a little over an hour for Mcala, who is basically our coordinator while we’re in Maji ya Chai. After awhile, Dominic (one of the guards) came inside and told us that Mcala had been waiting for us down the road. As we figured out today, Mcala is very prompt and walks very fast down the road when we are late. After waddling after him for awhile, we arrived at the Leprosy Center. Since we were late and Mcala was angry with us, we only had about 5 minutes with the patients. No one in the center still had Leprosy, but they affects are permanent so many of them cannot care for themselves and that’s what the center is for. Victims of Leprosy have severe nerve damage and cannot feel if they are hurt. As a result, the majority of them are missing fingers, toes, or both. But they were all incredibly welcoming and sweet and it was so fun talking to them, if even for the short time we had. We bought a few trinkets at the gift shop that were hand made by the Leprosy victims then speed walked after Mcala back home to eat lunch. After lunch, we went next door to the dairy farm to take pictures of the cows. The actual cows were boring but it was fun to sneak-attack-photograph the people on the farm! Upon our return home, our friends from yesterday (I got the school wrong its UAACC which stands for United African Alliance Community Center) came over again. We went out into Maji ya Chai with them and they helped us with Swahili while we helped them take pictures with their digital cameras. After an hour and a half of walking around and taking a “short-cut” back home, we ate dinner, then the students left and we have been working on pictures ever since. Tomorrow we go to Arusha for the first time and I am a little nervous but really excited to see what it’s like! And I definitely can’t wait to get souvenirs!! I wouldn’t want to come home with useless African money so I better spend it all!

Tanzania Day 6

June 17, 2010

Today we woke up and ate breakfast, then the students from UAACC came over and we went on a 3-hour walk. 3 hours is a long time to walk around a village with population 50. But Lexi and I went with Shams and he took us a little ways outside the village to where he lived. Lets just say it was like the hood of Maji ya Chai. Lexi and I were more or less scared out of our minds, but it was a good experience. We got stared at a lot. Also, we walked right alongside the highway with the crazies driving everywhere. But it was nice to get out of the area we walk around everyday and see new things. After the walk, we ate lunch then went into Arusha to shop. That was another fun experience. At first, we walked around where they were selling food and the most random things you could ever imagine, but after awhile we walked to the Maasai market and that’s where the real fun happened. It was a small area with 3 columns and 2 rows. These shopkeepers are insane and frantic for people to buy from them so they are 10 times worse at pestering people than I have ever seen. Worse than the tattoo and headband people that constantly surrounded us on the beach in Cabo. These people called us “sister” which annoyed me like no other and several of the reached out and tried to physically usher us into their shops. Now that I think about it, it’s sad that they are that desperate for money, but at the time, I was so irritated. Lexi and I walked around together and got the art of haggling down perfectly. We’re so good now!! After the market, we went to a restaurant in Arusha for dinner, and we were there for literally 3 hours. Now I appreciate the service in America! I ordered pizza but it was more like a melted cheese stick on top of pita bread and barbeque sauce. We also got to watch a little bit of the World Cup, which felt really weird because I haven’t thought about technology at all since I’ve been here. After we finally left the restaurant, we came back home and went straight to sleep. The days here are so action packed and super fun but they leave all of us with no energy by the time 10 comes around.

Tanzania Day 7

June 18, 2010

I cooked breakfast again today and it was such a struggle to wake up. After breakfast, we loaded up into a van and went to an orphanage. I am not kidding I will adopt every single kid there. They were PRECIOUS and loved us being there and taking pictures of them. I can’t even put into words how much I loved every single one of them! Everyone was snapping away at them with their cameras but I put mine in my backpack and set my backpack down because I would so much rather play with them! They were all so sweet and I am so obsessed with them. If anyone wants to know more about it or how to help and donate money I have a brochure!!! When they finally dragged us away from the kids, we got back inside the van and drove about an hour to Arusha to go to a different market that’s only open on Tuesdays and Fridays. I have never seen anything like it before. I took lots of pictures but a lot of them aren’t very good because we had to sneak them. People are really weird about pictures here and if you ask if you can take their picture, most of the time they want money for it. So the only way you can get pictures is to “sneak them”. For example, I had my camera resting on my hip and I would aim it as best I could at something I wanted to take a picture of, then I would look the other way and casually snap the shot. It is way harder than it sounds I got a lot of pictures of rooftops and the grass. But the market was definitely an experience and I’m glad we went! We ate lunch there and we all got sodas for the second time this trip but the Sprite I ordered made my stomach hurt so maybe I’ve weaned myself off of diet coke. We’ll see how long that lasts. Also at the market, we bought two goats which we named Appie and Trey, short for Appetizer and Entre. We shoved them in the back of the van to take home. After the market, we got back in the van and drove to see a waterfall. Well, drove is a relative word. It was uphill, and the roads are unpaved. So you can imagine how that went. More times than I can count we had to file out and push the van. I tried to help push once, but the boys like to take on a macho man role so I got shoved out of the way and didn’t try to help again. Not that I minded. Finally, the van got to a point where it just wasn’t going up anymore so we had to walk the rest of the way. We were wildernessing it up out there. It was all uphill and slippery and it was cold, but we were sweating so it was just uncomfortable. Finally we made it to the waterfall and it was all worth it. It wasn’t that wide, but it was beautiful in its own little secluded valley so I’m also glad we made the hike to see it. The hike down took no time at all and we all piled back into the van. Everything was going fine until everyone started screaming and suddenly the left side of the van was stuck completely in the ditch. We all got out again, and about 20 of the villagers that lived close by had to push the van up and back to get it un-stuck. After it was out, we got in and came back home to dinner. Kylee and I took a shower and Ms. Hartman got a lovely voice recording of it. Now we’re all sitting around blogging and uploading pictures, which takes FOREVERRRRR because we have to go through every single one and then pick out our top 10 of the day which always becomes such a big ordeal. But at least I’m done blogging for today!

Tanzania Day 8

June 19, 2010

We finally got to sleep in! …until 7. We’re leaving tomorrow to go on safari so we had a really relaxed day so we could get caught up on blogging and uploading pictures and pack for safari. The stuff I needed for safari I put in my huge backpack and my Northface backpack, and everything else went in my huge duffle bag. Peter drove all our stuff to the O’Neill’s house where we are staying when we get back from safari. After relaxing for a few hours, it was time to slaughter the two goats we bought at the market. I went outside with my camera ready to take pictures, but I ended up covering my eyes and not watching. Kevin filmed it on my point and shoot but I’ve been too scared to watch it. After the goats were killed, we cleaned the house and got ready for dinner. For dinner, we had a “going away party” at our house. The village council came along with a few other people that Mcala invited. For entertainment, we hired two gymnasts around our age to perform. They were good and did some really cool tricks. Then it was time to eat Appie and Trey. Usually I am picky about the type of meat I eat. I don’t even like fish, and I never try new foods. But, I figured it’s Africa so I might as well try some new things. I tried a small piece of goat meat and did not like it at all. But at least I tried it!! When the party was over and the goats went home, we finished cleaning and packing, then went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 9

June 20, 2010

Today, we woke up, ate breakfast, and loaded all our stuff into the huge monster truck that drove us to Safari. When I say huge I mean HUGE. This truck could run an elephant over. We left at 9 a.m. and had a lovely 10 hours in that tank. It was the most miserable car ride I have ever been on. It is a legit army truck, and the sides and front are open, so it was freezing the whole way there. We stopped a few times for lunch and to go to the bathroom, but other than that we were in that thing all day. When we finally started getting closer to our camp, we saw some gazelles, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeests. We also saw a lot of vultures hopping around on the ground, so we went to check it out. There was a dead wildebeest on the ground with most of the meat already eaten out of it. Most of its legs were still there though so naturally, one of our guides, Killerai, cut some meat off to bring to camp. We arrived at about 7, got situated in our tents, and it was time to eat. My tent is me, Lexi, and Kylee. It’s a little crowded but we’re having a LOT of fun in it. Like this morning when Lexi woke up and pulled a tick out of her hip. Dinner was delicious and believe it or not, Killerai and the Maasai warriors guarding our camp cooked the wildebeest. Sticking with my adventurous attitude, I tried it and it was actually really good. But it kind of freaked me out a little bit so I only had 2 bites. After dinner, we went to sleep and all of slept surprisingly well for being out in the open with the wilds. Kylee and I took a trip to the bathroom (a canvas tent thing surrounding a toilet seat over a hole in the ground) and were scared out of our minds that something would attack us, but we didn’t see or hear anything all night.

Tanzania Day 10

June 21, 2010

This morning when we woke up (after Lexi pulled the tick out), we ate breakfast then got all our stuff together to climb a mountain. And this mountain was not kidding around. It was gigantic and we climbed all the way to the very tippy top. It was definitely a struggle, but it was really fun and we saw baboons and a bunch of buffalo. It took us from 8:30 to 1:30 to climb up and back down again but it didn’t seem that long. We all slid and fell on loose pebbles at one point or another but Sarah twisted her ankle and was in pain on the way down, so a truck picked us up at the base of the mountain and drove us back into camp. The truck was probably a little smaller than an F150 and we managed to squeeze all 18 of us in it. Gawwwd love Africa (Katie that’s for you). I’m starting to miss my friends more and more and when someone asked me what I missed most about home all I could think of was how badly I want to hear Kat laugh!! Even though I do miss everyone, I still LOVE it here and I am definitely not ready to come home yet!!! When we got back from the hike, we had a 2 hour “siesta” and I was dead asleep. When I woke up around 6, we drove for about 30 minutes then got out of the man van and walked around for a little bit looking for animals. We didn’t find anything, but we learned a lot about the area from Simon and Killerai. After our walk, we went back to the campsite for dinner, then the Maasai warriors sang and danced for us. One of them, Paolo, got attacked by a lion when he was younger so he told us that story while we were sitting around the campfire. We sang “Deep in the Heart of Texas” for them, then we all went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 11

June 22, 2010

I was so disappointed when I woke up and didn’t hear any animal noises during the night!! This morning, we had to pack up all our stuff because we’re going to a new campsite tonight. When all our stuff was loaded in the man van and we had taken the tents down and eaten breakfast, we all loaded in the car and left. We drove for about 15 minutes, then got out to walk. For 16 miles. The walk itself would have been really refreshing and interesting but carrying the 30 pound backpack on my back while wading through waste high grass made it extremely difficult. We walked from about 9:30 to 1:30 only stopping to go to the bathroom. Bathroom = finding a bush and crouching behind it. We saw no animals of interest, but I can tell you just about anything you would ever need to know and more about wild animal poop. Killerai is very experienced in this area and likes to stop the whole group to identify all the poop we come across. When we finally saw the van through the trees, we piled into it then drove to our next campsite. This time, it was me and Tracy in a tent. Sooo much better with just 2 of us. Also, we got to shower for the first time since Saturday!! I was literally covered in dirt and who knows what else so it was top 3 best showers of my life. Even though the water was ice cold. Tonight was round 2 of goat killings, but this time was way worse but also way more interesting. Instead of slitting the goat’s throat to kill it, the Maasai warriors suffocated it to death. I turned the other way but it was absolutely awful to hear. Not to be graphic, but you could hear the goat gasping for air and kicking around, trying to break free. When it was finally dead, they skinned it, then cut its throat and gathered some of its blood into a bowl. Naturally, this blood is for drinking. Never ever ever in a million years would you think I would be one to drink goat blood. But Kylee and I found our adventurous, wild girl attitudes and tried it together, along with Rachel, Cade, Jacob, Travis, Betty, and Peter. It tasted like water-flavored syrup with salt and wasn’t exactly bad, but I didn’t particularly care for it either. And it ruined it a little when I looked over at Kylee and her teeth are covered in the blood of the goat we just saw being killed. But this trip is all about new experiences so why not!? After dinner (I figured I had enough goat for one day and stuck to eating chicken) we discussed plans for tomorrow, then went to sleep.

Tanzania Day 12

June 23, 2010

Again, no animal noises during the night. I did wake up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom, but I was too scared to walk to it by myself in the pitch black, so I just went back to sleep. We’re moving campsites again so our stuff had to be all packed up and loaded back into the truck. When we were finally ready to go, late as usual, we got in the man van and drove for a loooong time. Today was the start of the real safari. First, we had to drive a ways to get to Tarengerie (I think?) so that took us from about 7:45 to 2:30. Once there, we stopped at a rest stop to eat lunch, then we drove around the park until 7:15. We saw around a bajillion elephants, and it was the most at-home I’ve ever felt. I KNOW the elephants recognized me as their kin and that’s why they were making so much noise around us. I also did my elephant call to them and they did it back. Not even kidding. They practically had to tie me to the truck to keep me from going off in the wild to join my true family. We also saw a lot of giraffes and 8,000 zebras. Still no lions, but I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Especially since I am sitting in my tent, with my roommates Rachel and Claire, and I can hear some suspicious noises coming from somewhere a little too close to our tent if you ask me. The professional National Geographic photographer, Massimo, joined our group today and we got to learn a lot about him over dinner. He seems incredibly talented and is super nice and friendly so I can’t wait to work with him and ask his advice while we’re photographing tomorrow! According to Killerai, it will be another long day of driving in the car, but I have nothing to complain about! Each day that goes by I get more and more excited to go home, but the sadness I feel about leaving overpowers the anticipation. I’m not even dreading the 5:45 a.m. wakeup call because I want to spend as much time as I can experiencing Tanzania and all the amazing things that come with it!

Tanzania Day 13

June 24, 2010

When 5:45 a.m. rolled around and the wakeup call came, we packed up all our stuff, ate breakfast, and were finally ready on time! Everyone was completely done with everything by 7 (for the first time), but the kitchen crew didn’t have the dishes washed in time so we didn’t leave until about 7:30. But this time it wasn’t our fault! Once we got going, we drove around Tarengerie National Park and saw a bunch of animals. I really could be okay with never seeing another zebra in my life because we have seen so many here. We also see a lot of elephants, giraffes, and impalas. But still no lions. After riding around in the park for a few hours, we left the park and drove to another one about 2 hours away. We ate lunch once we got there, then drove around the new park for awhile. This park is a little different because it’s a forest instead of just a grassland so there were a lot of monkeys and birds. We also saw a few elephants. The animals are starting to all look the same and I have over 300 pictures of elephants, so safari is getting a little repetitive. But I’m still having so much fun!! When we finally left the park, we drove another 2 hours to a new campsite where we will be staying our last 2 nights on safari. We just got here and it is so nice! Finally we are at a place with no scorpions! Now Kylee can sit by the fire in peace. Tonight, we are getting caught up on our blogs, uploading pictures, and I think we might even get to shower! I’m used to going a few days without showering though, so I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t get around to it.

Tanzania Day 14

June 25, 2010

Today, we had to wake up at 5 and Kylee and I struggled so hard to get up. When we finally got around to it at 5:30, we ate breakfast, then loaded up into 3 stretched land rovers to go to the crater. Actually it’s called a caldera which forms a different way than a crater. They explained it to us multiple times but I still don’t really understand. My land rover was Cade, Betty, Rachel, Travis, Ms. Hartman, Massimo, and I. We drove for 20 minutes to get to the main gate, then another hour and a half to get down into the crater. Our whole car was dead asleep during the drive. Once we got inside at about 8, we drove around until 1:30 when we had lunch. And we finally saw lions! We were literally less than 20 feet away from a beautiful lioness devouring a zebra. The zebra’s face to be exact. Also, we saw 3 lionesses and 1 lion lying down by a lake, but they were far away and didn’t’ make very good pictures. We also saw cheetahs, but they were super far away and it was hard to photograph them too. We did see a hyena laying right on the road with some nasty bites and wounds on its legs. It looked like it was about to die but we still took pictures of it. The only animal we didn’t see was a black rhino, but I couldn’t care less about those so I was satisfied. To be completely honest, I was completely content after we saw elephants on the first day of safari so I’ve just been cruising ever since. After lunch, we drove around for a few more hours, then came back to camp. We downloaded pictures and ate dinner, and right now we’re making friends with some high schoolers from Switzerland that are camping at the same place we are. We’re about to project our top 5 pictures from the day in front of everyone for a “group critic” and I am hella nerv because I am lacking in the photography department. Tomorrow we’re driving back to Maji ya Chai but we’re staying in a different place than before. I can’t believe the trip is almost over!!! It’s too short I want to stay forever!

Tanzania Day 15

June 26, 2010

We woke up today, ate breakfast, and loaded all our stuff into the man van. We left our campsite at about 9 and drove alllllll day. At first when we left, we stopped at a few tourist shops to buy more souvenirs, but we didn’t find anything. We drove some more, and finally stopped for lunch at the Dorobo headquarters at about 2. Dorobo is the company that we went on safari with. We all bought t-shirts, then got back in the van and drove to the Maasai market that we stopped in before to spend the rest of our shillings. We had 30 minutes there, then we got back on the van and drove another hour to the UAACC school where we’re staying for the rest of our trip. I got really carsick because the roads were really narrow and bumpy and I was just exhausted. My stomach hurt and I had a headache and I felt like I couldn’t move so I just went straight to sleep at 6. I woke up for dinner but my stomach was still hurting so I only ate half a tortilla then went back to sleep. Kylee and Rachel came in the room just before 11 and I woke up feeling 95% better. I brushed my teeth, took my contacts out and went back to sleep.

hurry

Tanzania Day 1
June 12, 2010

After over 24 hours of travel, we finally made it to Tanzania! You know how sometimes you go on vacation somewhere but you are walking or driving around and it still kind of seems similar to home? Well this is COMPLETELY different. I have never been even close to this far away from home but it is absolutely amazing!! I love everything about Tanzania so far; especially after we got used to huge, bizarre looking bugs crawling around all over the place. Ok so let me start from the beginning…

The flights here were actually not as bad as I thought. The first one (about 9 hours) didn’t seem that long and was kind of fun. I only slept for 30 minutes or so but I sat next to Kylee and we both watched movies. I watched Valentines Day, Oliver and Company, and 101 Dalmatians. When we arrived in Amsterdam, we had a 3 hour layover, which went by surprisingly fast. The toilet paper in the airport bathrooms was neon orange which was real awkward but naturally, Ms. Hartman and I took a hook ‘em pic holding the toilet paper. I pulled out a deck of cards (one of the four Jeff bought me because I’ll probably need 208 cards on this trip) and we played a few games of heated “Go Fish” until it was time to board the next flight. By this time, my body was sooo confused. It was the middle of the day outside, but my watch was telling me that it was 4:00 AM Houston time. I had no trouble staying awake until we boarded the second flight. Before we even took off I had my head face down on my tray and was passed out. I woke up just as we were landing in Africa! Since we are with National Geographic, we went in a separate check in line and were out of the airport fairly quickly where we boarded a bus driven by Rajibu. He was super friendly and funny (well I laughed at what he said but I’m not real sure what it was…) and taught us a few words in Swahili. 40 minutes later, we arrived at our compound in Maji ya Chai which is a lot nicer than you would think. “Maji” means water in Swahili, “ya” means and, and “Chai” is like a chai tea so the village roughly translates to “water and tea”. There are 2 girl rooms, 1 boy room, and a room for Cathy and Holly. My room is me, Betty, Lexi, and Rachel. As soon as we got here, we set up our mosquito nets and went to eat a meal that the Mamas (ladies that cook and clean and basically take care of us) had prepared. We didn’t get to meet them but the food was delicious. I ate about 5 pieces of pineapple, which is literally the best I have ever had. There is only one bathroom for all of us to share which is going to be realllyyy interesting. Also, there are Masai blankets on all of our beds (made by the Masai warriors) that we get to bring home with us! So far, I love everything about this trip and I cannot wait to explore and take in the culture. Tomorrow morning we are going to church just to integrate ourselves into the village. I am so excited to see what its like! Also we are getting tutored in Swahili so we can communicate better with the people of Maji ya Chai. I wish my family and all of my friends were here but so far I don’t miss anything about home! …yet


Tanzania Day 2
June 13, 2010

We survived the first night!! I crashed as soon as I got into bed last night but woke up at 5 AM thinking it was time to get up and get going. Oops turns out we had 2 more hours to sleep. After finally falling back asleep, it was the real time to wake up. Kylee and I decided to brave the cold shower together and it was a funny experience and not as bad as I expected. After showering, we ate pancakes, eggs, and fruit for breakfast and again it was absolutely delicious. Then, we changed into our skirts and headed to church. Dominic and Munissi (2 of the guards that protect us and our stuff.. the 3rd is Babu which means grandfather) led us there. We were told the church was “just up the road” but since time and distance are both very different here in Maji ya Chai, it was a little farther than we expected. The walk to church was the first time we really interacted with the village. Everyone here is so friendly and everyone makes a point to say hi (Jambo) to everyone else. An hour and 2 miles later, we made it to church, a small one story brick building with dirt floors and wooden pews. They had an electrical keyboard where one of the villagers busted a beat for the singing and tried to play a few notes, which came out as telephone rings. Besides that, the singing was beautiful. Sarah and Claire stood up and sang a song in Swahili that they knew and then we all stood up and sang Amazing Grace for the congregation, about 30 or 40 people. After we finished, the pastor led the church in Amazing Grace in Swahili and we joined them in English. It was a really cool experience and really fun to be united with them in the church.

After church, we walked back to our house and had our first offcial Swahili lesson. Our teacher was funny and patient and we mostly learned a bunch of random words and basic greetings. After Swahili class, we ate lunch and then went off to explore Maji ya Chai. Split into groups of 3s, we walked up and down the main road trying to find a story to share with the group. Rachel, Kylee, and I walked about 20 minutes down the road to the soccer field where we kicked around the soccer ball that Rachel brought with a bunch of local boys. Munissi came with us and with his help, we could carry on broken conversations with the boys. There were also some little nuggets that were walking around and would hold our hands and want to play with us. After an hour and a half of interacting with the village, we walked back and are now sitting typing out our blogs. We will only be able to go into town a couple of times if that to publish our blogs so we have time to type it all out so we can just copy and paste.

Here are some Swahili words we have learned so far!!
Asante (sana)- thank you (very much)
Jambo- hello
Mambo poa- what’s up; more casual form of hello
Jeana longu mimi Camryn- My name is Camryn
Jeana loku nini- What’s your name
Badai- I’ll see you later (today)
Wewe- you
Shikamoo- used to greet someone older than you as a sign of respect; rougly means I place myself below your feet. They respond with “Marahaba” which means they recognize your respect
Kaka- brother
Dada- sister
Nzuri- good/fine
Ndio- yes
Babu- grandfather
Punda- donkey
Pale- sympathy word; for example, if you stub your toe they say “pale” for sympathy instead of “I’m sorry”
Karibu- welcome/your welcome
Habari ya asubuhi- How are you this morning

Tanzania Day 3
June 14, 2010

Today was probably the most exhausting day of my life. I was on the breakfast crew this morning so I was supposed to wake up at 6 but I was wide awake at 5 AM. So me, Betty, and Cade got up and made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. First of all, I am NOT a cook. Second, there are no measuring cups or anything marked with teaspoon or tablespoon so I had to eyeball 2 and ¼ tablespoons of vegetable oil and 5 cups of milk to go into the pancake batter. It took a few tries but finally we got it right and made the most delicious pancakes. After breakfast, we got out our work gloves and grabbed shovels and pick axes and headed up the road to the worksite. Our service project is to repair a broken water pipe that runs through the village. To accomplish this, we have to locate the pipe, use the pick axe the soften up the dirt, and shovel it out all while trying not to bust the existing pipe. Which we did. About 8 times. Oops. 7 or 8 of the villagers helped us dig the trench for the new pipe that a group coming later this summer will lay. Lets just say about every 20 of my shovels was the villagers’ equivalent of 2. We worked from 9:30 to a little over 11:30, then came home for lunch. After lunch we trekked back to the worksite and did some more grueling manual labor from 2:30 to 5. I was absolutely ready for bed at this point and I am still thankful that my feet didn’t fall off on the hike back home. But we did dig out a trench about half a mile long!!! Which is way more than we expected to do in the first day. After the walk home, everyone was collapsed on the porch, literally dead on our feet when Peter and Erin (Nat Geo leaders) round the corner carrying a huge case of “pop”. Orange fanta never tasted so good. After we rested a little, we had the opportunity to walk out in the village (in groups of 3 of course) and take pictures of everything we saw. I got the best pictures of the most precious little nuggets! Everyone here is so photogenic and LOVES getting their picture taken. “Piga picha, piga picha!” they all yell while swarming us as we walk by. I loved this time of the day but by the time we got home at 7 for dinner I was done walking. We ate dinner, and then Kylee and I decided it was time for shower round 2. The freezing cold water is awful but Kylee and I try to have fun with it as much as we can. After scrubbing off the layer of dirt covering my entire body, I uploaded pictures and now I am typing with my eyes closed I am so tired. Tomorrow is the exact same schedule as today so ill probably be dead and won’t be able to blog. Osiku wema ya lala salama!

Tanzania Day 4
June 15, 2010

Well I’m not dead so here I am blogging again. Today we woke up, ate breakfast, and hiked out to our worksite. Who knew that 9-12 could go by so quickly! Working was really fun today! Daddy, you might want to save this because you will never hear me say that again. We got an assembly line going and I was shoveling my heart out trying to get even more ahead of schedule. Before we knew it, lunchtime came and we were almost done! After lunch, we worked again for an hour, then showered and photographed a Maasai women’s drumming group that came and performed for us in our compound. It was really cool to watch and we all got some really great shots of them. After they left about an hour later, some students from a school called UCAA came over for dinner. There were 4 boys and 2 girls and they all knew some English so we really got to know them and had fun talking to them. I showed them my picture collage of home and they loved to look at it and see where I come from. They also had a lot of fun teasing me about still sleeping with a stuffed dog. After dinner, we uploaded pictures and just hung out in the room and it felt like as soon as I sat down it was an hour later and 10 o clock and time to go to sleep. But tomorrow we have a chance to go to an Internet café so I can finally upload! It takes too long to upload pictures because the Internet is old school dial up but maybe we’ll have a chance to when we go to Arusha on Thursday. Hopefully some of you have commented on my blog or facebook and I can reply soon!

Tanzania Day 5
June 16, 2010

Today I woke up early and did my laundry by hand. Ha I can’t believe I just said that and it’s the truth. To do laundry, we have to fill two buckets and fill one with soap then scrub our dirty clothes (and when I say dirty, I mean DIRTY) then rinse them in the second bucket then hang them on the line outside to dry. The sky is really cloudy today and its cold outside so it would be just my luck if it rained. Right now, we’re about to eat breakfast and I’m trying to fit in one last blog before we leave for the day! So far, the only thing I miss about home besides the people is using a sink to brush my teeth. I am using a water bottle (wilderness style) and it is such a pain especially in the morning when I have to brush my teeth AND my retainer. It takes a full water bottle to complete this task I just want a sink with drinkable water! But everything else here is great I never want to leave!!!!!

Final Preparation

Today is our final day of preparation for Tanzania. We are going on a nature walk around the neighborhood later today to practice taking our cameras out, switching lenses, and taking pictures. It is crazy how much I have learned the past few days! I am so excited to put my newfound knowledge to use. I am also excited to be with the people on this trip. I think everyone is awesome and I am ready to learn more about each person. But I will also miss my family! This trip never would have happened without my parent's support so thank you thank you thank you mom and daddy! This is the best birthday/graduation gift EVER I wish you guys were coming with me! I was shocked when you said yes I can't believe I am actually going to Africa. Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to go! I can't wait to make the book of all my pictures and share my trip with you and whoever else wants to hear about it! I will try to upload pictures and write about the trip as much as possible but the internet is so unpredictable and hard to come by so we don't know how often we will be able to log on. I already know this is going to be the best experience so far in my life and I am so excited to begin. Everyone pray that we make it there and back safely!

Photoshop

Yesterday in class we learned how to use Photoshop! I am uploading a picture of something that I photoshopped yesterday. In 3 days I will be on a plane to Africa!