Goodnite Moon...Goodbye Africa

My last night on the beach, thank you Africa for the beautiful moon and memories.

Mother's Day Gift Idea....

This idea just came to me, and I know a lot of my friends struggle with knowing what to give their moms for Mothers Day (which I'll remind you is next Sunday May 10th), so instead of going to the nursery and getting the ol'standby lilac bush or hanging geranium, think about making her proud to know she raised a caring compassionate person who thinks of others less fortunate. Let me just say that women in Africa spend a better portion of their day almost everyday retrieving clean water for their family. This is not something enjoyable, it's a hike, and they lug 5 gal containers which is necessary for survival. This year, think about making two mothers happy. The best gift of all is one that keeps giving (to steal a phrase). Mom, I bet you can't guess what you're getting eh? Merrit will give you the plant, I'll give you and my other mother water. Love U!!
https://www.charitywater.org/store/

I've been giving a lot of thought to what exactly is "my passion". It hasn't really come to me yet...but I think I'm on the right path of discovery. Below are some photos of my fine lazy days in Zanzibar. BTW; thank you all for the birthday wishes. This one's going down in the books.

Tuesday I'm headed to visit Idil in Istanbul. Made connections with her and we're good to go. Alexander the Great...prepare to met your match Alana the ????

Alana Cousteau....

Starfish

Greetings from below the surface

Beautiful beaches...

Breathing in a sunrise...

Last stop ....Zanzibar

Gleet, Glitz, or Sprawn? I was taught it was called glitz...those fine droplets that spray out of your mouth occasionally when you yawn or sometimes just when you open your mouth, one of those little wonders..."how'd I do that"? There's my focus for the next week, practicing and perfecting how far I can project my glitz on command. Sondra has a tiny slit between her front teeth and has been constantly showing off with her finesse spitting. Game on! We are definitely in kick back mode. Might have a little wind surfing contest too across a flooded cow pasture. Woo-hoo!!

View from the top of Zomba Plateau


Malawi was worthy of the extra two days and Vic Falls was incredible. I'm feelin rather spent and looking forward to just being horizontal for a day or two. Arrived safely here in Zanzibar, have a nice little room rented right off the beach and I couldn't have planned this better, the perfect location to end my journey. I'm in good company, Sondra, Chad and Samuel are here through the week. Sorry for the short note, I really am drained, but safe and sound and soon to be sleeping.
Love to all, al

Victoria Falls - (check that off)

From the bridge looking at the falls

Zambezi River and canyon below the falls

Captivated by the falls

Victoria Bridge

4.18.09 This is Africa TIA

Kwaheri Watoto (Goodbye Children)

My last day at the placement was Friday. The kids made pictures and bracelets for me and we had cake and ice cream. That’s all I’m going to say about that, other than it was a hard day. Tonight is my last night in the volunteer house that I’m grown to love to curse for all it’s charm. Still there’s something about it that’s tranquil. I will miss the girls. Sondra is going on with me to explore, Kate is here for another 4 weeks and will be getting two new housemates.
After a difficult first week of transitioning to the cultural differences I am going to try to summarize some of the more lighthearted aspects of my strange life here in and how by week six is doesn’t feel so strange. My colleagues and I will often say "TIA" when we experience something funny about life here or if it's something particularly frustrating we will say "TIFA" - I'll let you figure out what that stands for. So here is my list of TIA moments thus far:

-Happy thought, If I never see ugali again I won't be disappointed, this coming from a person who could eat noodles everyday.
- Stopping to laugh in the midst of throwing an industrial sized bucket of water down my toilet at home because I realized how normal it had become for me to live without running water.
- Livestock... everywhere - all the time. Exotic and domestic!
- "Mzungu!!" At least 15 times a day.
- Africa time - waiting, sometimes for hours, sometimes with no information as to why or what for we are waiting
- Bananas at all meals. One day I had 6 in a 12 hour period.
- Bucket baths and the things we do to avoid them (standing in the rain, baby wipes and Oscar Blandi dry shampoo, thank you Sephora).
- Making peace with the spiders and lizards in your room because they eat mosquitoes.
- VISITOR BOOKS. I have signed my name and city of origin more times in the past month than I ever have in my life.
- "Bongo Flavors" - the name for local Tanzanian music.
-- Driving = no rules. Drive in the middle of the road, on the wrong side, in the ditch. Doesn't seem to matter as long as you get to your intended destination. I'm so thankful to be able to walk most places.
- Falling asleep to the sound of the hard rains. Coming home from work to cows mooing. Waking up to the roosters crowing.
- Greeting everyone, everywhere, all the time. It's amazing how many times and how many ways you can ask someone how they are and respond accordingly. My apologies if I get home and ask you how you are in 5 different ways.

In case you were starting to worry that I was completely miserable or struggling to get by here in Tanzania, have no fear for I have found the ultimate oasis, however it wasn’t until week 5 that I discovered it. Aly's salon and spa. Can you believe it? Yes, I have found the one place in Arusha where a mzungu can get a haircut, pedicure, manicure, massage and eyebrow threading, among other services, with impeccable service and skill for a fraction of the price one would pay in America.

I first discovered Aly's salon on a day I found out a little girl from the orphanage tested HIV positive. Working and living in a country were gender has revealed to me the grave inequalities that women in Tanzania, and I imagine other parts of Africa, must face everyday. The inequalities are so great that many women here regularly endure violence or live to avoid it, sometimes very brutal inhuman practices. It was probably a good thing that I didn’t get too involved with this age group, but I see it trickle down, and it’s hard to keep my emotions in check particularly in relation to HIV. Time and again we hear from women don't have the power to tell their husband or boyfriend to use a condom even if the man knows he is HIV positive or if the woman is sure he is sleeping with other women – it’s a part of their culture in the Maasai tribe a man has the right to sleep with any wife, and he takes many wives, for reasons other than sexual promiscuity but that’s the fallout. It's a crisis.

Anyway, Aly is a Tanzanian-born, Canadian-bred Indian man who is quite possibly one of the most hospitable people I have ever met. He has been running his salon for about 15 years and only advertises through word of mouth. He cuts hair and employs one woman who does manicures, pedicures, massages and waxing and another woman who does eyebrow-threading. I am not kidding when I say that I had the best manicure pedicure and massage of my life at Aly's. The pedicure was $8 and the massage was $15. For those of you who know me well, I am a fairly seasoned spa-goer. I've managed to get in three massages before I leave! aaaahhh.....heaven!!
So there you have it. The best kept secret in Arusha-

I’m sad to leave, but happy to have been here. Tomorrow’s another day and there’s something new waiting for me. I’m off to Malawi.
Love to all -
ali

4.11.09 Music is my religion

Sisel - Tanzania grows a ton of stuff...a TON!

Northern Tanzi - Some serious beautiful going on

Market outside of Arusha

Me off the beaten trail

Lake Manyara Natl Park - Tanzi

Tea Plantation

Shurimoyo - Moshi - Typical rural school building

Market in Moshi

Arusha Park

Arusha Landscape

My wing man Julius - he and I are tight.

Beauty Salons pop up everywhere - It's so funny!

African Manicured Paradise

Sorry, I know it's been too long since I last wrote. I'm not sure where I left off, or where to pick up. The important thing to let you know; everything is GRAND here in the land of rain and green and smiles and muddy feet.
Here's me and my pals on a little hike to Moshi (10 miles), no hill for a climber! The guy on the right is Freddy, the new man in my life, (besides Julius), who showed us where to find a fabulous swimming hole and brews his own banana beer) I swear, whenever we're together my sides ache from laughing. I think he has a crush on me.

Mama, you'll be pleased to know I took in a Sunday church services last week. Knowing I wouldn't be around this weekend (cause I'm going camel riding), it was my offering to stay in your good graces, but also the service I took in was an event in itself, very entertaining, almost like a baptist revival. We arrived to a very large, airy hall and were clearly the only "mzungu" there. Let me tell you about the word mzungu. I've heard it an awful lot in the past 5 weeks. It means "white person" and the men especially have a penchant for calling out mzungu anytime I walk by. It's not exactly a compliment, but it's taken in stride. Even us volunteers have found ourselves referring to ourselves or other foreigners as mzungu. For example (and I am jumping ahead for a moment), we went out dancing at an outdoor club on Thursday night called Via Via (another going away partying, a person could stay drunk all the time here cause every other day it seems someone is leaving and a new person arrives). Anywaays, on Friday morning, one of the other volunteers who had not come out told me that she heard I'd been dancing like a "bongo" (local), not a mzungu, on Thursday night. I learned the shakey-shakey. It's a 'traditional dance' where you shake your shakey-shakey ba-donk-a-donk like its no tomorrow. I think we call it something else back home, 'bootie', very similar outcomes. Apparently the dance here is/was used for men to figure out who would be their wife/wives. Yes, wives. It happens here. Moving on....the ladies doing the shakey-shakey then proceed into the audience and pick out men to dance with, sound familar? Too bad there's no video, I was doing my best to keep up with the locals, shakey-shakey'ing my tushie in high gear (like I need any encouragement) especially after a few beers, sheesh, it was loads of pure clean fun, and they love learning new slang for hiney.
Back to church, sorry, I keep digressing, but seriously I have seen and experienced so much I could spends hours every night writing about it, it has been the ultimate frustration not to be able to share it on a daily basis! So I apologize that I seem to be going off on several tangents. The church service was in Swahili, but holy crickets, the choir was rocking! They filed in from the back dancing and belting out their tunes, and everyone in the audience clapped along with them. It was really cool. They were definitely the highlight, and sang every ten minutes or so throughout the 90 minute service. It was also fun to look at all the churchgoers in their Sunday best. Many loud hats and dresses.

One thing I've noticed in my short time here, this country seems to be overrun with missionaries, as if there's a race to see how many people one can convert to Christianity. Ummm??? Religion!

After wards, we walked around downtown for a little while. Arusha has a lively outdoor produce/housewares market, and lots of little shops and stalls with a random assortment of goods. Also lots of money exchange counters and tailors. There is one little building that I pass everytime I go downtown, called "The Computerized Zebra Eye Clinic". I have no idea what it is, but it always makes me laugh. I become an expert with dodging the frenetic rhythm of vehicles, pedestrians and the occasional goat or chicken.
Almost everyone makes some sort of greeting, unfortunately in any one of about 4 languages. KiSwahili is either 'Hujambo' to which I have to reply 'Sijambo', or, if they are being particularly polite, it will be Shikamoo, to which I have to reply Marahaba. In essence Shikamoo means something like, ‘I know I am only a worthless speck of dust before your great age and wisdom, but please don’t ignore me.’ The reply is roughly ‘Yes, I agree that you are only a worthless speck of dust before my great age and wisdom, but I will deign to notice you.’ The local language is Maasai. The greeting here follow a clear pattern: a) Habari b) Mzuri a) Ta Kwenya b) Eeko a) Soobeye b) Ebba (sorry, written phonetically). I think it means, How are you, fine, where are you going, work, where have you come from, home. A lot of people like to practice their English, so there are a lot of ‘Good Mornings’

In my six weeks here, I've grown accustomed to the smells, the sounds, and the sights of Africa. The poverty mixed with hope. The wealthy helping the poor. A community in which the gift of life and death is shared. People walking, selling their crops, people jumping in the back of a pick up truck of a stranger for a ride, people jumping vertical as high as my head, man those Maasai can grab some air, The mountains and the plains, the lush green rainforest, and red desert dirt and dust, the beauty and the ugliness, happiness and sorrow, the Maasai trying to hold on to their past, while carrying cell phones in their robes. The pursuit of education. Women trying to have a voice...and of course sickness: AIDS, Cholera, Malaria plus many more... Time, worries, priorities, everything different here than back home, not necessarily better, just different.
As beautiful as it is...it is a place I could enjoy because of the opportunities available to me. I try to put myself in these peoples shoes, but I can't...I try but I can't...
So instead I choose to see the beauty of this land because of its differences and the contrast... I am grateful. Nothing I write will do it any kind of justice. I may have wrote that before but it merits repeating.

This is my last week of working at the placement. It makes me sad to think about saying goodbye to the kids I've grown to love. It makes me happy to know I've made so many close bonds. Some of my friends have already left. I'm told by others this is always the hardest part. One more going away party-mine and I will be getting fully intoxicated come the weekend. After I recover I'm traveling to Lake Malawi with Sondra and some friends who already finished up with their volunteer work and waiting on me, so it's all about exploring now. Lake Malawi is suppose to be fabulous, we're planning on camping and then on to Victoria Falls. What a rush, can't wait to tell you about it, I've heard they have an awesome bungee from the bridge and an ultraglide you can rent. Best I can do, no taildragger to be found on the Serengeti. My last stop will be spent meditating on the beaches of Zanzibar and Pemba and doing some diving. At that point I anticipate losing all consciousness in a spiritual way and just decompressing.

Samuel and Chad are the Irish guys I met during my layover in Amsterdam (the ones trying to talk me into doing the Kili hike with them) We've become great chums, they're going to travel to Malawi with us.

Crazy Sondra - I could not do this! She's staying an extra three weeks just to hang out and head to Zanzibar with me.

Soon to be traveling companion Naomi (from Sydney) - appliances are just for looks around here - electricity is a joke - we laugh and make fire!


Happy Easter!!
I miss you and love you all,
-alana

3.29.09 Update from Ali Bo Bali

You’d think all you need is two bare feet to slip and slide down the muddy trail to the local cafe, plug the internet meter, and send word back home to family and friends that all is WELL! If only it were that easy! Here I am, Déjà vu, repeating the same activity as yesterday. It is half an hours (beautiful) walk to the internet café and when I get here I get busy downloading pics (30min for 10 pics) typing my message (45min), editing and spellchecking (10min)(does this sound like a MasterCard commercial?) CRAP! down goes the power - frickin priceless - and I loose everything. I pondered for a while thinking back to the days of my 24/7 wireless super fast internet connection that costs the same as a few beers for a month. I am dealing with a time rich but cash poor society whereas I am from a world that is totally opposite. I’ve gotten used to this common occurrence because electricity here is so unreliable. Nothing here is done in a hurry.....welcome to Africa!!! Oh well, the cup of tea and mango pie was scrumptious! Try again tomorrow and here I am.

I'll begin by telling you how just now, when I logged into my email account, I was shocked to see how many emails I had. I wish I could take the time to respond back to everyone. THANK YOU for following along with my journey, reading my blog, and spreading my plea. Your generosity will have a huge impact on the quality of life and life expectancy for people who live so contently in adverse conditions. I have elephant tears and a chimpanzee smile. Thank you! Grazie! Avante!

Survival is always a very persuasive motivation for learning, after my first week, it was apparent, I either learn to talk the talk or I'd continue to be targeted as a tourist. Swahili is actually very easy to learn, unlike English, every letter in every word is always pronounced and never made silent. Also, there are no words to denote "he" or "she", and the repetitive nature of many words makes it easier to remember. I'm now well beyond (truth-slightly beyond) the elementary level of the language and hold my own conversing. Being able to use a few Swahili phrases is important because the minute you blurt out even the most basic sentence, it is assumed you live in country. If you are a local and not a wageni (a visitor), you are thought to be wiser in the way things are done. A tourist knows nothing and is, therefore, a perfect pigeon. After all, strangers in a strange land, this happens to tourists all over the world, Africa is no different, foreigner unfortunately often translates into sucker.

The big cloud for me this week was finding out that a little girl of a family I’ve gotten very close with was punished because she didn’t have a school book she was suppose to have. Mwajuma had gotten the ruler smack and was kicked out of school for not having notebooks. Her family couldn't afford to buy the book. I could have just given her the dollar for the notebooks but I had a little righteous anger that needed to get out. I went to talk to the principal about her educational philosophy. I needed to ask her how she thought a ruler smack would help a child from a ‘headmistress’ who is a stern, unsympathetic soul. She had no answer for me but she said she’d put Mwajuma on the list of especially needy children (the no- beat list?) and that God would bless me. I wondered why she said that or if she would keep her word. Inhumane practices are the hardest thing to come to grips with here. I have come home to the volunteer house in shock when learning of things that should never be tolerated. Sadly, there are worse things I've been exposed to. It's very hard and I don't do well accepting them.
Tanzania has made great strides towards providing free education for all of the country's primary school children - one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals. The schools, such that they are, are more often than not a cement block building, without running water or electricity with a few rooms, serving 30, 40, or more children of probably a five year age span in each class. The more rural areas are lucky to have a one room, cement block building for all the children. School lunches? Well trained or well paid teachers? Books? Blackboards? Pencils? Paper? Those are luxuries. Families are responsible for covering the cost of uniforms, books, and supplies. Discipline is stricter than in the US. Although "caning" or corporal punishment is legally forbidden, it occurs frequently. Regulation uniforms and shoes are required of each student through secondary school. Children are taught to respect and obey their elders without argument, and their emotional needs or preferences are not a focus in the way that we tend to focus on these in the US. Enough of that.

Best thing of the week: we found an amazing coffee shop... smartly named "The Coffee Shop" where we purchase cake and on Saturdays- waffles with ice cream!!

Yesterday, I went to help a friend, who got involved on another volunteer project for a tree nursery (kind of accidentally - I may have volunteered him). We had to fill 800 bags with mud to plant all of the seeds. It’s rather messy but loads of fun. By the time we got done we were covered head to toe in mud, I’m sure the mud spewing fight didn’t help.

After numerous attempts to ask the locals for the spot where we could swim, as luck would have it we came across a friendly local Chagga guy, Freddy who decided it was not only his duty to show us where it was, but show us how to properly jump off the top as well. Fair enough. The trip long and hot as it was, totally worth it when I saw it. I momentarily had visions of ripping up my passport, marrying Freddy - local guide, Swahili translator and Chagga brewer of beer - spending the rest of my days jumping off waterfalls and indulging in Tarzan-like swinging off tree vines. After a few crazy jumpers - I wished I had the proper boardies on... fisherman pants was not fly at that height, we headed down the safer route; steep as shit but totally fun. I have no idea how long we spent jumping, swimming, splashing, and sunning watching the local lads show off for our benefit by climbing back up the waterfall bouncing over the rocks with nothing short of easy grace, only to jump the top again. I would have been more than happy to stay a few days... but no mosquito net and the nearest hotel is a fair distance. Yeah, I'm still in my western mentality.
Freddy's famous jump point

Garret with great form - Marangu Falls

Me throwing caution to the wind - "Bon sai!"

Crazy locals shimming up the falls


Had a quick English lesson with Freddy and his chums who vowed they would never charge us for use of their waterfall in exchange for English classes every few weeks. I agreed. You would be mad not to. When we got back to town some of Freddy’s buddies waved at us to stop at what I know now to be the local pub. If only I had known... We were cheerfully invited to try some local 'banana beer'. No worries, all of us fairly keen beer drinkers, we were quite happy to try it out, freshly brewed. Holy shit, never again. Lethal brew that was. It was a tasty(!) mixture resembling a mix of Kilkenny and Guiness - black n tan right? - full of warm pulp. Banana beer - nothing like anything I've ever tasted! Certainly didn't take long to chill the four of us out.

Floating in Marangu

Marangu - The word "Marangu" means a place with too many water streams. It is one of the most popular places in Tanzania. One of the proverbs of Chagga is "Ulamine kilahu ulyemkiwoa" which means do not despise something/somebody from which you once received support. Sounded good to me. Another proverb to add to my long list. They also say don't swim in the water, don't go barefoot, and for God sakes don't drink homemade beer....paaa-sha!!!

The somewhat famous village of Marangu sits on the far eastern side of Mt. Kilimanjaro and is the starting point for climbing the easy route, Marangu - also known as the Coca Cola Route. Unlike the other bigger cities of Moshi and Arusha, Marangu has a distinct feel - much more like a small mountain town. It’s lush, green, cool, loaded with banana trees - and is downright beautiful in many parts. The city center village isn’t much to write home about, but the area around it is filled with waterfalls, farms, nice hotels. You see women dressed in traditional outfits walking with huge stalks of bananas on their heads. Marangu is also a welcome relief from the punishing sun, as it sits high up on the side of the mountain, already between 4000ft to 5000 ft. It’s nice and cool at night.

So all this makes Marangu sound like a great place to visit, right? Well sort of. I really love the area itself, the problem is, I really don’t like the people. You see, Marangu has been the forefront of tourism on Mt. Kilimanjaro for countless years and many people have become successful because of tourism. Thousands and thousands of rich foreigners pass through this village every year - and have kind of set expectations and tainted the people, giving out money, candy, gifts, sponsoring students, and leaving their mark on this once quiet village.

Now the people, the children, the officials in Marangu know tourists, like you, have money and will give it away in some form. I feel like tourists are only seen as a outlet - as a way to make money - They will ask for your address or email address, so you receive a email a couple months later asking for money for school fees - or for some other random problem. This drives me crazy. It makes for a good conversation over who's exploiting who, and all my new friends are well aware I love a good debate. That said, you can have a great visit to Marangu. It’s a beautiful place - but if you are looking for something truly authentic, go somewhere else. There are hundreds of villages on mountain Kilimanjaro that never see a single tourist. The trick is, you need to find them. And I have!

I mentioned how we (my roommates) had all identified quirks about one another; Sondra is the most anal, the clean freak, organizing everything, always worried about time, Kate the most laid back, nocturnal, couldn’t care less if she ever showered, we let her know when it’s time! She’s also a great story teller. Me, most curious, peacekeeper, and exterminator extraordinaire when it comes to bugs or rodents, everything except for snakes. (Scottie, you’d be proud of your Aunt Ali). We all take turns fixing meals, it’s become a competition to see who can come up with the tastiest entrée. We’re extremely open to experimenting with new spices, so everything we eat is loaded with flavor, SPICY SPICY! Something I normally wouldn’t share, but it's so common here we all joke about it. Transitioning to a different diet can bring symptoms of well, Sondra put it best; "A few days of vicious dose of the runs and my sphincter felt like a cat flap in the Aswan Dam". Occasionally we'll struggle with a bout of diarrhea, and though it’s no laughing matter here since it’s the largest killer of children in the Sub Sahara, so far for us, it’s just been a symptom of using too much spice or a mild case of food poisoning. We’ve been fortunate to not have any severe illness. If I took a urine test I'm sure they'd detect DEET in my system, but I suppose it's better than the alternative.

If you were to ask a Tanzanian man what he enjoys eating, he would reply, "Beef." I'm told meat is not widely consumed here in comparison with other areas of the continent, but that is definitely not true in the tourist towns, they cater meat to people with money. In rural communities, cattle are normally slaughtered only for very special occasions, such as a wedding or the birth of a baby. Cattle, sheep, and goats are raised primarily for their milk and the value they contribute to social status. Nyama choma is Swahili for "grilled meat." But it can be either nyama n’gombe, grilled beef, or nyama kuku, grilled chicken. Beef nyama choma is just a slab of beef—any slab will do—that is slow cooked over a fire for about 45 minutes. They cook the meat until it is way past well done. I mean that meat is seriously cooked! Once done, the meat is either sliced into bite sized morsels and served in a bowl with a side of ugali and grilled bananas, or everyone grabs their knife and slices off the meat as they desire.

The bananas are actually plantains, the starchy non-sweet cousin of the supermarket variety. They are peeled and thrown onto the fire along with the beef and go through the same agonizing torture.

Nyama choma can be a real treat, if you approach it with the right perspective. First of all, go to the dentist and have a real thorough check-up before eating nyama choma. Secondly, don’t try comparing it to anything you could get at "Mortons of Chicago". Instead, an ideal time to try it for the first time is after climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, when you haven’t had fresh food for a week of camping in cold weather. After such an arduous trek, nothing else on earth will satisfy you in quite the same way. I laughed so hard when someone told me that, since I don't have that experience to judge by. There is something primeval about skewering a 4 pound slab of meat on a stick, cooking it on an open fire, and cutting it up with a Crocodile Dundee knife that satisfies you on some lower level.

Plenty to choose from here for beer. The most popular brand depends on where you are. In and around Arusha, Kilimanjaro Lager was the choice. Kilimanjaro was a very mild beer, similar to Heineken or Amstel. People seemed to drink a lot of Tusker (a Kenyan beer) in Zanzibar. But I didn’t care for it very much. It reminded me of Budweiser, but my motto, after the first two, who can tell.And then there's Freddy's homebrew banana beer, everyone should sample that at least once in their lifetime. The other choices: Kibo Gold, which tasted a lot like Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti Lager, which was malt liquor at 8% alcohol. A couple three bottles of that and I was toasted.

Routine has set in, when I first arrived I wrote how making coffee/tea in the mornings took too much time, well, I've reversed my position. Now I find that morning time to be enjoyable, even the activity itself. I wake up, climb out from under my mozzie armor, stumble to the kitchen door, step out and greet the barely awake day, light the gas burner and put the pot of water on. On mornings when it's not raining, I'll lay on our picnic table while the water is heating and just listen to the sounds. On the rainy mornings, I'll sit under the tin canopy and smile watching the down pour and be grateful for a supply of water. WATER!

Last weekend a group of 10 went to the biggest crater/ caldera in the world- Ngorongoro Crater! In a word; Stunning - this is where a Jurassic Park would be. (photos posted at the end) The park is in the middle of the crater, which is surrounded by the intact crater rim, circling 360 degrees around the mostly savannah floor. The ride into the crater is not for the faint of heart! First, you zig zag your way out or the Great Rift Valley, up the crater side with hair pin turns dropping down at dizzying heights to the valley below (of course there are no road side concrete barriers to stop you from sliding down to oblivion should a large transport truck pass you on the inside - just a foot or two of leeway and a pray). The road is a loose, red earthed bed of pot holes - thank goodness it wasn't raining. You reach the crater rim and then traverse along the crater highlands for miles, bumping along at breakneck speeds more suitable for the California highway. I have no idea how the jeeps stay bolted together. From here, you either carry on to the Serengeti, dropping down the exterior crater rim once again, or you descend into the crater on an equally impossible road. We were all clinging to the jeep hand holds, bouncing around like an amusement park ride. I kept imagining a Disney ride called 'African Safari' with a heart stopping roller coaster ride combined with a wild animal theme. When we got there I thought I was dreaming. There were tons of wildebeest and zebras. We even saw a newborn wildebeest whose mother still had the red birthing sack attached to her. There were loads of baby zebras as well. I of course took 100 of the same picture. We saw hyenas, elephants, antelopes, baboons, wildebeest, zebras, lions, black rhinos, hippos, flamingos, warthogs, and lots more! I must have took a good 800 pictures there. We even had lunch that day next to a lake full of hippos! Two nights we stayed in a tented camp run by Ahsante. It was a few miles off the main road, down a rutted country road past a collection of farmers huts and fields. Super cool! It’s the closest thing to living a fantasy I’ve ever experienced. I don’t think I can truly capture it in words.
Photos from Ngorogoro Crater

















Once more, I apologize for not answering each email individually. It’s really nice to get them, keeps me in the know, makes me feel connected. Thank you all!

Before I run out of minutes here, to my family:
LB: Think of me when you're at opening day!! Go Cubs!!
J: That hill I look at in the morning is teasing me. Wish you were here.
Merrit: Spring is in the African air here by the number of baby animals. I’ll miss helping plant your garden, I wish you could see all the things they grow here! Its awesome.
Mama: It’s the genes, what did you expect when you mix moxi with stubborn? I’m fine, please don't worry!
Dad: Can’t wait to see your new home. I haven't found a taildragger yet, could be the perfect opportunity for a business venture? Feel like coming to Africa?
all my love -a