Poa Chizi Kama Ndizi!

Continuing where we left off......

We used the clinic mobile phone they gave us to call the cab driver Edward that the CCC told us to call. Unfortunately, he was busy today but said he would call his friend Festo to come get us to take us to where we wanted to go. Shortly after that, Festo appeared at the driveway of our pretty teal home in the doctors compound at KCMC.

We told him we wanted to go to the waterfall, so he said it would take about an hour and we headed on our way. 5 min into our drive he asked us if we brought our swim suits so we could sit in the hot springs. After using some of Nat's Swahili and his broken english, we realized our wires had been crossed and he was taking us in the wrong direction to the hot springs, which is a different attraction in the opposite direction!!! Luckily we were able to quickly turn around and had only wasted about 5 minutes. 

20 min into our road trip we really started to see the african villages and experience their "african massages" AKA extremely bumpy roads. The children along the road waved to us and were yelling "Jambo!" to us as we passed by- car full of wuzungu is probably not something they see every day. Seeing the houses in the villages really brought a new perspective to us of how the people in Moshi and surrounding areas live. Women carrying baskets and bags on their heads and carrying buckets, and seeing people working in their shambas (gardens) once again reminded us of how privileged we are.

When we were driving we saw a herd of cows roaming in the street just a few feet away from the car, Festo had to beep his horn to get them to move out of our way. Talk about free range!

The road was SO bumpy and half paved with pot holes everywhere- the journey up the mountain was a slow one due to avoiding bottoming out the car of wuzungu. We really got a chance to enjoy that african massage! The mountain we were on is called the Uru mountain, and it is home to the Materuni waterfall. After paying 10,000 shillings apiece (approx 5 dollars), we met our guide, Flavian, who was going to take us to the waterfall. He told us it was a 3k walk in one direction to get there and asked if we needed to use the restroom. We all decided it was a good idea and he led us to the back, where there was the bathroom. Individual stalls with pretty much a hole in the ground! Our legs sure got a workout squatting over the toilet!!

After our bathroom break, we started our trek up the mountain. Our taxi driver, Festo, decided to join us. The Tanzanians were wearing flip flops and jeans! The walk was filled with small winding paths, sleep hills. We were hiking by people's homes through the mountain, passing by their shambas (remember- gardens) and their animals. We saw chickens and cows and goats. It was so hot that at one point we were all second guessing how worth it this would be- half jokingly considering turning back. Thankfully there was enough shade to help cool us down. 

On the walk, Flavian pointed out many leaves that they use for medicine etc. For example, did you know you could use of a Black Eyed Susan to stop bleeding?! Or burning Eucalyptus and breathing in the smoke will help with the flu? We saw the leaves that are used to treat malaria, as well as mint, hibiscus flowers, passion fruit, avocado trees and plantain trees.

We had a fun walk learning words in Swahili. None of us are afraid to try to speak their language, which results in many giggles because we obviously say things wrong, Nat was living it up chatting away with Festo in Swahili. We would be lost without her skills- she is so good at speaking it!

Just when we were about to give up (jk) we heard the trickling sound of the waterfall just around the corner. When we approached it we saw a class of teenage african students hanging out by the water. The waterfall was huge and spectacular. Kari and Nat walked in the water to cool off, as Cari and Brittany enjoyed the mist of the falls. It was much cooler down by the water. Our guide explained to us that the water coming the falls was from Mount Kilimanjaro. 

After Nat and Kari adventured behind the waterfall (and didn't fall in!) we decided it was time to make the trek back. Our walk back wouldn't be complete without trying some banana beer. Our guide was explaining to us that they make beer from bananas and said we had to try it. Silly us, we were thinking it was an actual bottle of beer but after sitting down (in a one room little hut treehouse)(with couches but no one else there) we were handed one large plastic cup filled with a drink that was covered in foam. Nat and Kari were the only two brave ones to try the warm, freshly brewed banana beer. It was....interesting.

After the hike, we asked Festo where to get dinner. He took us to a restaurant in downtown Moshi called Chagga Grill. Nat was thrilled to her ugali (we will let her explain that another day) and her liver. The rest of us shared chicken, beef, french fries (chips), chapati, and a fruit plate. Everything was so inexpensive we decided to get some beers! Of course! 

Festo brought us to Nakumatt (a large store that sells everything from groceries to furniture and everything in between) after dinner and we picked up some groceries for Sunday, as well as a few souvenirs. He brought us home and we were all so thrilled to shower off the dust from the day. Brittany was the only patient one to wait for the water heater to heat up- the rest of us had cold showers (which actually felt nice).

We had a nice end to our evening when we were able to FaceTime with Jodi. She always makes us feel better and helps put some perspective on the situations we are trying to handle. It is nice to have a fresh set of eyes, especially somebody with her expertise. We can only do our best with the clinic using the resources that they have, we just need to start getting more creative. Her encouraging words provided us with a boost to continue doing what we are doing. It is so relieving to know that we have a whole team of people back home we can email, Face Time and ask questions to for support. 

Here's a first--- we (Kari and Brittany) were finally able to tuck ourselves into the mosquito net for bed! Mostly because Natty fell asleep earlier than us, abandoning us in our time of need. I guess she wants us to get malaria or something....sad. :)

Until tomorrow.......

K&B

P.S.
One of our new favorite Swahili phrases that we are trying to memorize is the title of our post...poa chizi kama ndizi. (po-ah cheesy comma indeezie), It means "cool crazy like a banana!" - it's a response to the question "Mambo?" which is an informal way to say "what's up?". In English, its similar to saying "cool as a cucumber!" and its a common phrase here in Tanzania.