June 29, 2014
This morning my aunt, uncle and cousin took off for their safari in Ruaha National Park. I am waiting to head up to Korogwe for TOT (Training of Trainers) and have time now to fill you all in on what I've been up to for the past week or so.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I met up with my family in Arusha. My uncle and cousin were already on Kilimanjaro when I got there so for the first couple days, I was just with my aunt. We went on a driving tour of Arusha with a guide/driver, saw the market and went to the natural history museum. It was a pretty relaxing time staying at a fancy lodge with good food and not having to cram into stinky buses with crying babies and chickens to get around.
One of the days, we decided to go on a tour of a coffee/cheese/honey place on the slopes of mount Meru. This was a gooooood decision. The trip up was eventful as even our heavy duty Land Rover got stuck a couple times on the way up. Once we got to the place in a village called Mulala, the hosts treated us with some of their home-grown, home-roasted coffee. It was great, and a perfect way to begin the tour on what started out as a cool, misty day.
As we drank our coffee, holding our mugs tightly to keep our hands warm, the host gave us a brief history of the place. It turned out the whole thing started as a donation made through the Heifer Project. It started as just one cow and as that cow had babies, the operation grew into what it is today. What at first was a very local business has now grown to shipping significant amounts of cheese into town and even as far as Dar Es Salaam. Along with the business of cheese making, they have opened their doors to anyone interested in coming and now run a successful tourist attraction. As we signed the guest book, we noticed many many groups from the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and other places around the world.
After our coffee was finished and we had a good idea of what this place was all about, we were invited to open a bee hive and help harvest some honey. The hive we opened was one of stingerless bees so no protection was needed.
Some hives on the side of a building
Our driver and host opening the bee hive (it's inside a hollowed out log)
Scooping out the honey
Our host scooped the honey into a pot, but left the majority of the hive in tact so that the bees could continue to produce honey after this round of harvesting was over.
After we had all tried some of the honey and the hive was sealed back up, we took off on a hike around the village.
We walked for an hour or so up a hill and around the surrounding villages stopping intermittently to learn about plants used for medicinal or cultural purposes. One plant isused to bring peace to strained relationships, another is used to stop the bleeding if someone gets a cut... By the time we reached the highest point on this hike we were just able to see the peak of Kilimanjaro! Unfortunately, with only my iPhone camera, I couldn't get any decent shots of it. We did get a shot of this chameleon though.
Chameleon on our hike.
When we got back from the hike, lunch was ready! The food was great, and while not terribly different from what I am used to in my area, it did have some distinct variations.
I'm dumb. No pictures.
After lunch we were invited to dance and clap along as some mamas sang some traditional songs and walked us over to their cheese-making facilities. It was mostly just some big vats, a number of molds, and cheese cloth. It's amazing how much cheese they were able to produce with such little (and simple) equipment.
From there we were ushered to their coffee plants. They showed us the process of picking, drying, shelling, roasting and grinding the beans. We participated in the process, helping to shell, roast and grind the beans using a wood fire and a mortar and pestel.
Shelling the dried beans.
Roasting the shelled beans.
While waiting for the beans to roast, the hosts showed us some traditional Masai huts. The structures were made of bamboo and other branches and woods which were then coated with a mortar made from water, cow dung, and ash. The roofs were made of banana leaves.
Once the coffee was finished, they brewed it up and gave us a chance to taste it as we recapped our day and got ready to head back to our lodge.
(If you're ever in Arusha the place is called Agape Mulala Cultural Tourism Enterprises and I would highly recommend paying them a visit)
That night we had made plans to watch the World Cup with a high school friend of mine who is volunteering at a hospital in Arusha this summer. So she brought a few volunteer friends to our lodge and we had some food and beers and watched the game!
The next day, my uncle and cousin got off the mountain and showed up, stinky and dirty and exhausted back at the lodge. They had successfully reached the summit the day before and were happy to be back at a reasonable elevation and temperature. We spent most of the day relaxing and letting them clean up and get their things in order. The next day we would head to Dar on the way to my site.
We flew in to Iringa early in the morning and after getting into town, we immediately hopped on a bus down to Makambako. We dropped our things at the guest house and went into the market where we bought some produce for dinner at my house the next day and wandered around visiting my vendor friends. We got some local food at one of my favorite restaurants in town and then kicked back to watch some soccer and relax after a long day of travel.
The next morning we got a hold of one of my village friends who picked us up and took us to my house. It was a long, cramped ride in his small car with all of our luggage, so we were quite relieved to be out of the car when we reached my house. We dropped our things off and took a walk through the village. It was fun introducing my family to my village friends and watching the interactions unfold. A lot of smiling, miming and, on my part, translating. We wandered for a little while around the rural roads to give my visitors an idea of what life is like in my area.
Once we got back to my house, we rested for a bit, played cards, and then I showed them how I cook. We got the jiko going and made some rice and a veggie peanut sauce that has become a staple in my diet at site. Then it was time for some World Cup again, so we grabbed our jackets and headed into the village bar. Unfortunately, the bars in the village were only showing the Portugal-Ghana game so we couldn't see the US play their final group stage match, but the game we saw turned out to be almost as important for the US as our own game.
It was really cool to show my family how I live and especially how the Tanzanians in my area live. For most tourists, Arusha and Dar and Zanzibar are what they think of and what they see when they visit, but those places all cater heavily to westerners, which doesn't give most visitors a realistic look at everyday Tanzania. For me, life in Arusha and Dar and Zanzibar is much closer to life in the States than life in my area. The visitors willing to rough it in the "tented camps" in the national parks have more creature comforts (hot running water, electricity, satellite TV...) than I do at my house in the village.
After we left my village we headed back up to Iringa to spend some time before the three of them left for their safari in Ruaha. We checked out Masai alley (for souvenirs), a craft shop, and had some more local food at a hole in the wall place in the produce market. Oh, and of course we found a good place to watch the first knock-out round World Cup matches.
Cousin Christine and I at Masai alley.
Now the fam is off seeing animals in the park and I'm waiting for my bus to Korogwe tomorrow. The end of my week of luxury and back to PCV life.
Note: for anyone thinking about coming, this is a decent look at the kinds of things to do here. Safaris, tours, watching soccer (World Cup or otherwise), living simply, etc. And if you're considering coming, let me know and I would be more than happy to help answer questions (budgeting, travel, lodging, safaris...anything)!
