29/10: Teaching

Today I went to work by myself and it actually went okay, though I was half an hour early. Today went much better than yesterday and I was pretty much in charge of the class, though it was Bevin who made the work. It was math today and most of them were really good. So what I did was check their work and help them if they had any mistakes. I will only be teaching until the 12^th of November because that is the graduation day. After that it will be a normal kindergarten. Today I brought lunch so after work I went to the cybercafé again and then home, when I got there I had hot chocolate with milk instead of water. A bit TFP6 in the evening – it is much more of a reality program than song contests usually are.  

28/10: First day of work (again)

I have to take two matatus to get to work a bit annoying, but it only takes some thirty minutes. The place I work is called St. Martins and has the slogan: Hard work pays. It is a preschool, with much more work than play. I wanted to do care more than teaching, but what I will be doing is mostly teaching, with a bit of care. I have the top class with a teacher called Bevin. Top class is the children that will go to standard one in January. I immediately saw who the bullies in the class are. One is them is Victoria, the only one I learned the name of because everybody kept repeating it. But otherwise they all seemed very sweet. I mostly just watched them the whole day, other than at their break because then I could play with them. We have to work every day from 8 am to 1 pm Monday to Friday. So at 1 pm or around there we left. When I say we it is because there is another volunteer at my project: Linn from Norway. I had forgotten to bring lunch and I didn’t want to go all the way back home just to come to town again. So I stayed in town and had lunch and went to a cybercafé. When I was done I took a matatu home. I had an afternoon nap and some tea before dinner. After dinner we saw Tusker Project Fame 6 (TPF6) which apparently comes every day.

27/10: Merica Hotel

For breakfast today there was bread, but not white bread, brown bread! After breakfast I just relax with a book until lunch. Did I say they serve cooked vegetables? Really good too with chips and meat. Then after lunch Charlene and I went to the Merica Hotel. One of the two places you can always find volunteers apparently. They have a swimming pool there, so I imagine many afternoons are spent there. Though I personally think I have gotten plenty of sun in Zanzibar. We were there from around 2 pm to 7 pm. It started raining about 3 pm and after that many of the others there were skyping and things like that. I read through almost my entire lonely planet guide book and I have some things I really want to do in the weekends that I have here. Dinner is always at 8 pm, so we came home for that. We took a piki-piki both ways. One for both of us. I have never taken one in Arusha, but Charlene trusts this guy John so I tried to do that too. Though why it should be less dangerous here than in Arusha I don’t know, but there is less traffic. By the way a piki-piki is a motorcycle.

26/10: Nakuru

Today I woke up to a new country, but it didn’t seem all that different. We got up early so that we could go to Nakuru in good time and have the city induction. Sarah, the other volunteer, have lost her baggage and she wasn’t feeling very well. But off we went with the matatu (basically a dala-dala) to Nakuru. It took us about 2.5 to 3 hours to get there. Once there we went straight to the office for our induction. I would have preferred to go to the family first, but it was good to get my Kenyan number because there is no more money on my Tanzanian. There is no where near as many volunteers here as in Tanzania, only about 15-20 I think. Sarah was still not feeling very well so we hurried a bit to get her to her Kenyan home. She is from the Netherlands and was on a straight flight from Amsterdam so it is weird that she lost her baggage. One dollar is under a hundred Kenyan shillings, she was so confused that even though we had been speaking about it she only took out 1000 shillings – a bit more than 10 dollars. After that we drove her home first and then me. The first thing I noticed was that there is a garden with grass, flowers and fake logs as decoration. Compared to the concrete garden that I’m used to this was quite something. I have my own room with a toilet and shower that presumably has hot water! It is quite incredible. I then relaxed until dinner. There is another volunteer living there, Charlene from France, she went out to dinner, but I was just too tired. So I had dinner with my new host Miriam. Miriam is a wealthy widow. She has four sons and five grandchildren. One son lives in the US and another in Canada. One is a doctor and the other a pharmacist. She herself is an employer and a nurse at her own hospital. Funnily enough it seems her husband was working with the same things as my dad. She seems really nice and open. After dinner we sat together in front of the television watching Tusker’s Project Fame season 6. It is an East African x-factor of sorts. Not everybody have a voice worth bragging about though. But it was fun even though I only saw the ending. After that I went to bed. I had already unpacked earlier and it felt really good to finally be able to do that – not having to live out of my bag any longer.

25/10: To Kenya

The children woke us up in the morning, but as I had to leave at 12 it didn’t matter. We ate breakfast and I finished my packing before we saw another movie. It was almost over when the taxi driver came. I thought it would be someone else, by the name of Mshana, but it was Ndessa, another driver I don’t know. Out of four drivers it has to be one of the two I don’t know. I then said goodbye to Laura and the family. Grace’s parting words were: “I hope you enjoy Kenya more than Tanzania.” I am not sure that was her exact words, but words to that effect. Laura and I looked at each other and I could see that we were both thinking: “what?!” I know the first three-four weeks weren’t the best I ever had. But after that I really enjoyed myself, though I never particularly did that in her company of course. We reached the airport an hour later. I then checked in, went through passport control and baggage control after they had called my flight. Then I just sat waiting for my flight, it came and suddenly I was in Nairobi. It was no problem getting the visa and getting my bags, but when I got out I couldn’t find anyone from Project Abroad. In the end I found her, she was just hiding far away with a little sign. Then we went to a guest house as there was another volunteer coming later. We will go to Nakuru together tomorrow.

24/10: Getting back

When we woke up we were met by rain, rain that kept coming down in incredible amounts. We were at the bus station at 8 am and we left/we were supposed to leave at 8:30 am. We had to pay more money to have our bags with us and then we were off. Stopping only for one break before we were in Arusha at 5 pm. Then we had a very quick goodbye before Laura and I got into a cab and went home, because the bus station was so busy and there were so many flycatchers. When we got home I started packing the rest of my stuff because I am leaving for Kenya tomorrow. It feels weird to get back, but having to leave again so soon and this time for good. Freja wrote me asking if we wanted to meet for dinner so we could have a proper goodbye for me. When we went to say that to Grace and Patrick we saw that Patrick was grilling meat for us, so we amended it to meeting for dessert afterwards. I had my last chocolate chip milkshake something that has been a kind of tradition for us. We talked, agreed to stay in touch and said goodbye. I had my last drive with Imma on the way home. I wanted him to be the one to drive me to the airport, but “it is not his turn” and “it wouldn’t be fair to the other drivers.” I said that was just bullshit (I surprised even myself in doing that), but she wouldn’t budge. Seriously what does it say about Project Abroad Tanzania that they won’t even let me drive to the airport with a driver I know and trust, but want me to go with someone I don’t even know instead? Nothing good, that are not worth all the money we spend on them and that is a lot. Why this? When we got back we watched a movie and went to sleep. My last night in Tanzania, for now.

 

23/10: Tanga

We stayed at Mkoma Bay for lunch because we wanted to savor the last of our time here to relax a bit more before going to Tanga. We wanted the taxi to come at 2 pm, so that we had time to buy bus tickets for tomorrow. They told is it would come at 2:30, but it didn’t come before after 3 pm. As it takes an hour to drive and we thought the office would close at 4 pm, we were a bit behind. Though we didn’t get to Tanga before 4 pm, we got bus tickets. We have never heard about the company before so it will be interesting. After buying the tickets we arrived at our hotel/motel: Motel Sea View. It seems like a nice place. Then we went to a supermarket and then to dinner. We ate dinner at the Mkonge Hotel. It was a really nice dinner, though we walked there and it got a bit dark. Then we went back to our accommodation so we could take a shower and get to bed early. There was no water at al so we could just go to bed early. 

22/10: Relaxation

This is our last full day of relaxation, so we enjoyed it to the fullest. Swimming, sunbathing, reading, sleeping, eating etc. we didn’t really do anything of great significance, but it was still a very good day.

21/10: Mkoma Bay

We started the day early as we had to take a boat to Pangani on the mainland at 7 am. There were some problems before we wanted to board that we solved. A lot of people were sitting close to our boat on the beach and at first I didn’t understand why, but as we were about to board someone came and said that the people wanted to go with us to Pangani for a funeral. But the boat really wasn’t that big, so we didn’t think everyone could fit without our bags getting wet or sinking, so we ended up having four people and a baby with us for the funeral. We felt kind of bad not taking more, but we didn’t want to jeopardize our safety. After 3-3.5 hours we arrived at Mkoma Bay. The beach and water was a disappointment after Zanzibar. Then we went up to the reception and the way was covered in leaves and dirt and it didn’t look very nice. We had arranged with the owner to have one double and one triple room with all separate beds. We did not get any of that. We got two double and one single and one of the double doesn’t even have separate beds. I had expected so much more from a place like this. If you can’t give us the rooms we book or separate the beds then tell us, it wouldn’t have been a problem if they had only told us in advance. But otherwise the place is very nice. We relaxed the rest of the day, me with a good book just as I like it. As it is half-board dinner is included, in the form of a three course meal! It was really good. There is only one other person here except the owner, so it is very quiet and peaceful. But that is what we need before we are back in Arusha in a few days.

20/10: Nungwi

Today we went to Nungwi. In Nungwi we are staying at Iben’s (Ameniel’s benefactor) ex-husbands place.  She sounded like it was really good. But it is not. We have one room in total with only two beds and Swahili style bathing and flushing. So we were not impressed at all. And we had low expectations. After that we went to Nungwi to see the town. It wasn’t all that interesting we had lunch and then went to another place for milkshake and stayed there until dinner. For dinner we went to Langi Langi because the others had seen their sign out in front and it said all kinds of funny things. We were sitting outside on their terrace and because it was high tide there was water beneath us. We sat and watched the sunset and had good food before going back to where we are staying, we have talked about that we think that it is supposed to be a hotel or bed and breakfast that is just not done yet. Tomorrow we are leaving Zanzibar and going to Pangani. It is weird how our vacation is almost at an end.

19/10: Mnemba

Today we had breakfast at 6:30 am and we were off from Mohammed’s place at 7 am. Our first boat was really small, but that was because the tide was so low at that time of day. We changed to a bigger boat and got our gear a little while later. Mnemba is a private Island and only guests staying at the island lodge can visit, but everyone can snorkel. As we got close to the island we saw dolphins. There was so many of them it was crazy. Two guests from the lodge were just walking on the beach when they saw them and ran back from the beach. We thought it was to get their cameras. It wasn’t. They got some snorkeling gear and they just came running back again and straight into the water with the dolphins. They could just go directly from their hotel and into the water you swim with dolphins, how cool is that? Some of the others got in, but the dolphins swam away really fast as they weren’t used to it. Like the dolphins they saw the other day were. After that we went to the snorkeling place. I got over my initial fear really fast because it was just so incredible. There was a lot of different species of fishes and coral. We went in two times and I stayed there the longest both times. It was just so much fun and there was so much to see! To say the least I was a big fan this time around. After snorkeling we went to a beach right next to the island bit a beach that disappears during the high tide. So soon the water came so we couldn’t be there for long. After that we had to wait for the tide to change before we could go back to Matemwe. Once there we relaxed and I read a lot. I have missed reading. After snorkeling we talked about the lodge on the island. It costs 1550 dollars per night per person. But everything is included. It must be amazing being able to swim with dolphins and snorkel, just like that directly from the beach. It’s so going on my bucket list to spend a week there. It would be the ultimate honeymoon destination.

18/10: Matemwe

Today we went to Matemwe. On the way we stopped at the Kiwengwe-Pongwe forest. When I had asked Anna, a shareholder from Belgium, about it last night she had never heard about it before and thought I meant something else, even though she has been here two months a year for twelve years. But it does exist; it seems to be one of the less touristic places you can go here, we saw the caves in the forest. There were stalagmites and stalactites, though I always forget which is which, and thousands of bats. It was a bit too much for some, but I thought it was really interesting to see. After that we went looking for a supermarket or something because some were running low on sun scream. We thought it would be as good as impossible for our taxi driver to find one. But he did. Then we went to Matemwe. In Matemwe we were going to stay at Mohammed’s restaurant and bungalows. Getting there the taxi driver did have a bit of trouble, but we got there after asking I didn’t know how many different people about it. Mohammed should just put up the sign like all the other hotels. The guide book said that Matemwe is good for its white sands and village life. The village didn’t impress us a whole lot. When we got close we drove past a boy of about twelve standing with a butcher knife, when he say us he made a motion like he was going to cut his throat, but he was staring straight at us. A little while later Sofie was taking a picture out the window of a house or something, but a little away a group was sitting. It is never a good idea to take a picture of a person without asking, especially if they are Muslim.  One of the women in the group started yelling all kinds of weird things about a camera and it was the very angry kind of yelling. Mohammed is very nice and charming and so is the rest of his family after you get over the first stares. His bungalows are just back from the beach, so a very short walk away and there is a lot of seafood on the menu. After we ate lunch we just relaxed for the rest of the day. I slept a little, read and watched an episode of breaking Bad with Sofie. After dinner we had to go to bed early as we are going snorkeling tomorrow around the Mnemba atoll which is supposed to be really breathtaking, so let’s see how it goes.

17/10: Peacefulness

We stated the day with watching the sunrise. I took so many pictures its crazy. But it was really beautiful. The others went to a dolphin trip, but I stayed at the hotel because I know that they aren’t treated very well mostly and it would be way to deep water for me. It was good to be able to go back to sleep for a little while and to spend some time just by myself. I haven’t been really good at writing this since my computer broke, but now I’m up to date again. I also read a bit, relaxed and had lunch. Just as I came out after I had had more sleep three girls came over and started dancing, singing and writing in this book. It was a quiet day, a peaceful day, but the kind you really need sometimes. After dinner we just talked for a long time as the day drew to a close.

16/10: Santa Maria Coral Park

Today it is Eid, some kind of Muslim holiday connected to Abraham’s son or something. So we wanted to go to our next stop a bit early in the day. So we decided we might as well leave at 10 am, when we had to check out of the hotel anyway. We arrived at the Santa Maria Coral Park a bit more than an hour later. Santa Maria is a bit south of Pongwe on an amazing stretch of beach. Our bungalows have a view of the ocean. We didn’t really do much for the rest of the day other than relax. The others went out in the sun to tan, but I didn’t for obvious reasons. We had a really good and surprisingly cheap dinner, talked and listened to music before going to bed early, because we want to see the sunrise tomorrow.

15/10: Changuu (Prison Island)

Today we are going to Changuu or better known as Prison Island, but first Freja and I wanted to try to find a charger for her camera as she forgot hers in Arusha. We went to a store that seemed the best possibility. They had the camera, but didn’t want to sell her the charger alone. Which is understandable, they were just very rude about it. But we had to get back as we were leaving for Changuu at 10 am. We walked with the guide to the place where we had to take the boat from. Our price was only 20 dollars per person, so we didn’t expect miracles. When we got to the place where they boat was we borrowed some equipment from them. Then we started sailing we sailed for about half an hour before reaching Changuu. We started off with seeing the giant tortoises (turtles is way easier to say!). They were shipped here from the Seychelles in 1919. Some of them are way over a hundred years old. We had expected them to walk freely, but I see why they can’t do that since there have been a lot of robberies over the decades since they came to Zanzibar. After that we saw the prison, though apparently it isn’t the original. Then we went snorkeling. I am not at all good at swimming. I taught myself almost all I know, and that isn’t much. So getting in the water which was about five meters deep, deeper than I have ever been before, was terrifying. But I did it f course, because I believe that you should always try. I mean there is no shame in trying and failing, as long as you tried in the first place. It took even more courage to get away from the boat and every time I tried to really snorkel I could only do it for a couple of seconds at a time, because after that I was too scared that I would get too far away from the boat. So I stayed near the boat, but I was in the water as long as the others. I think that if it had been truly beautiful I could have done more, but it was very dark and green colors, nothing to keep me too interested. Talking about courage and things like that I am reminded of my mother: since I went to Tanzania she has biked 1320 kilometers and that was yesterday. Today I’m sure she has done a lot more. My fear today is nothing compared to the kind of things she has have to overcome in the last two-three months. After that we went to the beach on Changuu. It seems I really didn’t have enough sun scream on. At least now I have serious sunburns on my entire back and legs. So when we went out to dinner that night I could hardly sit down properly. We went to the Serena Inn because on Tuesdays they have a concert of original Zanzibar music and we stayed there to eat though it was really expensive. In the Lonely Planet guide it said that the staff was lackadaisical, but no more for sure. They were very attentive and it was a good night despite of the sunburn, though I had a bit of trouble concentrating on much other than the pain.

 

14/10: Stone Town

We had to take the ferry at 9:30 am this morning. So we were there an hour before like it said we should on the ticket. It took a while, but then we were on the boat in the VIP seating. At first we were like: “it’s cold!” in the good way, ten minutes later we were more like: “it’s really cold!” After about an hour and a half we arrived at the Zanzibar Town harbor. We were the last people to get out of the immigration office, but we did get out with a little help from our new friend. He even drove us to our accommodation at the Garden Lodge. We ate lunch at the breakfast terrace and afterwards we went out to explore Stone Town. We went down along the water’s edge to the old fort and the Forodhani garden. In the old fort we got henna tattoos after that it was already around 6 pm. We wanted to eat at the Forodhani garden because we knew that there would be a market of different foods to choose from. It was supposed to start at 7 pm, but there was some getting started at 6 pm. So I bought myself a Zanzibar pizza and enjoyed the view of the sea. Some brave (or cocky) boys were jumping into the sea, it didn’t seem deep enough by far which is probably why they didn’t dive with the head first. I felt like I was back on the Malecon in Havana again. Back then we were sitting at a hotel and we saw all these people sitting on the wall between the sea and the Malecon road. So we decided to go down and do the same. Once we were down there we choose a deserted part, but immediately a lot of people came to talk with us. We had to go soon after, but I remember it as a really great night. The same happened in the Forodhani garden; a guy came, George, and asked about our nationality and followed up with another question: “hvadhedderdu?” in one word. I was the only one, who got it at first, but we soon taught him all kinds of different things to say in Danish and he was actually kind of good at it. His friend Walex joined us and George even sang some Michael Jackson for us and he was actually quite good. It was nice to talk to people that didn’t want or need to sell us something for once. By then it was getting late and we had to get back to the hotel. Getting back we just talked for a while before going to sleep. A rather perfect day, something we really needed after the day before.    

13/10: Dar

Today we started off the day with a walk the Lonely Planet recommended. We went into the national Museum which was beautiful and I learned a lot. Then we continued the walk along the worst botanical garden I have ever seen. A bit after that a guy drove past us and told us we should be careful in that area. He was right. A couple of minutes later we walked past a side street. There were three boys there, they yelled something but I didn’t hear it, but Freja did and she started walking really fast. They yelled: “fuck you go!” or something when Freja told me I started to walk really fast too. I looked back and one of them was still there. And he had a stick or something in his hand. He kept up the same pace as us. We walked like that for a long time before we got somewhere with other people. But he just kept it up! Then we saw the Hyatt Regency Hotel (Kilimanjaro Hotel) and almost ran in there saying to the guard that there was someone following us. I think he could see we were serious so he let us go on. When we were at the door/entranceway we met some other employees and stood to look back telling them the same thing. In that moment our stalker walked past the gate and wanted to go to us, but the guard stopped him. We could see him pointing at us and screaming. None of us understood what we had done. We went into their café and had expensive cake and juice. Later one of the employees came to us and told us that the guy was literally crazy. That didn’t really make it better at all. We didn’t really want to leave again, but we did as we have to buy tickets for the ferry tomorrow. We asked them to go with us to the gate to make sure the guy wasn’t there anymore. Luckily he wasn’t so we walked to the ferry office. There is only one legitimate office in Dar to buy the tickets, so we went there. Back in Arusha people had told us we should leave our passports at home, Laura and I had decided in the last moment to bring ours in case of an emergency, but the others didn’t. Apparently you can’t go to Zanzibar without your passport. Though if you have a copy you can get a stamp saying it is real. But today is Sunday and tomorrow is a holiday. So what to do? We then went to Sea Cliff Village to look for some things that we need and have lunch. During lunch we called embassies to ask what we should do or when they would be open, but we could only get hold of the French one. We then decided to go back to the hostel to get the copy of the others’ passports and go to talk to the ferry people again. After a lot of talking we figured out what to do as the lady there gave us a number of a guy who could help us once we arrive in Zanzibar. Freja had said as we left the Hyatt Regency earlier that day that she wanted to buy us dinner that night at that hotel. Though we told her that it would probably be really expensive, but she wanted to because it felt like a safe haven for us. So that night we had a fancy dinner. And it was great.

12/10: Dar Express

Today we got up early to start our holiday with a (we thought) 10 hour bus journey from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. We were in Dar about 13 hours later. On the way we saw two movies: Akeelah and the bee and some Chinese thing I think was called viral factor, I never really got the plot of that one, but it was something about a virus. We also saw music videos from the 80’s and some Swahili series. A few bathroom breaks and lunch, otherwise a very uneventful bus journey. Arriving in Dar we took a taxi to our hotel: YWCA. It was a bit difficult to get the rooms we booked, but we got them in the end.

9/10, 10/10 and 11/10: The last of Swahili lessons

I started out this day with Swahili for one hour before going to the CHE group. It wasn’t all that interesting since we just let Chrissie and a new member, Felix, handle the rest of the interviews or questions for them, since we didn’t want to overwhelm them with too many people. After we were done we went back to the office where I had more Swahili lessons. So now I am down to missing 17 hours. No way that is going to happen in two days, but I’ll try to get as close as possible. PJ is going to get married in November! He hadn’t told me, but Victoria asked him when the end of contribution was. His fiancé and he have actually lived together and least year they had a baby, though it died before it could breathe its first breath. This kind of relationship is not normal here so it was about time he proposed. Although he doesn’t want to be married before he is thirty. The next day I didn’t go to the field again because I had one lesson from none to twelve, breaking for lunch and then from one to three pm. The others had a chicken seminar today with half of the women and the rest next Thursday. The reason I didn’t have more lessons in the afternoon is because there was a social at the office where people had to make their national dish and I couldn’t concentrate on Swahili while everybody were talking, rather loudly, about interesting things. As I was just reading a book with PJ, so we quit early. I got to taste food from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Denmark. It was all really good, but I had to go home to wash clothes for the vacation. Friday was another day of just Swahili. From nine to twelve and one to four. So I got down to missing eight hours. The reason there wasn’t time for more today is because I had to meet Iddi for the gift he had promised me. I got a shirt for my dad, a dress for my mom though I didn’t think that she will wear it and flip flops for myself. After we said goodbye and good luck I had to meet my fellow travel mates to buy the last for Zanzibar. After that we went home to pack as we had to get up early the next morning for the bus to Dar! By the way my computer broke, which is the reason why this is uploaded to the blog now.

8/10: “Why this?”

After not nearly enough sleep I got up to go to the office. Today there was another dirty day, but as I still need some 24 hours’ worth of Swahili I did that instead. I only got three hours done (21 to go) because in the afternoon I had to buy the bus ticket and call all our hotels for the trip to confirm that we are coming. It didn’t take so much time so I could also relax a little. In the evening we went to the maasai café for a sort of goodbye party, as I won’t come back really after my vacation. I didn’t know half the people there so fast had the text travelled. So there wasn’t so much goodbye over it, but it was still really nice. In the evening we drove home with Imma, our taxi driver, and one of the first things he said was: “why this?” Something he always says when there is some kind of problem and it sounds so fun that even though there is a problem we still laugh. The problem tonight was overbooking, but we got him in the end!

5/10, 6/10 and 7/10: Mt. Meru

We started off on Saturday morning by meeting at the office with all our stuff, waiting for Iddi so that we could go to the mountain. He was going on Swahili time (though not the actual Swahili time) so he came a little late. But then we were off in a dala dala with everything. All nine could be there with the stuff on the roof and some people in the back. One of which was Patrick Jr., I didn’t know that he was coming or in what capacity because he is usually an assistant guide, but we already had Iddi and Maasai - Ernest. I later asked him and he said as an assistant guide, afterwards I heard an argument about it, apparently Iddi didn’t tell him he would be a porter, though a summit porter. This means that he goes with us to the top. It took some time before we were ready to start the climb up the mountain. On Mt. Meru you need a ranger as it is in Arusha National Park. Arusha NP doesn’t have predators, but the buffalos can still be really dangerous. Our ranger is Gideon; he has been up some 46 times in seven years. He has the funniest laugh so even though what he is saying isn’t funny, you still laugh with him; it is kind of like a Disney villain, but one of the nicer ones of course. Starting the climb we took the ‘right’ route and not the ‘wrong’ route, which is the shorter more forested one. It took some 3-4 hours up in beautiful terrain where we got close to giraffes. On Meru you only sleep in huts and in Miriakamba, the first camp, there are also showers and western style toilets (though without flush) so it ruins some of the authenticity there was on Kili. But it was very nice and not as overcrowded as its bigger neighbor. This time I insisted on an introduction to the crew, they seemed completely lost as this is obviously not the norm. We have Gideon the ranger, Iddi and Ernest for guides, Rafael as cook and another Rafael as waiter; Julius times two, Isac, Dastin, Ally from my Kili climb and another Goodluck for normal porters and Patrick as summit porter. We had a very nice view of Kili and a good dinner and then we went to sleep. The other volunteers with me are, some of them you know; Freja, Maria and Erik from Denmark, Alessandra from Italy and Marco, Robert, Stefan and Judith from the Netherlands. Marco wanted to see the sunrise in the morning. I didn’t have a special wish for that as I knew we would see it the next day. This meant however that Iddi came knocking on our door and windows too early in the morning whispering “sunrise.” Marco didn’t even wake up as he had on earplugs. As I have said Nasoro isn’t going to join us, but as he had another client up I met him. He didn’t come out at first and I couldn’t understand why, I had already said hi to my cook from my Kili climb, during dinner he came into the dinner hut. I figured out what it was he had changed places with the cook so now he cook is the guide and the guide is the cook. Though why he would be ashamed of it I’m not sure. I means it is still honest work, though I get it could feel like a sort of degradation. But he is doing well, the next morning he gave me a water bottle they didn’t need and before we left to go further up I waved goodbye. That’s probably the last I will see of him for a long while. The second day was beautiful, though with too many stairs, for my liking and this time it was real stairs. On the second day of Kili every time I reached one top there was another waiting so I never knew exactly how high I was going or where the next camp was. The second day of Meru was very different because you can almost always see little Meru the top we were going to summit by the end of the day, though the camp was further down. It seemed an immeasurable distance to all of us. But we got slowly closer. It took some 5 hours to reach saddle hut. By the end Marco and I started talking because we were kind of bored and that helped, besides, it looked like it was just a walk in the park for him. After he showed the slightest inclination of wanting to visit Iceland I was off on a long speech about the wonders of Iceland, both hidden and in plain sight. Then magically the camp appeared. Then we had a lunch break before setting off to little Meru, a climb that took about an hour and a half both ways. I was wearing my Ranum Efterskole sweatshirt and it took Marco almost all the way up to find my name - I hid it well. It was stunning, but it was getting late and we needed dinner early so that we could get some sleep before setting off towards the summit at 1 am. We got up at midnight to take on all our layers and eat a little. The day before Robert hadn’t been feeling so well and he had thought very seriously about going down again. He was still with us though he still felt bad. But now Judith also started to feel very bad with her stomach as well. Despite of this everybody started the climb at 1.15 am. Om Kili the way to the summit is very basic; up and in the same direction and soil almost all the way. On Meru you go up and down and through dirt and rock. There was one point where people had to climb down a rock face. At this point we had already split the group because Judith needed a lot of breaks if she was going to make it, and she really wanted to. Here some people were scared because it seemed one misstep meant certain death. But we continued. They told us it would take 4-5 hours to reach the top we were there 8.30 am. It is an amazing summit because you climb a lot of the last part so you reach a very pronounced summit and in good weather you can see for miles (or kilometers) around. I just stared at Kili for some time. A little later Robert made it. He had done it for his wife whom he met 20 years ago on this day. I don’t think he could have done it without her. When we went down Judith and Stefan, the last of our group, were almost at the top as well. So everybody made it. Judith had gone all the way puking, though it was a really unwise decision to continue all the way I really admire her perseverance. The fast group was down 11.30 am, it took her 12 hours in total. After we returned to saddle hut we had breakfast and a nap, though I couldn’t sleep because there was so much to think about. After Stefan and Judith returned we had to get moving, everybody said that we wouldn’t be able to make it down to the gate before it closed at 6 pm, if we were going to walk all the way, but some of us wanted to try. We were off around 2.45 pm and in Miriakamba an hour later. It went really fast, but Gideon was behind us somewhere and we couldn’t start the next part without him and his gun. Luckily it only took him half an hour more. While we were sitting there waiting someone was shooting something for the television there was some porters taking something that looked heavy on their shoulders then they started walking like they were going to the next camp. Two minutes later we saw them walking down again, then they took their bags on and went do0wn the mountain again. We didn’t really understand what was going on and the first thing I said was: “fake porters!” very up roared of course because porters are some of the people here I have the most respect for. After Gideon came we hurried on down the mountain, reaching the gate a couple of minutes before 6 pm. As the rest of the people were taking a rescue car down we had to wait for them. We waited and waited, it was 9 pm before they came. We spend the time listening to nice stories from Hassan too long to tell about here. I was home and in my bed a little before midnight, after being up a whole day. Many people have and will ask me what I would recommend and what is easiest since I have done both Meru and Kili. I really like them both, but I think if I was going to do one again (and I will) it would most likely be Kili. But Mt. Meru has a very close second place.

3/10 and 4/10: Soon

Today I had another 2.5 hours of Swahili in the morning so down to 24 hours missing, that I will need to do in a week. I was supposed to have more lessons in the afternoon, but as everybody had to give the money for the Mt. Meru trip before 2 pm and I had to give it to Iddi after that there was no more time. I got it and then meet Iddi, who told me that Nasoro won’t be with us because the lady who is climbing Mt. Meru with him is doing it in four days so will go down on our second day, we won’t have the cook either because he is with Nasoro. We talked everything through again about who needs what and things like that. Afterwards I went home to relax a little bit. On Friday morning a guy walked with me all the way from Sakina to Mianzini, which is twenty minutes of the normal thirty to work. I didn’t know him, but he just kept talking to me, he seemed nice enough it is just like the always want something from you. When I arrived to work we went to Amani to do post loan interviews with the rest of the group that did not get the third loan yet. In the afternoon we went to Mshikamano whom we will meet at Rehema’s home from now on. We gave them the third loan. In the evening we had the meeting with Iddi. We meet our second guide Maasai (it is a nickname, but try to guess which tribe he is from). Everybody got most of the stuff they need and the rest they will get tomorrow morning before going to the mountain, it was nice to have everybody in one place so that we could talk about it and get everything under control so that no one felt unsure about anything. Then they drove us all home so that we could rest before tomorrow.