Mmmm... roasting meat.
This weekend I went to Moshi again for a camping trip to Lake Chala, a volcanic crater lake about 2 hours north of the city. Part of the lake is actually in Kenya, and all of our phones got a text welcoming us to the Kenyan network and wishing us a pleasant stay. Pretty cool! Everyone else from the Arusha house stayed here to go on a hike, so I left work a little early on Friday and caught the bus to Moshi by myself. Well, not quite by myself—you’re never by yourself on a Tanzanian bus! It’s always at least 5 people to a row, with fold-down seats down the center aisle. Every time the bus stops, people get up and shuffle around to let people climb off or on. For a large chunk of the trip, I rode with my arm squished around a Massai man (stretched ears, wooden staff, everything) who smelled unmistakably like cow. He was really nice though, and invited me to come marry his son. After I finish school of course.
When we arrived in Moshi it was pouring rain (first and only time the whole trip!), so I had a fun time running through the streets, dodging under storefronts and leaping across rivers to get to my next car, a Dala Dala to KCMC Hospital, where I stayed at Juan & Christine’s house in the doctor’s compound. That night we went out to dinner at one of those Brazilian style steakhouses where they just keep bringing you more and more meat. It was pretty expensive at 20,000 Tsh (~$12), but totally worth it! We met up with the EWH Moshi crew (Juan, Christine, Stephanie, Daria, Ray, Rishabh, Ollie, and Aman), the Karatu pair (Keerthigan & Marko, who travelled 6 hours from Karatu!), a group of Scottish girls who work at KCMC, and a handful of random Germans. Quote of the trip: “It’s a good day for Deutschland!” I really like that about visiting Moshi—they live with so many interesting volunteers/students from all over the world! After dinner we went out to Glacier Nightclub, basically the Moshi equivalent of Via Via: outside, a couple dance floors, a fire pit, and a bunch of wazungu (white people/foreigners). It was a great night with such a fun group of people.
When we arrived in Moshi it was pouring rain (first and only time the whole trip!), so I had a fun time running through the streets, dodging under storefronts and leaping across rivers to get to my next car, a Dala Dala to KCMC Hospital, where I stayed at Juan & Christine’s house in the doctor’s compound. That night we went out to dinner at one of those Brazilian style steakhouses where they just keep bringing you more and more meat. It was pretty expensive at 20,000 Tsh (~$12), but totally worth it! We met up with the EWH Moshi crew (Juan, Christine, Stephanie, Daria, Ray, Rishabh, Ollie, and Aman), the Karatu pair (Keerthigan & Marko, who travelled 6 hours from Karatu!), a group of Scottish girls who work at KCMC, and a handful of random Germans. Quote of the trip: “It’s a good day for Deutschland!” I really like that about visiting Moshi—they live with so many interesting volunteers/students from all over the world! After dinner we went out to Glacier Nightclub, basically the Moshi equivalent of Via Via: outside, a couple dance floors, a fire pit, and a bunch of wazungu (white people/foreigners). It was a great night with such a fun group of people.
Who knows what lives in these waters...
Next morning, we stopped by the market to buy camping groceries and loaded up into a rented Dala Dala for the ride to Lake Chala. I dunno about the people squeezed into corners or sitting on the floor, but I had a great time hanging my head out the window like a dog, singing catchy songs into the wind. :) As soon as we arrived we headed down to the lake, a steep 15 minute hike down to the water’s edge. Now, we’ve all been warned about Schistomaniasis, a parasite that lives in freshwater, swims in through your feet and lays eggs in your blood. But we also heard Chala is schisto-free, and hey, a quick blood test and a couple pills in 6 weeks is pretty much worth it, right? How often do you get to swim in a beautiful African volcanic lake? Blood parasites never felt so good.
After we were all nice and sunburned (the malaria medicine Doxycycline makes that pretty easy), we headed back up to work on dinner. We had brought pasta, tons of vegetables, and guacamole ingredients…. but all we had was a fire. Luckily, we were able to borrow a wok and pot from the campsite kitchen. Cooking over just a fire (no rack or hooks or anything) was great entertainment, especially with Ollie (super posh British guy), wearing just his tiny, pink, European swim trunks and hiking boots.
Next day we got up early to watch the elephants at the watering hole. We saw the family of 200 elephants in the distance (and Philip the German had binoculars!), but unfortunately they didn’t come to our watering hole until 20 minutes after we left, according to reports from a friend who arrived as we were leaving. We did, however, see tons of baboons. It was kinda scary actually. The first encounter occurred when Stephanie and I were walking around taking pictures, and almost walked into a cabana containing a huuuge male. We stood and watched him for a while, and it’s strange—his mannerisms were so human-like as he sat taking in the same view we had been enjoying. Before heading back to Moshi, we made one last trip down to the lake for a morning swim. This time, there were two local couples down by the water. When we started swimming, they asked if they could take pictures of us! With each of them lining up for their pose next to the crazy swimming wazungu, we felt like celebrities. Things like that really show you how similar all people are; we tourists stare in awe at the local people for their exoticism, but we are just as exotic and intriguing (or maybe just funny-looking!) to them.
I’m really glad I decided to go to Moshi, even though I was the only one from Arusha to make the trip. It’s just nice to have a change of scenery sometimes, and I enjoyed hanging out with Moshi crew and their new international friends. I can’t believe that was the last weekend though. I feel like I need at least another 2 weeks here in Tanzania, or maybe even a month. There’s just so much I still want to do! It’s always like that though; you finally get into the groove of things and then… tick-tock, your time’s up. We’ll just have to try and make the most of this week.
After we were all nice and sunburned (the malaria medicine Doxycycline makes that pretty easy), we headed back up to work on dinner. We had brought pasta, tons of vegetables, and guacamole ingredients…. but all we had was a fire. Luckily, we were able to borrow a wok and pot from the campsite kitchen. Cooking over just a fire (no rack or hooks or anything) was great entertainment, especially with Ollie (super posh British guy), wearing just his tiny, pink, European swim trunks and hiking boots.
Next day we got up early to watch the elephants at the watering hole. We saw the family of 200 elephants in the distance (and Philip the German had binoculars!), but unfortunately they didn’t come to our watering hole until 20 minutes after we left, according to reports from a friend who arrived as we were leaving. We did, however, see tons of baboons. It was kinda scary actually. The first encounter occurred when Stephanie and I were walking around taking pictures, and almost walked into a cabana containing a huuuge male. We stood and watched him for a while, and it’s strange—his mannerisms were so human-like as he sat taking in the same view we had been enjoying. Before heading back to Moshi, we made one last trip down to the lake for a morning swim. This time, there were two local couples down by the water. When we started swimming, they asked if they could take pictures of us! With each of them lining up for their pose next to the crazy swimming wazungu, we felt like celebrities. Things like that really show you how similar all people are; we tourists stare in awe at the local people for their exoticism, but we are just as exotic and intriguing (or maybe just funny-looking!) to them.
I’m really glad I decided to go to Moshi, even though I was the only one from Arusha to make the trip. It’s just nice to have a change of scenery sometimes, and I enjoyed hanging out with Moshi crew and their new international friends. I can’t believe that was the last weekend though. I feel like I need at least another 2 weeks here in Tanzania, or maybe even a month. There’s just so much I still want to do! It’s always like that though; you finally get into the groove of things and then… tick-tock, your time’s up. We’ll just have to try and make the most of this week.