Last Week in Moshi and Dar Part 2

Moshi and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
 
The day after climbing kili, I was right back at Chapakazi. I was exhausted, but was excited for my first day back since Christmas break started. That morning was one of the worst since I got to Moshi. I showed up at the school and only knew 2 of the children, the rest of them were all new. When the teacher arrived, she informed me that Christmas break was the end of their school year and that over half of the class had graduated to form 1 (primary school). I almost cried. I had no idea that would be the last time I would see them. The two kids who I knew had also somehow forgotten everything over Christmas break. They were no longer even able to write the letter A. On top of this, the regular teacher (Elizabeth) was gone for the entire morning to the hospital (she is pregnant). I often have trouble keeping control of the class with my minimal swahili, but it was harder without the older kids to help me out. It was an absolute zoo.

Later in the day Adelina, my contact at World Unite, stopped by and told me that they would organize a going away party where all of the kids would come back to say good-bye. I can't explain how happy I was to hear that. Then Elizabeth showed up and the children were complete angels. I don't understand how she has that effect on them. I couldn't be a teacher.

My last day in Moshi was spent frantically running around trying to get everything done. I transferred money so I could take some out to get things for the children's party, but I forgot about the time difference so wouldn't have the money until 4 or 5pm. Luckily, my volunteer coordinator lent me some money so we went and bought all of the food we needed to make beef pilau (popular Tanzanian spiced rice dish), as well as some fruit, juice boxes, and a cake. I also bought the kids a soccer ball, which deflated in about 30 minutes. The food was amazing and I could tell the kids loved it; they were especially excited about the cake. One of the women that work at the school took my camera and kept taking pictures of the cake and me cutting it. The cake was actually so ugly and looked like a really cheap wedding cake, but I appreciated the enthusiasm. She took a lot of very strange pictures; the cake pictures looked like wedding photos and she kept trying to get the kids out of photos so she could take them of me by myself or with my volunteer certificate. I don't think she really understood that I really just wanted the children in the pictures. I kids love the camera too and I spent about an hour just taking pictures and showing them. It never got old. They were literally rolling on the floor laughing.

I bought a lot of food because I don't think the kids get great meals at home so I wanted to make sure they all went home full of really good food. I did feel bad though when I looked around and saw all of the food that would be wasted, but this did not end up being a problem. After everyone was finished, they dumped all of the food into this big pot and these older children started coming in from out of nowhere (I have no idea how they even knew the food was there) and basically lining up outside and they sat around the pot and just ate it with their hands. Nothing went to waste.

 

There is this one kid named Isa who is the youngest one there, and when I arrived with the soccer ball I just handed it directly to him. After that, he thought it was his soccer ball so anytime someone tried to play with it and the entire time they were playing the game, he chased after it screaming and crying. He is the cutest.

Saying good-bye to the kids was the hardest. I don't entirely know if they understood that I will likely never be back there. I will really miss them though and the hardest part is that they come from such poor families, so I just don't know what will happen to them. Part of me just wanted to stay there and protect them forever.

After I left the kids, I went to the bank to get the money to pay back Adelina. When the ATM pushed the card back out, it was only sticking out by about a milimetre so I couldn't get a hold of it to pull it out. As I was searching through my purse for my swiss army knife to see if it would help, the card was pulled back in and the ATM said it was confiscated because I took too much time to take it out. The bank was already closed so I now had no money for another day, and was still in debt for the party money.

Luckily, I was able to get my card back in time in the morning to still be able to take the bus to Dar. I think that happens with the bank machines a lot in Tanzania. I would have thought that Barclay's Bank would be a bit better, but I don't think it really ever matters. When I went to pick up my card, they asked for ID but they don't actually have any records to connect card numbers with IDs. My bank card had only a signature on it to verify that it was mine, but they still gave it to me.

The bus from Moshi to Dar was as horrible as I remembered. The rest stop we went to was actually really nice and clean and the food was really good, but that was the only bathroom break we had in about 11 hours. The weather gets progressively hotter and more humid as you head towards Dar and on top of that, I think the Masaii man sitting in front of us peed his pants because the entire bus smelled distinctly like urine. I suppose it was understandable given the circumstances, but I spent the whole bus ride with my head out the window. The seats on the buses in Tanzania are also a lot closer together. I don't think I am a very tall person, but my knees were jammed right up against the seat. This means that you are sitting on the same part of your butt without a rest stop for about 9 hours straight, which isn't super comfortable.

It was interesting driving back into that bus station that terrified me so much at the beginning of my trip. I don't know if it was because I have been in Tanzania for 2 months now, or because it was at night, or because I was there with my local friend, but it was a completely different experience. It was actually very mellow.

The hotel room in Dar looked like a place you rent by the hour and there were no lights in the bathroom, but it had A/C and was 10,000 tsh ($7.50) a night so I wasn't about to complain. I spent 4 nights in Dar before I took the ferry out to Zanzibar. It is a lot more big city than Moshi so while it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing, people leave you alone a lot more. Downtown is like a maze, there are no street names, and every street looks the same; I don't think I would have been able to go anywhere if I didn't have my friend there to show me where to go. My favourite part was the beach, which is called Coco Beach. I went in the evening when it was really windy and sat on a beachside patio drinking and watching the waves crash in. I loved that beach and I seriously just wanted to never leave that spot. It definitely changed my opinion of Dar.

The next morning, I got a knock on my door at about 8am. I dragged myself out of bed to open the door to find the maid standing there. Without much explanation, she walked past me into the room, grabbed my sheets off the bed, and walked back out. After a few minutes of standing in a hungover daze looking longingly at my bed, I realized she wasn't coming back. Luckily, after a special request she brought back some sheets so I could sleep.

Another night in Dar we spent in classic Tanzanian style. We drank Konyagi in front of someone's house in a dark alleyway. Every so often you would see children walking by with buckets of water on their heads. I can't imagine ever letting my small child walk through a dark alley like that late at night, all by themself, but it is a different mentality here. On that porch was also where I met the cutest child I have ever seen in my life. We were all standing around talking and this kid that is about 4 years old just came into the middle of the circle without a word and put his fist out and began fist bumping each person in the group. I almost died it was so cute.

The day of the ferry to Zanzibar was a classic Tanzania morning spent wandering around Dar trying to find an ATM that would actually work; they frequently break down or run out of money. After about 5 different banks, I finally made it to the ferry port. Next stop: Stone Town, Zanzibar!

Kili

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Jan. 2-7)

Day 1 (3000 M)

The first day was in the rainforest zone. It was pretty relaxed other than the rain and felt a lot like Algonquin. We got about an hour before the rain started, then it poured for the rest of our hike. We ate our lunches inside our ponchos. They were the same lunches we had on our safari that I could only eat about half of. That day, it was not a problem.

We arrived at Machame Hut at around 3:30pm. Rather than hanging out in my boring tent, I hung out in the Ranger hut with the ranger who was named Chacha. He told me that he had been up on the mountain for new years and hadn't celebrated at all, so I decided to have a belated New Years celebration for him. At 8pm me, Chacha, Peter (my guide), and Everest (another guide) had a dance party to Jennifer Lopez "On the floor" on Chacha's phone.

 

Chacha and I listening to tunes in the Ranger hut

They forgot to put my rain cover on my backpack, so pretty much everything I owned was soaked, as well as my mattress. Chacha lent me a nice matress from the hut, and I hoped that my clothes would eventually dry.

Day 2 (3840 M)

Perhaps for you, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is not enough of a challenge. Maybe you enjoy taking polar bear swims, or for fun you like to dump a bucket of ice water on yourself and then camp out in a walk-in fridge. This is the only circumstance where I would recommend you climb Kili during the rainy season.

Day 2 started off well. It was a short day, but a challenging one since a good portion of it was climbing a big pile of rocks at about a 70 degree angle. It was a lot of fun though, I liked the challenging parts of the climb the most. This part of the climb was in the moorland zone, which was also so beautiful. There are a lot of rocks and the trees are shorter and sparser so you can see a lot further. At this point, you are essentially in a cloud, so the entire sky is cloud which shines a dim greyish light on everything. When you look over the edge, you see nothing but a steep slope of trees ending in the cloudy abyss that surrounds you.

At about 11:00 the rain started, and it didn't stop. It was really intense; I was wearing a poncho but everything I was wearing got soaked anyways. On top of this it was getting colder as we ascended, which wasn't so bad when we were climbing but really hit me when I stopped for lunch. The first time I asked my guide to clarify whether that was really our path was when we reached this big steep dirt hill that had a river running down it and was basically entirely mud. It was a challenge to keep my footing.

After living in Moshi, you hear so many people doing the climb that you start to think of it as just another tourist destination, but after lunch things got real really fast. We reached these rapids that were about a metre across and lead to a waterfall about 3 metres to my left. I said to my guide, "there has to be another way around this right?" He wasn't concerned and informed me that it was very easy. I just had to leap onto this slimy wet rock and then leap onto the other side. No problem. The next little obstacle was a waterfall that you basically had to hug while you stepped on a rock that had been entirely submerged under water. The water was so powerful I could feel it running through my shoes and hitting my feet. I was worried that the water pressure from the falls was going to push me off the rock and over the cliff.

We arrived at the next base camp at around 3pm, although it felt much later. This was the ugliest base camp by far. It was this open, flat, grey space covered in rocks and mud with almost no trees or greenery. The rain was still pounding so everything was flooded. When I got into my tent, I realized that even with my rain cover my clothes were slightly wetter than they were the day before and everything I was wearing that day was completely soaked. It was at that point that I realized that they would not dry. I was freezing, had nothing dry to put on, and we were only at the second base camp: it would get colder. I spent that night wondering how I was possibly going to climb this whole mountain without dying of hypothermia.

Day 3 (4572 M)

When the sun came up and it wasn't raining anymore, my energy was renewed and we continued up the mountain. Every minute after 11:00 that it didn't rain I took as a gift and cherished it.

The first part of the day was the desert zone with all different sized volcanic rocks. It spit rain for a little while, but ended up being a really good day. We climbed up to the lava rock at 14,900 ft., then had to climb back down to get to Barranco camp at 15,000 ft. There was a lot of climbing up at down in order to get used to the altitude. Altitude is the biggest obstacle to climbing (other than maybe the rain). I was the only one of the people I talked to that didn't feel any altitude sickness.

The way down from lava rock began by climbing down this big, steep, rocky waterfall. After that, we climbed down this slope covered in loose rocks that basically felt like surfing the slope. It wasn't really possible to stay in control; even my guide was falling. Then we followed a large creek that I think during dry season is an actual path. We jumped from one rock to another and tried not to fall in; I somehow managed to make it through the day without a soaker.

 

The waterfall rock hill that we descended after Lava Rock

As we approached the camp, the landscape changed and more trees started appearing. This camp was my absolute favourite. We were in a valley completely surrounded by mountains so it was beautiful as well as warm, since we were sheltered from the wind. Extending out and up the mountain was every possible shade from grey to green that you can possibly imagine. Everything had kind of a greyish tinge to it, but there were so many different colours it was unbelievable. Breaking up the mountain view were waterfalls interspersed around the cliffs. Surrounded by this beautiful scenery and feeling much drier, I went to bed feeling like I might actually be able to do this.

The view from my favourite Base Camp.

Day 4/5 (5895 M)

In the next 48 hours I climbed for a total of around 24 hours, on maybe 4 hours of sleep, with a breakfast of cookies that tasted like sugar and sawdust.

Day 4 began by scaling one of the cliffs surrounding Barranco camp, which felt like real rock climbing. They say never look down, but I say don't look up either. Look up at how far and steep you have to climb and you are bound to give up right there. Looking two steps ahead and taking it one thing at a time is the way to do it.

Descending from this cliff was my least favourite part of the day. I was wearing my trail runners to keep my hiking boots dry for summit day. This works well with the rain since although they get wet really easily, they also dry fast. However, the grips on them aren't really made for rock climbing. We reached a point in the climb that was just sloped rock with water running down it. It wasn't completely smooth, but there was absolutely nothing to grab onto. You just had to trust the grip on your shoes, which was a bit of a problem. I basically gripped for dear life with my hands onto the rock behind me and slowly slid down the slope.

After that descent, we climbed through the real desert area which contains large lava rocks and a layer of rocks that look and sound like flagstone, covering everything. There was one point where we reached the top of this cliff; surrounding us were large lava rocks covered in inukshuks and everything beyond was clouds. It looked like a really grey and rocky heaven.

We scaled another cliff to reach the camp the 7 dayers stay in, which we ate lunch at. After lunch we climbed up to Barafu camp for a total of about 8 hours of hiking. I was supposed to have about 6 hours to sleep before summiting, but dinner came late so I got 4 1/2. I might have slept one hour.

At midnight I woke up, had a snack of cookies and tea, and got ready to head for the summit. The next five hours of climbing passed in an absolute blur. When we got out, the moon was low in the sky and coloured a bright orange. Throughout the next few hours it rose like the sun and turned to a perfect white crescent. I have never seen so many stars in my life; there wasn't an empty spot in the sky. Looking out you could see the entire city of Moshi lit up below.

At 5:00am, we reached the top of the mountain at Stella Point (5739 M). The purpose in starting the climb so early is to reach the summit for sunrise, which is at about 6:00am. I really wanted to see the sunrise and you will freeze if you stand around and wait at the summit, so I went as slow as possible on the gradual slope to the summit. We reached the summit (5895 M) at 5:45am, just in time for the beginning of the sunrise. The sky was all lit up in a pinkish red as we watched the sun slowly rise from behind a distant mountain. In the light of day, the summit was a completely different place; it was amazingly beautiful. The glaciers next to us were my favourite part. They were surreal and looked like something from finding Nemo rather than something that could actually be seen in real life. This was one of so many times since I have come to Tanzania that I have just stared and tried to take a mental picture, since the pictures taken on my camera just seem stupid compared to the real thing.

 

After some time spent enjoying the view and taking some pictures, I was sufficiently cold and decided it was definitely time to get off the mountain. So I ran. When I got to the point where the dirt path ended and there was nothing but the usual thin layer of snowy ice, I sat down and slid. Being used to running marathons, this is the biggest difference between those and climbing mountains: the climax is at the end. When you complete a marathon, you are done and can relax. When you reach the top of a mountain, you are only halfway there. The walk down was definitely not as exhilerating as the way up, and was shockingly much harder than the climb.

It took 4 hours to get from the summit back down to Barafu base camp. After lunch and an hour of sleep, we were back on the trail down for another 6 hours of hiking to get to the level of the first base camp. This camp was beautiful since it was in the rainforest zone, and it was huge! I think I got a second wind at some point because I didn't feel tired when I got there, but after dinner I passed right out and slept for 12 hours.

Day 6

The next morning was a three hour hike back down to the main gate that I pretty much ran. I don't know if I was running to get to the bottom or just to the shower. After six days of hiking with no showers and not many clean clothes, a shower has never felt that good ever.

 

New Years, etc...

Moshi, Tanzania

On my way into Chapakazi for my last week of school, the dala dala pulled over to the side of the road so the driver could yell something at someone on the street. As he pulled in, he pulled up right behind this woman standing at the side of the street and facing the other way. She was located about a foot in at the front of the van and about 10 cm away. As the driver restarted the van, I looked at her and thought, "No. He wouldn't do that." He did. There was no honking, no attempt to back up, he just drove. She got hit a little and then jumped onto the side of the road. At no point in this scenario did the driver hesitate, although from my reaction, I am sure he must have noticed what happened. I let out a little scream at first and then began uncontrollably laughing. The woman was fine but seriously, did that actually happen?

When I arrived at the school, the blackboards were gone. The story I heard was that Daniel, the owner of the school, couldn't pay his bills so they took them. Someone brought in another piece of wood that we painted so it kind of works as a chalk board.

Near the end of December, some local friends of mine took me out to try the local brew. It was the consistency of baby vomit and, I would imagine, tastes pretty similar as well. It is made from ugali and bananas, but definitely does not taste like bananas. The bar patrons were pretty excited I was there. I don't think they get many tourists in there. I couldn't drink much, I think it would have made me really sick, but it was a unique experience.

I went to the hot springs for a second time just before new years. It was raining a bit on the way there (it is rainy season), but we were sleeping and it didn't seem like that much. However, when we headed out from the springs we encountered a slight problem. We were driving in a cab, which was just a small car. The roads to the hot springs are bad on dry days(at some points it is basically like driving on a pile of boulders with some dirt on them), but add in some rain and it becomes a lot worse. We reached the area that is probably the worst part of the drive already, and it was filled with water about knee deep. Without hesitation, our cab driver headed in with his tiny car, but got stuck on one of the particularly bad points where there is a small hill. Water started flooding into the car and it didn't seem like we were getting anywhere so we decided to get out to see if it would help. He eventually got though and somehow the car was ok after driving though water that almost went past the car windows, but now we had to get to the car. The other three managed to jump the rivers pretty easily, but for me and my friend Kristina it was another story. First she fell in while she was considering jumping over, then a guy tried to help us by showing us a better way across. This way was not better and he tried to help, but it somehow lead to me landing directly in the centre of the river. At the next crossing we had to jump onto a pointed rock to get across, which was clearly doomed to fail since my flip flops were already wet. By the time we got to the cab, one of my flip flops was broken, we were covered in water that given the location was likely filled with cow poop, and my khanga kept falling off so that I was wearing only bathing suit bottoms in this conservative little village. As we made our way back into the cab, some guy drove by on a piki piki and said in swahili, "welcome to Tanzania".

For New Years, I ended up staying in Moshi and we went to glaciers: the outdoor club that everyone goes to on Friday nights. There were a lot of children there, which I thought was slightly innappropriate considering it was a club where people were drinking, but that was before midnight. The tribe from the Moshi area is called Chagga, and the Chaggas have a special tradition on New Years of shooting guns into the air at midnight. This is now illegal, for obvious reasons, but it is a strong tradition so that doesn't entirely stop people. A few of them got some shots in before the police took them down. In addition, they had a fireworks display that was right inside the club. It was pretty cool being so close, but I soon discovered why they don't do that in Canada. Some of the fireworks were literally aimed directly into the crowd. At one point, I saw one land on the grass roof and it started smoking. Then, one went right down the shirt of one of the girls I was with. They managed to put it out, but not without a major burn scar and a big hole in her bra. After the fireworks, there was a concert and Barney and Mickey-Mouse-slash-spider-man showed up to dance. Welcome to Tanzania.