We piled into the van: Jenna, Sammi, Yvette, myself, Sam and Sarah. John, our CCS driver headed toward the base of Kilimanjaro to the town of Maranga. As we passed through one of the towns there was a huge banana market going on. You have never seen so many bananas. For a mile before and a mile after there were people walking to the market with huge stalks of bananas balanced on their heads- mostly women and women of all ages. I was thinking if everyone is selling bananas who is buying them? John told us this region is known for bananas. There are other areas like Dar Salam where they don't grow bananas and people will come to this market and purchase them. They are all green and will last a week before they get yellow and need to be used. We also saw buckets of peeled bananas they were selling. I was wondering who would want to buy those. He said they were sold to make a local banana beer. I asked someone how much they were selling for. I said 10,000 shillings- which is about $6. There has to be about 80 bananas on most of the stalks. They said yes immediately- so that must mean they actually sell for much less than that, probably half. That is literally cents for each banana. Anyhow, it was just amazing to see all these people purchasing and selling their bananas and all these women carrying these bunches on their heads #awesome.
After we went to the blacksmith. We had a chance to pound on the metal against the anvil. I decided though the hardest job is the guy doing the bellows all day long. The bellows are made out of tires and they funnel into two pipes that push out onto the fire where they rest the iron in the fire and ashes every minute between pounding. They were making spears and machetes and other metal pieces. They were kind of in a artisan commune where there were others doing wood work- making beds and chairs. Sam bought a small machete to add to his weapons collection ;) I asked the man telling us about the iron work where did they get the metal. They said they go to junk yards and take old scrap metal from cars and melt it down and into spears, etc. I thought that was so clever. They are clearly picking up the torn tires too from the junk yard #recycleeverything. (BTW yesterday we were talking in hashtags all day- cracking ourselves up. Best hashtag of the other day was when I said I was over putting down my mosquito net and Sam said #seeyouontheotherside. Well, I decided I better keep putting down my mosquito net at night ;)
Before lunch we went to a coffee tour. In this area where many of the Chagga tribe live they grow coffee. They showed us what the beans look like when they are ready to be picked- they are red. They then have built this machine that essentially shucks the bean. They then wash them, dry them in the sun and then they crush the beans which takes the husk off that inner bean. They then pour those into a basket and sift them by tossing them in the shallow basket and the husks fall out of the basket. From there they roasted them in a hot clay pot over the fire. Once they were so dark they looked nearly burned they pounded them again into almost a power, sifted them and then added them to water. Everyone said it was delicious. Yvette bought some for Donnie, the coffee connoisseur so we will see what he says :) In the same area they showed us the traditional Chagga homes. Come to find out that John our driver is Chagga. He said he grew up in a home just like the one there. It has a rounded roof made of straw and is much more spacious then the Maasai's hut. These huts and even the Maasai's had nothing modern in it or store bought except a bucket and a pot, as far as I could see. The children and women sleep on a raised stick bed covered in cow hide and then there is a fire and then the animals come into the hut as well.
This region before the time of Tanzania becoming a united country, there were many tribes and many tribal wars and invasions. As a way to keep safe these Chagga built a huge tunnel- like Hezekiah's tunnel in Israel. It is 5 km long and they would go down there to hide and there were long tunnels with breakout areas where people would sleep- 20-40 people - and then an area for their animals. The entry to the tunnel would be covered in banana leaves and would be disguised so those invading wouldn't know where they were. It wasn't very deep but about 15 feet underground and the tunnel went all the way to the river, so they would have fresh water for their animals and for themselves. It was pretty fascinating, a little claustrophobic and pretty darn ingenious. They said that up to 1000 people could be hidden in the tunnel and their animals!
Our final stop was the waterfall. The falls are on someone's private property and we had an elderly man take us down these steep dirt steps about a kilometer below street level. When we got down to the river it was so green and lush. It was dripping with ferns and veins and reminded me of Fern Valley this summer. It was so beautiful!!The waterfall was gushing and spectacular. Not sure where the water was coming from, almost presume some kind of ground water, since it hasn't rained in months. We climbed out onto the rocks and enjoyed the falls. Then our guide took us down to where people could swim. Sam was our swimmer. He jumped in and the water wasn't too cold. He enjoyed a swim. Sadly I lost my second pair of sunglasses in the pool. One of the other guides then immediately took off his shorts and dove in to try and find them- very chivalrous I might say. He swam around - although I am not sure if he really swam since he kept bobbing up like he was kind of freaking out .... but no luck. He did get a big tip for the great effort. Oh well, two pairs down lost to water. I have one pair to go. Thank heavens I packed 3 pairs! Yes, you can buy things everywhere but unless i want to be rocking some $15 huge DG knockoff sunglasses I am grateful that I have another backup pair;)
It was a great day. So nice to have an outing. We picked up some treats on the way home from our field trip and decided that I needed to be snacking throughout the days so that I can keep up my energy and not get as fatigued as I have been with the heat and 6 hours between meals. We also enjoyed a nice walkabout tonight and fun to explore our area before dinner.
Tonight we are getting caught up on blogs. We have internet again and although I never received my password update from apple, I am giving up on my email for another 3 weeks. If you need to reach me send an email to my xmission account and I can text you back- since xmission isn't letting me send either!! Hakuna Matata.... now worries. Heard this saying a thousand times since we have been here.
Tomorrow we teach the Months Song that we made up. I took the Bible song "Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers..." and made it into "January, February, March and April,...May, June, July August. September, October, November, December, ....these are the months of the calendar year!" Tomorrow we will teach it and play our board game with days of the weeks and months. Hopefully will be a hit :)
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