Weekend in Marangu, Kilimanjaro

This weekend I had a great trip visiting folks up in Marangu, in the Kilimanjaro region. This is where the Tanzanians I met in Norway last year live and work and the place where I visited in September. I was met in the village after my 8-hour bus ride (very comfortable though and on paved roads the whole way which is always a plus) by Benjamin and Lily, whose wedding I attended. I stayed at their house two nights which was a lot of fun to wake up with them and be able to help out in the kitchen and relax in an actual home.

Lilian and Benjamin Mbezi outside their home

The afternoon I got there we just sort of relaxed and such. The next day we walked the 15 minutes down to the village and then took a daladala up the road so they could show me around a bit. We first went to some caves that the local tribe, the Chagga, had dug in the 1800's to hide from the Maasai, with whom they were at war. Benjamin and I went inside with our guide and his tiny flashlight and crawled around a bit. Sometimes they were definitely more tunnels than caves and a tight fit but they went on for kilometers and the Chagga even kept their cattle and such down there.

Crawling around in the caves

We then went to another nearby village which was one of the first places in the area to do iron working and watched men pound out tools by hand which was fun. I helped Lily make pilau (spiced rice) in the afternoon and then we walked to the waterfalls I had visited with the group before. We went to the top of them this time which was fun though before we sat and had sodas as a group with some my other friends. Very relaxing. We got caught in a rainstorm as we walked back through the banana fields and such back to their house but I liked it because it reminded me of home. A lot of things in Marangu do actually - walking around in the afternoon felt like a September day in Washington and smelled a little bit like the Cascades. If I ever move back to Tanzania, it would definitely be to the Kilimanjaro region: so lush and green, weather perfect in the 70s, and with the mountain of course.

Benjamin at the waterfalls

Overlooking the teacher's college where they work.

Looking up the road at the village of Marangu

Mt. Kilimanjaro from their home the morning I left

While at their house I also got to look through their wedding photos and videos which was a lot of fun. We also exchanged gifts - a Tanzanian custom for sure and a good start to the Christmas season! I brought a shawl for Evalyn (one of Norway-traveling Tanzanians) and gave dolies to Lily and Bertha (another from Norway). Benjamin got a PLU hat and all got postcards from Washington and photos of me and my family. But I think I came out on the top with the presents because they gave me a Tanzania knitted hat with the flag as the design, a necklace of Africa with the Tanzanian flag that I know I am going to wear a lot when I miss this country and also a khanga, the cloth wraps the women wear and is a very special gift. I felt very honored by all their hospitality, even more impressed than I usually am by Tanzanian hospitality which is saying a lot.

I did not want to leave Marangu to go back to Dar and heat and homework and it definitely did not get me in the mood to leave Tanzania either which I have to do in less than 2 weeks now! Those next two weeks will be consumed by visiting people I have to see before I go, lots of reading for class, papers, final exams, and hopefully short trips to the town of Morogoro and the island of Zanzibar. Stay tuned for the final two weeks' adventures! Looking forward to being home but not leaving Tanzania, if that makes any sense...