Baadae, Tanzania ...

That means see you later, more or less. Despite the fact that there are approximtely 400 ways to greet each other here, nobody ever really says goodbye ... just see you later. I can't think of a more perfect way to sum up this experience. When I started planning this trip, it was one of those, "if I don't do it now, I'll never do it," once in a lifetime kinds of experiences. Now that I'm preparing to fly home in a few hours, though, I know with complete certainty that I'll be back someday, and so I don't even feel that sad to leave.

Ru and I have had an amazing time here. Kilimanjaro was a hundred times harder than we thought it would be, and waaaaaay colder. We hiked 4-17 hours per day for 6 days, averaging about 8 hours per day. I haven't calculated the exact altitudes or mileages for each day, but we climbed up ~15,0000 feet ... and back down again, of course! We passed through several different microclimates and landscapes, from rainforest jungle to the most desolate moon-rock imagineable.

The summit day started at midnight, in the freezing, biting cold (-20C) with only our headlamps (and the moon, for a few hours) to light the way. Ru made it all the way to the tippy top, Uhuru Peak (5895 meters) around 7:30am, just after the most gorgeous sunrise imaginable. I made it to Stella Point (5760 meters), which is the second tallest peak, before turning back around 8am. Part of me wishes I'd been able to keep going, but with 4+ hours left to climb down, and then another 5+ hours to climb later in the day, our excellent guides, Deo and Alex, suggested I turn back at Stella, and I agreed. The view from the top was stunning, and Ru and I can both say unequivicoally that we would not have made it without their help. And as difficult as it was, we can also say it was totally worth it. The scenery, the tremendous sense of accomplishment, and the camaraderie with our team of 8 guides and porters made for an incredible experience all around. There's no mechanism to add pictures from here, but when I get home I definitely will.

After the hike, we met up with Lina in Moshi, and headed out on safari the next day. The 1st day was a dificult transition for us, as we had just spent 6 intense, intimate days with a bunch of Tanzanians speaking Kiswahili and Chaga and climbing a mountain, and suddenly we were stuck in a crowded dala dala with a bunch of other wuzungo (white people) driving around speaking English. We adjusted eventually and had a wonderful time, but there was definitely some culture shock there. Seeing giant animals, including Tembo (elephant), Twiga (giraffe), Simba (lion), wildebeast, buffalo, zebra, hippo, rhino, cheetah, warthog and a gazillion different kind of birds, helped a lot. I can't really explain how beautiful it was to see animals roaming around free, but as Ru pointed out, it was neat that WE were the ones in a cage for once. Between Lake Mayara, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire parks, I took about 1,000 pictures of animals. It was awesome!

After the safari, we headed back to Zanzibar by way of a small coastal town called Bagamoyo. It had a lot of colonial history, and is said to be a really beautiful place, but we were so tired of traveling at that point that we didn't get as much out of it as we could have. We made it back to Dar es Salaam just in time to catch the ferry back to ZNZ, which was a huge relief. Getting back to Lina's mom's house made everything seem manageable again. It's just such a relaxing, beautiful, peaceful place and everyone is very friendly and helpful.

Since getting back here on Monday evening, we've gone to visit a nursery school run by Mariam's church, attended a traditional "singo," (read: bachelorette party in which the older women basically teach the bride how to have sex), gone to a Muslim wedding, spent the day at some of the southern beaches, gone on a Spice Tour in which we learned that ginger is a natural viagara for men, toured around Stone Town bargaining for better deals on Zawadi (gifts), learned tons more Kiswahili and helped Cecilia with the cooking. Today Ru and Omi and I made tacos for dinnner to thank the 10 or so family members who have been at the house during our stay.

I had planned to blog more on this trip, but sitting around on the Internet has been the last thing I wanted to do. Not only have I not checked my work email (yay!) I haven't even checked my yahoo mail since the last time I blogged on the 7th. I have, however, taken nearly 2,500 photos, so I'll be sure to post them and write a bit about some of them when I get back. I'm sure going through the photos will remind me of some of the interesting reflections I've had about Tanzania, as well as jogging my memory about some of the fun stories I'd like to share. For now, though, I need to go pack and then get ready to go out dancing for our last night on the town.

Love to all and see you soon!

Baadae, Tanzania!