Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Back in Ottawa -- for a while

Five days back and I'm still feeling a little lost and confused about being here. I've caught myself referring to Longido as "home" at least a half-dozen times, and have broken the news to friends and family that I'm hoping to get myself back to Africa before mid-March.

I'm enjoying my high-speed internet access and am happy to finally post a few more pictures for those of you who won't have the opportunity to see them first-hand.




This first one is my African dream house. It's actually a chapel, but I love the concept of the round house.














This is Arnold, taken back when he was still terrified of getting too close to me!













And this is the young man who was so delighted with seeing his photos full size on my laptop that we kept going back outside to take more shots! This was my attempt to capture him mid-jump.














On the right...the bride from the Boxing Day wedding, accompanied by one of my young housemates.










My debut as a Maasai dancer...













and more scenes from the wedding celebration.



Thursday, February 01, 2007

Hours to home

Forgive my silent period...the past couple of weeks have been a wild ride and I couldn't really sort out what to say nor find much time to sit and write.

Here's a high point to tell you about -- I saw my first elephant, up close and personal. I was one of four people crammed into the front of a 2-seater Land Rover pickup truck, driving 60 km over horrible dirt roads to the village of Kitumbeine. TEMBO has 2 sponsored girls at secondary school there so we were off to pay their fees for the term. En route, we spotted a lone bull elephant near the roadside. Since I was travelling with 2 fearless Maasai men (as opposed to a tour service) we got way closer than good sense probably should have dictated. Afterward, I was assured that one of the men "knew elephant psychology" and was absolutely certain we were in no danger whatsoever. I'll never know, but sure got a lecture from some wazungus here in town, when they learned how close we'd been to the beast! Believe it or not, my camera battery chose that moment to die, so I have no proof of the proximity!

Almost as exciting, on the way back, with absolutely nothing but hot dry plain between Kitumbeine and Longido, we lost part of the axle from the Land Rover. Somehow, we managed to make it home -- by that time I'd decided the more comfortable option was to stand in the back of the pickup, holding the roll bar for stability. I've got a nasty sunburn as a result, but it truly was fun to be back there looking out at the surreal landscape with the wind in my hair. Tina was with me and I got her to join me in pretending we were flying. Of course back home this would be deemed unsafe these days (though I recall lots of drives in the back of a truck as a kid), but somehow in Africa it all works out.

So here I am, back in Arusha, with only a few hours before my flight to Amsterdam this evening. With an 8 hour layover there, I've got 27 or so hours of travel time to look forward to. Oh well, with luck I'll sleep my way across Africa tonight.

So many people to say goodbye to, even here in the city where I've spent relatively little time for the past few months. I've pretty much run out of money, so souvenir shopping was really limited. Just as well though, cuz no matter where I am on the planet, shopping is one of my least favorite activities. For now, I'll just finish up here, then head off for a last cool Bitter Lemon before my airport ride arrives.

Once I'm home, I'll post a lot of my photos for those of you who've been asking to see more.

Stay tuned for news about my plans for adventure #2, coming real soon.

Jotu