It's Organic!

Well, our vacation has come and gone, and was absolutely unforgettable. I’ll start from the beginning…

We left for Tanzania early last Saturday morning. Per usual, the bus was an hour late pulling out of Nairobi, but all things considered the traveling was fine. The most notable part of the bus ride was crossing the Kenyan/Tanzanian border, where we had to physically get off the bus and walk into Tanzania. I’m not really sure why the 100 meter walk was necessary, but it was amusing. Other than the little jaunt between the countries, the transition was seamless and neither Kenya nor Tanzania seemed overly concerned by what we might or might not have been carrying into/out of each country. Customs and immigration are apparently considered overrated here. Anyway, we arrived in Moshi around 2 in the afternoon, and realized we had neglected to take into consideration the fact that the currency would be different. In Kenya, the exchange rate is currently around 88 Kenyan Shillings to the dollar, but in Tanzania it was like 1500 Shillings to the dollar, so figuring out how much money we needed to take out proved slightly difficult. We ended up going to the ATM about 4 times throughout our 2 day stay… c’est la vie. After getting money and finding a cab, we arrived at our hostel, Twiga Home, which was just about a 5 minute drive from the main street in town. The hostel was awesome! It was completely isolated and quiet and the rooms were extremely clean and comfortable. We did have a few lizard visitors throughout our stay, but they were completely harmless. Perhaps the best part of the hostel was the hot water shower! It’s been 2 months since I’ve taken a hot shower, and let me tell you, it was LOVELY.

We spent the rest of our first day/night wandering around Moshi town – basically 2 main streets that are filled with textile shops, curios, restaurants, etc. There were actually a lot of other muzungu’s and foreigners in town, as the town is the most commonly used base to climb Kilimanjaro. In addition to the mountain, Moshi is also known for its coffee! It is one of the bigger coffee hubs in Tanzania, and we were able to sample some at a local coffee ship. It had been a while since I had coffee, and it was surprisingly delicious and refreshing. Overall, I really enjoyed just wandering around Moshi… it was so much easier to navigate than Nairobi, and for the most part we were left alone to look and wander as we pleased. In Nairobi, if you’re white, you’re pretty much a constant target on the streets -- hawkers and children will follow you for blocks trying to get you to buy things. Moshi was thus a really nice change of pace. The town was just incredibly cute and friendly, and Tanzania in general seemed cleaner and greener than Kenya. Once we got back to the hostel that evening we sat down with Steven, our hostel’s shuttle driver, who suggested that he could arrange a trip to see some cool waterfalls and an organic coffee farm for us the next day if we were interested. We had no legitimate plans in Moshi other than to see Kilimanjaro (about this… we never actually saw Kilimanjaro, ha. It was in the clouds the entire time we were there – couldn’t see the peak even remotely. At first this was a huge disappointment but as you’ll see shortly, we made up for it) so we decided that a day trip to see some falls would be awesome. Stupidly, I assumed we would just be shuttled to these sights, take some pictures, and call it a day, but that is not at all how it actually went down.

So Sunday morning we woke up, got dressed, and were ready for our adventure. I knew we were in trouble as soon as we got in the car and Steven looked at mine and Jamee’s flip flops and shook his head. He told us we needed to put closed toed shoes on, preferably boots…it was at this point that I realized there might be some serious walking involved. As it turned out, we had a 9 mile hike UPHILL ahead of us! Steven drove us as far as he could up a mountain in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, but the thick mud made it impossible for the car to go very far. At that point, we were told to hop out and get to walkin! We were met by Steven’s friend Oscar, who runs an organic coffee farm, and who was to be our guide for the afternoon. When I asked Oscar how far it was to the falls, he said “oh we’re close,” which was a complete and utter lie. Now I’m sure this sounds very whiney and typical of me, but let me tell you – this walk was NO JOKE. We were walking completely uphill in the densest, slimiest mud I have ever seen. This mud was slippery to the point where it was hard to stay on your feet. Oscar likened it to walking on ice, if that makes the visual any better. Basically, it was HARD. After about 2.5 hours of walking/sliding/falling we finally arrived at Oscar’s house, where we had a brief reprieve as we learned how to make coffee! The whole coffee process involves a lot more work than I ever considered, but Oscar walked us through each step – from picking the coffee pods (they look like berries), to separating the outer husks from the actual bean by a process of laborious pounding, to roasting, to grinding by hand, to making an actual pot! Perhaps the most entertaining part of the entire coffee show was watching Oscar’s 1- year old nephew, Ichi, pound his own coffee beans as we all chanted and sang for him. I am still not entirely convinced that Ichi was an actual relative – I think they might have hired him to make us all laugh and oooh/awww and then convince us to buy coffee in bulk. Either way, the whole process was awesome to see and the coffee was delicious! It was slightly misty and chilly on the mountain, so a hot cup of coffee was the perfect fix. We were also able to see Oscar’s mother’s banana trees – also apparently a big staple in Moshi. Oscar and his family sell both bananas and coffee throughout all of East Africa. In the end, we ended up buying a couple bags of Oscar’s Hillborn Organic Coffee, and its aroma has since permeated everything I own.

After the tour of the coffee farm, we took to the road again to find the falls, which again, Oscar insisted were very close. Oscar’s house had been set on a tiny hill which had involved some precarious maneuvering to get to in the mud – on the way down however, precarious maneuvering wasn’t even an option. The hill was so steep and slippery that one step into it Max fell on his ass and basically slid the entire way down. From there, the rest of us (laughing hysterically of course) sadly half crawled/half slid down on our hands and knees, groping for any plant we could find to help stabilize ourselves. When we finally got down we were all covered in mud (as if it hadn’t been bad enough during the first half of the hike). Max’s bathing suit had a huge muddy ass imprint on it, and the locals kept laughing and saying that he “bought land,” a joke they make when dumb tourists fall down in the mud. The hiking from Oscar’s house got even harder, as we all the sudden found ourselves on trails that were no more than a foot wide, and which required us to walk in a single file line. The scenery around us was amazing however – everything was so green, it felt like we were in the jungle! Oscar kept pointing out all of the “organic” things in the jungle – rubber plants, plants that make rope, huge slugs, chameleons, safari ants, etc. I think organic is just a catch all term they use because they are hippie mountain people – it was basically just used to mean nature. Oscar would just randomly shout organic at the top of his lungs and then we would all scream too. I will be honest, I’m surprised no one broke an ankle during this hike – it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to have four muzungu’s wandering in the jungle wearing crocs and tennis shoes, but oh well. Anyway, on this portion of the hike we did stop off for another mountain favorite, locally brewed banana beer. Apparently on Sundays, all of the village elders go to church and then go directly to the pubs to get drunk off banana beer. This is exactly how we found them when we wandered into the pub, all laughing and slurring and passing around huge plastic containers of their local brew. We were given the distinct pleasure of trying this stuff ourselves and let me tell you it tasted a little bit like bananas and a whole lot like garbage. There happened to be an ant floating on top when I went to take a sip, so I kept it short and sweet and smiled politely. Oscar, however, drank about ¾ of the container and then proceeded to run through the trails barefoot and scream “MOTO” really loud every 30 seconds. This was how we spent the last two hours of our hike – being led through the jungle by a drunken African coffee maker. All in all, a good time. Finally, after about 3 more hours of hiking, we arrived at the beautiful Mnambe Falls, which Oscar’s tribe used to use for human sacrifices way back in the day (a story he explained to us in depth as he smoked ganja at the base of the falls). The falls themselves were amazing – 300+ feet and just surrounded by amazing green jungle. There was absolutely no one around, we had the place entirely to ourselves… it felt like such a rush to have made it there and to be in the presence of something so extreme. Truthfully, it made me want to climb Kilimanjaro – I imagine the rush of making it to the summit is even greater than the excitement we felt when we finally found our destination that day. I put pictures of the falls on facebook, but they don’t really do it justice. It was just a happy moment to have made it there all together.

The entire day trip ended up being close to 10 hours all said and done… we were exhausted and filthy when we returned to Twiga Home. The hot showers were pretty amazing at that point. I ended up having to throw my shirt and tennis shoes because they were so muddy. Overall though, the day had been unbelievable and it really made up for the fact that we hadn’t actually got to see the peak of Kilimanjaro. Hiking in the foothills of Kilimanjaro was definitely an experience I’ll never forget and I would honestly go back to Moshi in a second. We were all bummed when Monday morning rolled around and we had to leave, but luckily we had the beach to look forward to!

Diani Beach… ahh, where to even begin? It’s like heaven on earth. We arrived there on Monday afternoon after an 8 hour bus ride (very sketchy – we stopped about a dozen times to let random people on the bus; people who were then forced to sit on crates in the aisle) and an hour cab ride. When we first pulled into our “hotel” (called Diani Beachalets – it was basically several cottages) I was a little concerned as I couldn’t see the beach anywhere despite having paid for a sea-facing cottage. The outside of the cottages could definitely have used some work and I was horrified that this place I had found in my guide book was about to be a total bust. Luckily for us, the outside of the cottage was not a reflection of the inside at all. In fact, we were shocked when we went inside – the place was  HUGE (remember we have been living in an apartment the size of a fishbowl for the past 2 months), clean, fully stocked with every kitchen utensil and amenity we could ever need. The best part however, was that out our back door we had an amazing patio that overlooked the white sand beaches of Diani. We basically had the beach and the Indian Ocean at our back door – and what a sight they were! The beaches and water were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before – pure, soft white sand and so many blue hues in the water it looked fake. I could not have been happier with our cottage or the beach.

Our 6 days in Diani went way too quickly and involved a ton of relaxing and reading on the beach. We were there during what was still considered the low season, so aside for a lovely Slovenian family staying next to us, the place was almost totally empty. We had the beach to ourselves almost everyday. Actually that isn’t exactly true – we were the only tourists on the beach, but not the only people. Enter the lovely “beach boys,” or as I like to call them beach bums. The beach bums are a group of African guys whose profession is basically to annoy you into buying something from them or taking a camel ride on one of their dozen camels. Some of the beach bums were much easier to get rid of than others (a simple “I’m trying to read, go away” worked with a few of them) – others decided they wanted to tell us their entire <made up> life stories, which got a little old after a while. We did have one particular beach bum who we couldn’t shed and therefore sort of befriended. His name was Bob or Mohammad, depending on the day, and I got the impression he was fond of the ganja. Either way, he was harmless and in the end he ended up giving us a bunch of free jewelry and organizing a snorkeling trip for us for the equivalent of $4 USD. The snorkeling trip was pretty amazing despite the rustic boat and gear. I’m pretty sure the boat we rode out to the reef in was just a hollowed out tree (there was water filling the boat as we were sailing – I’m not a sailor, but even I know that’s not a good sign). The reef was only about 100 yards out, and the water was so shallow and clear that we got to see all sorts of amazing fish/coral. My favorites were the starfish, which were HUGE and so exotically colored.  

Aside from snorkeling, laying on the beach, and getting sunburned, we didn’t do a whole lot in Diani other than eat and drink. It was AMAZING to have a full kitchen for the week. We don’t have a fridge/oven/any real cooking utensils here in Nairobi, so our diet is very limited. We don’t eat anything that has to be kept in a fridge or anything that can’t be cooked in a pot over our tiny gas “stove.” That said, having a full kitchen meant that we could have whatever we wanted (or whatever we could find in the local grocery store). We had eggs and toast every morning, turkey sandwiches for lunch, and a variety of big meals for dinner! It was so nice to eat like a normal person again for the week, and to subsist on food other than carbs. We did venture out for dinner one night. We went to an infamous Diani restaurant called Ali Barbour’s Cave… it is literally in a cave, and it was absolutely beautiful. The menu was mostly seafood, and everyone really enjoyed their dishes. It was an expensive night out (by African standards), but well worth it.

We spent our last night in Diani getting stupidly drunk and hanging out at a local beach bar for far too long. I’m not sure why we picked the last night of our trip – and the night before we had a 7 hour bus ride back to Nairobi – to get so drunk, but you only live once, right? It was kind of the perfect end to the week – all of us together, laughing, drinking, and feeling perfectly blessed to be in that spot at exactly that moment. I think all of us realized what a journey we have been on this summer and were just feeling incredibly lucky for what we have had the opportunity to do and see. Of course, we all felt like crap the next day and in true Mombasa style it was about 95 degrees outside by 10 am, which only added to the pain. We struggled that morning, to say the least. Luckily, the bus we booked for the trip back was the most legitimate bus we took the entire vacation and we were all able to get some sleep on the ride home without being interrupted by constant stops.

We’ve been back in Nairobi for a few days now and although I’m sad vacation is over, I’m glad to be back here. The four of us went out for an awesome dinner on the 4^th of July – burgers and beer! It was a perfectly American evening. Last night we spent the evening at Peter and Mary’s house, where we got to meet their oldest son (we hadn’t met him before) and spend time with their grandson, Sam. Sam, who is 3, was such a ham – totally reminded me of Bennett when he was little. He found me to be particularly funny and by the end of the night I couldn’t even look at him without him screaming and laughing hysterically. It was a really enjoyable evening, and I can’t say enough how generous and lovely Mary and Peter are. The conversation with them just flows so easily and they are both great and inspiring company. I am hoping we will be able to get together with them again before we leave. On our agenda for this weekend we are taking Eric and Lillian out for a thank-you dinner before Jamee leaves. We are going to this restaurant called Carnivore – supposedly one of the 50 best restaurants in the world! It’s basically a big meat fest and we are all excited to try crocodile, ostrich, and ox! It’s silly to think one dinner can thank them for all they have done for us this summer, but I hope that it will be an enjoyable evening for them nonetheless.

On the work front, we are moving full steam ahead. We finally got our logo (thanks to Elliot’s friend Bryan Patton who generously and patiently worked with us despite having his own full time job) and we all LOVE it! I’m seriously so happy with the way it turned out. It’s simple and sleek, and I think it represents our organization well. We have already used the logo to print business cards for Eric and the other board members. Check the logo out on Lisha Mtoto’s facebook page: www.http://facebook.com/Lisha.Mtoto.Initiative! I am also happy to announce that the website should be completed by mid-month. We are almost to the point of putting content on it, and it really looks amazing. Despite my personal gripes with Matt, he has done a really good job at building the site and it looks incredibly professional. He and Erin will be going on vacation for the next week, so it will be up to the rest of us to get all of the content up and hopefully we will have it launched shortly after they return from their trip. All in all, everything we’ve worked so hard to do this summer is finally coming together and it’s a great feeling. I can’t believe that I have less than a month left here… time has flown by, and I’ve gotten so used to everything in Nairobi that I think I’ll actually be sad to leave. Jamee leaves next Wednesday and I know things will be really quiet and different without her here! I feel so lucky to have had her on this journey with me this summer. There were moments when I think I would have pulled my hair out had it not been for her. She has definitely become a life long friend.

Ok, this blog got really sappy, really fast, so I’ll end it here. I will promise to blog more diligently in my few weeks left here! Hope that everyone at home enjoyed their 4^th of July! Miss and love you all.

OH, also. Just wanted to say thank you again to my wonderful parents for funding some of our trip to Tanzania. You are the best.