2 weeks down! Im pretty much in the swing of Arusha life. I drive a little blue Suzuki around, spend a lot of time lying next to the pool at lodges and have my SEW Mummas under control. This weekend is totally uneventful and i'm starting to feel pretty restless and feel like I've achieved what I need to do here. It's time to move on!
However, I have to tell you about the incredible day I had hiking 20kms to a waterfall 3 hours out of Arusha. Meeting out guides Ezekiel (ezzy for short) and Goodluck (yep, GOODLUCK) we headed off with our tourist backpacks to the foothill of the beautiful Mt Meru. Winding through tiny villages and up steel hills our first stop was Goodlucks family where they insisted we come inside and sit on their couches and pose for photos (photo attached).
After trekking through unbelievable vegetation (and I truly mean that.. it was unbelievably beautiful) we arrive at the waterfall. Whilst the waterfall was beautiful, it really was just water coming out from a rock, and to be honest I was more taken back by the scenery getting there. Barbs and I stripped off down to a bathers and plunged into the waterfall. We were the only ones swimming.. i dont think the African boys hanging around the waterfall were too upset.
After cutting my foot on a bottle of Konyagi (the local drink here) and our guides thinking I was going to die from losing so much blood, we headed back on the track and back home to Arusha.. another 2 hour hike. Again the scenery was indescribable. So incredibly green, lush and beautiful. Photos attached to give you some sort of idea. After leaving Arusha at 9.00am, we got back to civilization at 4.00pm. Stupid us didn't bring lunch, so we turned up home with chronic sunburn, starved and exhausted! Well worth it.. however no men with guns or crazy African women to report back home. However, I promise, I saw many kids riding past me and plowing in the fields with these intense machetes. I didn't want to go near them.
SEW is going well and we had two days of filming on Thursday and Friday in both the SEW workshop and with Oliva, one of the Mummas. Once the documentary is made you will all hear her story. It is powerful, extremely sad, eye opening and inspiring. I love her so much and was so proud of her for opening up and sharing it with the world. Our videographer, on the other hand, I wanted to punch in the head... but we found a gel once I backed off and just let him run his course... RUSSIANS! Interesting people. He's doing an amazing thing for SEW and at the end of the day,I can't thank him enough.
Onwards and upwards from here. I'm off to Zanzibar on my lonesome this weekend to sell SEW bags and experience some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. Then it's on to possibly do a 3 day hike up Mt Meru and on to explore Rwanda and Uganda. Travelling by myself should be interesting, a mind challenge, but I think completely beneficial.
Lots of love back home to Australia. I'm feeling a little homesick lately.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment