Regular sleep, a body clock that is semi-on-schedule and great meals (and the best coffee in the world) are helping us to feel normal. Today we get to explore our little town of Moshi, home to our little oasis that is the Springlands Hotel. Our guide, Emmanuel, has arranged a shuttle into town where he will guide us on foot through the markets and sights of Moshi.
While waiting for the shuttle, he says we have time to take a walk down the road, across from the hotel, to see the water spring, where locals fill up their buckets with clean water. I meet the cutest kids, one who liked my camera and the other who cried when I took their picture. Emmanuel said he had probably never seen a white man before. We are a scary lot haha.
We continue down along the road to the rice plantation where we get to taste Aloe Vera, that is growing on the side of the road. Emmanuel takes us over to meet a group of locals are outside preparing roasted plantains – served with a hot pepper sauce and they offer us a taste. They were very tasty!
PS In case you didn’t know, the pictures can be made big by double-clicking on them.
The shuttle delivers us to the downtown area where we explore about three markets, chaotic bus terminal and scale nine flights of stairs in an office building that offers an excellent look off. There is a scenic view of the surrounding area, valleys and of course the mountain. The clouds have cleared from the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and I still can’t fathom that I am going to start climbing it tomorrow.
We pick up a few souvenirs and continue our tour, stopping at the former train station and then back to the shuttle. The temperature today, according to my watch is 40 degrees. Wow! At 4PM we meet out trekking guides for a short meeting to finalize plans for tomorrow. Besides Chris and I, we have Peter from the UK and Rex from Australia. Our leader has done 250 climbs up Mt. Kili so we are in very good hands. We also met the assistant lead who will be joined by 8 porters, 1 waiter and 1 cook to round up our team.
Until our return on Friday, I send a big JAMBO,JAMBO (hello) to everyone following me. We are having a blast, feel great and are ready to go.
                                                                  