Saturday, November 6, 2021
Jambo, Tanzania!
We leave Arusha after a pleasant, slow morning at the market and Cultural Center. It is a cool breezy, sunny day with low lying clouds and blue sky. The acrid smell of exhaust that is blowing in the open van windows is soon replaced by the fresher open air of the rural roadway. There is mist on the mountain we skirt on our way out of town. Its peaks are hidden from our view.
Barren hills to the left dotted with herds of sheep and goats. There are hints of the Massai herders in their red Shukas in the distance.
Trucks piled high with newly hewn tree trunks pass on the left and each small village presents with it’s own heaps of wood logs and planks so reminscent of Haiti’s doomed deforestation.
It is a dusty, dry landscape until the undulating grasslands turn greener as they slope gently up to the mountain’s edge.
We turn off the main highway onto a dirt road. As we venture farther into the countryside the cloud slowly take over the sky. The trees are taller and more frequent and between them we see a family of giraffes, baby in tow. Their grand design silhouetted magnificently against the umbrella trees and tall grasses.
We arrive, at last, at our week’s destination, the Mount K motel. It is a lovely walled compound with garden, a pup and friendly staff to welcome us with Tanzanian hospitality and their favored chai tea. Just over the wall the giggles of two young boys capture my attention as the one fits nicely into a large circular bowl which the other spins and they both fall into laughter. My heart laughs with them. I have missed being with the children.
I am road weary and it isnt soon enough when I find my bed a welcomed respite from the traveling.
Asante Sana (Swahili for Thank You) for our safe travels and cherished slumber.
Anne
Tripping with God: Stories of Faith and Inspiration 