First Day

It’s funny how you are never in a hurry in Africa, everything happens in a kind of slow motion, but somehow by the end of the day you have had so many rich experiences it is difficult to remember all of them.  Our first full day was like that.

After a leisurely breakfast we climbed aboard the somewhat funky white Uhuru bus.  Clara rode shotgun, which makes it look like she is driving from our vantage point further back.  We made our way into the busy town of Moshi to exchange money and the group enjoyed their first full-on experience with street vendors. 

It was a steady climb out of Moshi until we arrived at the big Kotela Lutheran Church.  We spent the next couple hours hiking our way down through the village with small houses tucked away in a lush landscape of banana trees and coffee plants.  After a nice visit at Kimangaro Lutheran church we had a great time with the 250 children of Kikoro Primary School.  Today was the last day of school before they go on break which did nothing to diminish the enthusiastic welcome we received from the kids.

The teachers wanted to serve us tea with some delicious samosas, ground nuts, avocados and bananas even though we had just come from breakfast and our next stop was lunch.  That’s Tanzanian hospitality.  Out of what little they have, our friends are determined to share and there is never any point to mentioning that you are really not hungry. 

We then had a great afternoon at the home of Pastor Stephen Massawe with his wife Haekieli and their 1 year old son Tajiel.  Taj was  missing his nap so he was tired and shy but he took to Jack right away.  We were thrilled to learn that Haekieli is expecting their second in late August! 

So off we go to El Rancho, the restaurant with a Mexican name that serves Indian and Italian food.  None of us are hungry, but I bet everyone has something to eat!