Trip to Moshi

Mount Kilimanjaro


Yesterday Cassie and I took a day trip to Moshi. It is a smaller city about an hour from Arusha by bus. There we met with John, Dr Hoon's guide from his Mt Kilimanjaro hike in 2006. He picked us up from the bus station and lead us to the taxi stand where we met with our taxi driver for the day. We drove towards Mt Kili and took many pictures along the way.

When the roads finially got even more remote than the previous 10 miles of dirt roads we had traveled, we parked the car on the side and walked to the waterfall. The hike to and from the waterfall was beautiful. Everything was so green and edible plants were everywhere (as this was the farm land of the locals but looks nothing like the organized farms we are used to). We saw corn, mangos, avacodos, passionfruit, coffee, and bananas, bananas, and even more bananas!!!!



Before reaching the waterfall's all non-locals have to pay an entry fee which may or may not go to the government?!?! I'm not very clear on this. But while we were there our guide John asked for a banana liquor. This is a local brew, that is mashed bananas some sort of millet and water. They serve it in a large plastic cup that is meant to be shared by all. So Cassie and I shared. It was not too bad. A little yeasty and with some sediment, but overall nice to try!


The waterfall was wonderful. It is the talest falls in Moshi (that's what we think at least, but is hard sometimes to understand the answers to our questions). It was cooler by about 20 degrees than the surrounding area and had a nice mist coming off. We ate lunch there and then headed back towards the car.


The place where we had parked was actually next to a local Chugga tribe family's hut. We we invited for fresh coffee and to see their house. While I am not a coffee drinker I did have a taste of Cassie's and it was WONDERFUL! They even showed us the entire process of taking the red coffee beans and making them into ground coffee. Below is a picture of the mother grinding coffee!


We then were taken back to town and John excitedly showed us his life and all that he has accomplished! Which is a privelige to have had the opportunity to have the amount of education he has had in his life. He is very thankful for this.

After that we took the bus back home to Arusha!

*Also, I have received many e-mails stating that people are having troubles posting comments. I have tried to make this problem disappear so let me know if it is better!