reunions…

As soon as I walked out of the plane at Kilimanjaro airport on Wednesday evening, I smiled… was wonderful to feel the warm air and see the familiar surroundings. And the lovely greeting from my favourite taxi driver, Ngereza, made it perfect. Yes, it is good to be back in Tanzania!

Got back to the hotel quite late and my Masaai friend Zakajo was waiting for me… he used to be security guard at the Secret Garden hotel but I found that he had been promoted to waiter since I was here in December…and his English language has improved immensely – so pleased for him!

The following morning I enjoyed breakfast with a fab view of the mountain… Kilimanjaro was as beautiful as ever and all the memories from the climb came flooding back. It’s funny how after some time you forget most of the painful moments and remember all the great stuff! Still wouldn’t do it again, though!

Went for a walk in Moshi town… just enjoying the sunny weather and visiting the usual shops, places and cafés. Bumped into my friend, Steve – he works for the tour company that arranged my climb (Nyange Adventures – highly recommended!) – and he took me for a local lunch (rice, beans and chicken – was yummy!) and asked if I wanted to ride along to the mountain as he was picking up a couple of people who had done the day hike on Kili. It was a really nice drive, the landscapes were great… I had not been to that side of the mountain before and I felt so much more relaxed…

We had plenty of time it seemed, so we popped into to meet Steve’s mum – a lovely lady, who sadly had suffered a stroke fifteen years ago which had affected the movement of her right arm and leg. She never had the opportunity for any rehabilitation etc. and of course she has no healthcare or support either… so she just sits in a chair all day… another reminder of how lucky we are.

Then we went to the Chagga tribe museum – the guy who was telling me about the traditions and history of this tribe was super crazy – haha! He was explaining about the average life expectancy…apparently it used to be 130 back in the day… 🤔 but now with deceases like AIDS it has decreased to 40-50 years … he described this with a slashing sound and movement as if he was using a machete and then he laughed!! Not funny!!! 😳

Anyhow we got the Marangu gate of Kilimanjaro and waited for these two day hikers. Whilst waiting we saw so many people returning from the summit… the difficult walking and big smiles gave them away! And then I got such a lovely surprise… the guide, who did the day hike with these two Canadians, was Joey….my guide from the climb! So, so wonderful to see him and his smile again – we relived some of the memories and laughed a lot – he could of course mainly remember all my swearing!

The afternoon was completed with another taste of banana beer (the Canadians wanted to try) and I can confirm that I still don’t like it!

And a relaxing evening with a couple of Beers and a chat with Gill & Daudi (the hotel owners) was the perfect end to a lovely first day back… just what I needed!

And now my friend Carelynn has arrived for the weekend, bring on the Konyagi and the Black Diamond dance floor! We’ll head south to where she lives (Iringa) on Monday.

Wishing you all a GREAT weekend. 🤗