I am very happy that Sarah’s visitors and and the Eid holiday offered me the opportunity to do two touristy things I had not planned on….kayaking on Lake Chala and doing a day hike on the Marangu route of Mount Kilimanjaro. Mike and Sofia C and Phillip P were my young companions and adventure partners.

On Tuesday, we drove out to Lake Chala, about an hour from Moshi, and we went kayaking on the lake and Sarah and the parents relaxed and read in the gazebo above the lake. You can see it in some of the pictures.

The video below gives you some idea of the view and the walk down to the lake dock.

The dock was straight down below the gazebo area and the pictures in the video do not do justice to the steepness of the path. We were definitely not mentally prepared for that.

Phillip (left) and Mike in the kayak.

Sofia and I shared a kayak.

The path down to the kayaks

The area of the lake where we kayaked

If we had gone to the left at the far end of the lake we could have kayaked into Kenya. But, it was really windy on the water and we all had trouble controlling the kayaks. Also, because they were the kind you sit on top of, we were all wet and sweaty from effort and dusty from the road to and from the lake, so we all needed a shower when we got back. I was glad I had worn light fabrics that dried easily.

Greetings, my faithful blog readers. We have had a fun and eventful week with many visitors. When I first met them on Saturday, family and family friends of Sarah, they were visitors to the project and to Tanzania. By the end of the week, I felt like a part of their families. We shared many adventures and experiences this week which I will write about later. We spent two days at school meeting the children and doing different activities. We had two days of holiday for Eid when I got to go on a day hike on the Marangu route up Mount Kilimanjaro and go kayaking on Lake Chala. Both of these activities I was not planning on, but was thrilled to get to do them. We also had one rest day in between to plan activities and recuperate from our adventures.

To entertain you all until I complete some of my blog posts, please see Sarah’s blog about the paper bag puppets and the Makerena. Yes, there are videos of me doing the Makerena.

http://toanafasi.blogspot.com/2014/07/furahi-day_31.html