a new song 'it must be love (love, love)'

Day off!
And this day is better shared in pictures - enjoy!
Beverley and I were due to be collected at 8.30, but we'd already learnt that punctuality isn't exactly a priority here! However, our guide arriving at the house at 12.30 was much later than expected, Neil was extremely apologetic and had brought us each a little gift as an apology - a weaved bracelet saying 'HAKUNA MATATA' and for those of you that aren't familiar with the phrase from Disney's Lion King, it means 'no worries' and is a mantra that many people here live by!
Anyway we set off towards the main road as Neil continued apologising and explaining what held him up. We got to the main road where he was planning on getting a taxi to our destination to make up some time, while we weaved through the dala-dalas and taxis we spotted Tom, our driver, and he offered to take us. In we climbed and off we drove.

(the dala-dala/taxi stop)

We came off the main road (the highway was the only tarmac-ed road around), onto a dirt track, past the hospital where we had our placement and up a hill. Up a very steep hill, the further we drove the more grateful I became that Neil was late and Tom was driving us lol. Tom pulled in by a house to drop us off, the road ahead was a bit too steep-time to continue on foot. 

(onwards and upwards)

(looking back down the hill - really doesn't represent how steep the hill was! lined with banana trees and in the distance towards the horizon is where Tanzanite is mined)

We were surrounded by gorgeous, lush, green vegetation - most I could identify as banana trees...but it wasn't until later into our trek that I discovered there are so many different types of banana and how every part of the banana tree is used for something from food to gift wrapping to building material to cattle feed.

(two different types of banana)

We got to the top of the hill, through a village, over a bridge then off the track, under a branch and over a boulder. To the left was a ravine - we could see the opposite side, we could see the tops of the trees growing from below but we couldn't see the bottom. Neil said the waterfall we were heading to was at the bottom and this was where we started our descent. I laughed - he'd been very humorous along our walk so far so I figured this was a joke...how wrong was I! 

(you can't quite make out the sudden drop at the bottom of this picture, but trust me it's there! And that's the far side of the gorge)

(some very steep parts of the climb down - no helmets, safety ropes or padding (other than what I already have) just hands, feet and branches)

As we were descending we were joking 'Indiana Jones, eat your heart out' and sang the theme tune. Then we finally made it down alive and were next to a river. We ventured upstream clambering over rocks and crawling under massive boulders until we came to a pretty fast flowing part of the river which was where we needed to cross. 

 Trousers rolled up, socks and shoes off and tied to my bag and tentatively finding my footing across some slippy rocks.

Made it across, had a brief break where we put our footwear back on, then as we went to move on I lost my footing and my foot slipped into the river! It was very refreshing! Again lol

We moved on a bit further and stepped between another two large boulders and that's where we found the waterfall.

It was beautiful and not a single photo I have does it justice. Well worth the scrapes with death we'd just faced! Neil pulled out some cakes - a mix between a taste of yorkshire puddings and donuts - sticky, sweet and delicious. 

Then it was time to go back up the opposite side of the gorge. That was much trickier but much quicker. At times the only thing we had for stability were bamboo stems and vines - Tarzan eat your heart out! We even did a couple of Tarzan calls to help disguise our fear of tumbling back down. But we made it to the top and were met by a bull, I got the impression he didn't like company but at least he was tied to a tree while we left his field and before I knew it we were back on the bridge we'd crossed. Neil pointed down towards where the waterfall was...again we couldn't see it!

We ventured back through the village, across a football pitch which was being trimmed by cattle and goats, past a cemetery which was covered in wild flowers in full bloom, under an avacado tree, through some maize fields and under more banana trees which were providing shade for the Arabica coffee plants. Neil told us about the perfume of the white coffee flowers, the coffee berries which were mostly green at the moment but were beginning to ripen to red; how the berries are picked by hand and the beans inside.

(a large guava berry, smaller green coffee berry, 2 red ripe coffee berries and the white coffee beans)

We ventured on and met lots of locals along the walk, having short conversations with them;

'Jambo' (Hello)

'Poa' (Hi)

'Habari?' (How are you?)

'Mzuri sana' (very good)
'Safi' (cool)
'Karibu' (welcome)
'Ah, asante sana' (thank you very much)

At this point they were impressed we knew Swahili and talked on, but unfortunately this was the limit of our vocabulary...we amused most people! Neil then introduced us to someone who was making a local brew and offered us a sample of his banana beer. It looked like porridge, smelt like a whiskey brewery, had a gritty texture and tasted incredibly strong and not of bananas!

To the brewers amusement neither of us could handle much more than the sip we tried, despite pouring us a huge beaker full. We thanked him 'asante' and bid him farewell 'kwa heri' and after some time we arrived at Neil's mama's house. She'd made us tea - homegrown (and brewed) lemon and ginger tea, with homegrown (and roasted) peanuts and fresh popcorn (also homegrown and popped). After a chat she served lunch - an amazing and very generous buffet of spiced-beef stew, chapatis, fresh veg, salad and masses of fresh fruit. I wanted to gobble up the whole table it was all so tasty and we were sat in such a beautiful garden in the middle of a jungle of banana trees! Neil then told us how the the beans are sun-dried, then need shelling, which we did in a big pestel and mortar. 

 We then had to sieve the beans from the shells by tossing them in the air with the hope that the wind would catch the shells while we caught the beans...however this is quite an artform which Neil made look effortless!

 Beverley and I accidentally created our own little coffee plot in the garden...we had to pick up all the beans we'd dropped!

The beans were then roasted for quite some time and then back into the pestel and mortar where they were ground into the fresh coffee we're familiar with.

Tom had come and joined us on this side of the hill, started grinding the beans but then decided to leave the grinding to the professionals - Neil and his Mama.

 This couldn't get any fresher! Added to a pan of boiling water, heated and ready for sampling! So delicious and almost as strong as the banana beer! We were given a little bag each of the coffee we had made, then purchased some more ground coffee and coffee beans (my bag still smells divine).

We were then given some fresh sugar cane to munch on - home brew, freshest coffee ever, sugar...I was beginning to buzz on our drive to the finale of our day.

We arrived next to a lake which reflected the far side as clear as a mirror, so serene. We were helped into a canoe where plastic patio chairs had their legs cut off for seating, then our oarsmen pushed off from the shore. Gently paddling around a gorgeous lake, singing 'row, row, row your boat...' it was sunset and it was beautiful. Neil and our other paddler pointed out wildlife to us - lizards, eagles, herons, snakes, vultures, kingfishers...

 It was so so beautiful and such an amazing day. I was beginning to fall in love with Tanzania and the smile couldn't be swiped off my face as we floated along. Then our attention was directed to the opposite side of the lake and we were told Kilimanjaro was visible. 'Where?' I asked, 'I can only see white clouds.'
'It's not clouds - that's the snow on top of Kili.'
That was it! My heart had fallen head over heels for this country...and the love affair was only just beginning :)