Habari gani everyone,

As you may know, Tanzanians have many greetings so it may take me a while to exhaust them all. I writing to you now because this is our first free weekend (a whole two days off!). Yesterday a group of us climbed a peak in the Uluguru mountains which you saw a few pictures of. I hope to post more from the trip by the end of this month.

About 15 of us and 8 Tanzanians, whom we are living with in our homestay families, met in town at 7AM to climb the mountain. Most of us didn't think the climb would be too tough so many didn't have breakfast and only brought, or bought once in town, small things like crackers, oranges, bananas, apples, and bread plus a water bottle or two each. We got to the base of the mountain and starting climb a little before 8AM.

The climb was easy enough, there was a wide road that was not too steep. While climbing we greeted many Tanzanians who farm on the Uluguru mountains. The mountains used to be home to a lush forest and is home to a few endangered species. But difficult times have forced many Tanzanians to farm and most of the forest is gone now, having been burned to make room for farming, and only a small portion remains shading the top of the mountain.

The road became more narrow about an hour into the climb but it was still hamna shida (no problem). About this time of the hike the trail revealed the mountain landscape to us for many photo opportunities. The plots of farm land and angle of the sun created long shadows and monochromatic colors. A river ran beside the trail for the next half hour and there where even a few small waterfalls. We climbed through fields of banana trees and finally arrived at the half way point, called Morning Side, an hour and fifty minutes into the hike. Hamna shida, most of us thought. We hung out for about a half an hour to take pictures (including a group photo so you can see some of the great people I'm here with), eat food, and drink lots of water. Here, I finished my large bottle of water but was optimistic that my smaller water bottle would hold me to the top and that the descent would be easy. You all see where this is going.

Around 10:30AM a select few, 9 Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) and 4 Tanzanians, started hiking to one of the peaks with a big radio antenna that is now being guarded heavily since elections are coming up and people may try and tap into the secure government transmissions. This hike was on a narrow, unleveled trail that was very steep. About an hour up six people dropped out for lack of food and water, 4 PCTs and 2 Tanzanians (and the bananas). Seven of us continued with approximately 3 liters of water between us, one loaf of bread, a small orange, a very large orange (think grapefruit size), two small apples, and ten chocolate cookies.

Shortly after we left the others, we enter the rain forest where is was nice and cool and very steep. We stopped another hour into the hike because there was a fork in the road and our guides were behind us. While waiting a soldier passed through and told us the top was only an hour away. He was equipped with a machete and a slingshot. Around this time I finished my water. I was one of the people who did not have breakfast and all that was in my stomach were ten crackers, one orange, three bananas and a liter of water. Most of the other hikers had about the same. Our Tanzanian guides arrived and showed us the way but stopped to rest as we moved on. I lagged behind quickly and was taking about 10-15 steps and then resting for a minute. At one point I sat down and dozed off for a while. About a half hour up I caught up to the 4 other PCTs for some snacks and then we set off again. I stopped to take some pictures and was soon behind the group. I started again but was still taking 10-15 steps and then a minute break. I turned a bend and there was the top and I just stood there resting gathering energy to take the next 10 steps. The end was in site but I had very little energy. I finally got to the top and joined the others. I sat/fell down and laid on the ground for about 15 minutes catching my breath. Then I used my towel (the most important thing to have according to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) to dry off and savored the view. About 10 minutes later our guides showed up and we feasted on a small orange, a large orange, two apples, a loaf of bread, ten cookies, and 1.5 liters of water. It felt pretty good. We talked with two guards up there who offered to cook us ugali and beans but we had to decline as it was getting close to 3PM.

We started our decent which was very hard, being that the trails were so steep, but went quickly. We arrived back into town around 6PM with only one thing on our minds: ice cream. We got about 3 scoops each and a water. It was a great experience and I would do it again with much more food and water. I hope to get the pictures up soon and I want to thank you for all of the thoughtful emails.

Baadaye,

Justin