Day 2 - Exploring Arusha (Feb 12)

View of Mount Meru from my patio at the Onsea House

Despite a stressful night of dealing with luggage issues, I woke up feeling refreshed after a great night's sleep at the Onsea House bed and breakfast.  I walked out to the patio of my "house" to an incredible view of the beautiful, lush hotel grounds with clear view of Mt. Meru (elev. 14,977 ft./4,565 m) in the background. It was hard to believe that we'd be climbing another 5,000 ft higher in the next week! 

L to R: Ed, Bridget & Catherine enjoying our first breakfast in Africa

The four of us (me, Ed, Imogen & Catherine) met for a tasty breakfast, included as part of our stay, on the outdoor deck of the restaurant at the hotel.  Breakfast consisted of a variety of breads, cereals, meats, cheeses and fresh Tanzanian fruit spreads (my favorite being the "Paradise" jelly of pineapple, papaya, passion fruit, other tropical fruits and oddly enough, carrots), nutella (hooray!), eggs made-to-order, bacon and sausage.  This was also our first exposure to the "Kilimanjaro" tea, which we would come to know very well over the next week. 

The group had decided we would hire a guide from Team Kilimanjaro to show us around the city of Arusha, about 10 minutes from our hotel by taxi, but first I had to deal with my luggage issue.  Unfortunately, my bag was locked in a KLM office at the airport, which didn't open until just before first KLM flight arrived (around 1:30 PM).  Therefore, we decided to relax at the hotel for the morning, I'd travel the hour back to the airport around 12:30 PM, collect my luggage & drop off the bag that I still had, come back to Onsea House and then we'd spend the rest of the afternoon touring Arusha.  Additionally, the last member of our climbing party, Olivia - my old roommate from Penn State, would be arriving around 1:00 PM, so the timing for an afternoon tour would work out well. 

The rest of the morning was spent lounging at the Onsea House pool, reading about and discussing our impending adventure and enjoying some moderately cold Safari beers in the hot African sun.  Unfortunately it occurred to me too late in the morning to have the Team Kilimanjaro driver pick up my luggage when he was picking up Olivia at the airport and by the time I had contacted the TK office, the driver was already on his way to the airport.  So, after an early lunch, Ed agreed to come with me to the airport to collect my bag.  We both agreed it would be an interesting experience anyway to see the villages along the way during the daytime. 

A few things struck me during the drive to the airport:

•  As poor as the people are and as simple and dilapidated as the houses seem to be, there seems to always be enough money for communities (or missionaries) to build large, beautiful churches (it was Sunday and nearly everyone was dressed up walking to and from church).
• Africa is dusty!  All the villages were built on what looked like flat tracts of dirt. And in the open fields, we would see MANY dust storms, which looked like mini-tornadoes of dust.
• People spend a lot of time outdoors: at markets, at outdoor restaurants / bars, walking between villages.
• Coca Cola has a huge presence in Africa.  Most of the store name signs were printed on red signs that seemed to be sponsored by Coke. 
• The primary method of transport for the average person seemed to be either on foot or on motorcycle.  There were limited numbers of cars on the road (mostly big trucks and buses). 

Once we arrived at the airport, we looked first for a place to drop off the bag that I had.  Unfortunately the airport office from the bag owner's tour agency was closed and locked up, so we had no where to safely leave the bag.  Our taxi driver helped to negotiate with a nearby safari office to accept the bag and drive it to Moshi (where the tour operator was based) for a small fee of $30.  I willingly paid it, knowing that the bag mix-up was my fault and this seemed like the quickest way for the owner to get his bag returned to him.  Then, the man from the safari office went to collect my bag from the KLM office.  I was still fairly uneasy and untrusting that I was going to get my bag back and that this guy would actually know which was my bag and how to get it, but after about 15 minutes of waiting, I saw him come out with "Big Yellow"!  Thank goodness.  The whole process at the airport took well over an hour though, and by this time it was at least 3 PM and we had another hour drive back to the Onsea House before heading to Arusha.

The way home was uneventful, save for a car accident that we just missed witnessing.  What we did see was a man running away from the scene of the accident and a crowd of villagers throwing large rocks in his direction.  Our taxi driver said, "Oh no!  They are going to kill him!"  He stopped our vehicle on the side of road just before the village - and I'm not sure if it was for our own protection or to protect his car. 

116 km to go!

Once we arrived back at the Onsea House, Olivia and the Team Kilimanjaro city guide were waiting for us and we piled in the car for Arusha.  Our first stop was a supermarket for some supplies that the group wanted to pick up for our trek.  On the way, we stopped for a few sites including a small clocktower, a tree filled with bats and a directional sign indicating the distance to various locations in Tanzania.

From L to R: Bridget, Ed, Imogen, Olivia, Catherine

After picking up some supplies at the supermarket, we stopped by another hotel where Olivia checked out some of the beautiful Tanzanite gemstones.  Then it was on to a tourist souvenir market to pick up gifts for family and friends back home.  The market was filled with wooden carvings, soapstone animals and bowls, paintings, tribal masks, musical instruments and furniture, at prices that had to be negotiated.  In another market we visited later, Olivia was even offered a barter for her Timex digital watch (which she decided she couldn't give up, since it belonged to her roommate). 

City of Arusha

Our AMAZING Team Kilimanjaro guide, Joshua

After a couple hours, it was time for us to get back to the Onsea House.  Our lead guide for the climb was going to be meeting us at 5:30 PM to meet us, debrief us on the climb plan and check our equipment and clothing for the climb. We all met on the patio of our little house and our guide introduced himself as Joshua.  This would (hopefully) be his 160th summit!  So, we all knew we were in very capable hands!  And Joshua was introduced to us and our personalities from the get-go.  I quickly became known for my barrage of questions and Ed for his quirky sense of humor when he responded to the question about what we were alergic to with, "water".

Joshua doing an equipment check and getting to know our group.

Joshua gave us a detailed summary of what the next day would entail (see Day 3 entry) and then, one-by-one, checked each of our bags to ensure we had the proper equipment and in appropriate quantities.  He gave us the equipment that we had rented from Team Kilimanjaro (2 summit jackets, 4 sleeping bags, 1 pair waterproof pants, 1-90 L cargo duffel) and told us to get some rest.  Tomorrow would be the start of a big week! 

Olivia re-packing for the climb
(note: headlamp due to continual power outages)

After Joshua left, we had a fantastic 4-course gourmet dinner dinner (complete with amuse and wine pairings!) prepared by the Belgian chef / owner of the hotel.  Then it was back to the rooms to repack for the trek.  We would leave all our safari clothing and equipment behind at the hotel and bring only what was needed for the mountain.  Olivia and took a little over an hour to prepare, which was made slightly more difficult by several interruptions in electricity (a common issue, probably not even considered an issue but a fact of life, in Tanzania).  It was a good opportunity for us to test our head lamps though, which turned out to be one of the most vital pieces of equipment for the trip.  Around 12:30 AM, we went to bed, both excited and nervous about what the next week would have in store for us!