End of Thursday-Friday

Today, at seven o'clock in the evening, I got off my plane and into Tanzania! I am with my two friends Hannah and Nicole. Hannah and I came up with the idea to come, and we decided to let Nicole tag along. It was really cool, but the exploring would have to wait until tomorrow; it was already dark! We left to our hotel at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, and slept.


This morning we woke up and went off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. We met our English guide Cristian at the hotel. Cristian had a very heavy accent, and on the way, I asked if he could teach me some more Swahili. He said he could, and for the time we were in his land rover I learned a lot.

As it turns out, we could drive up a little of Kilimanjaro, so we drove as long as we could. The whole mountain was amazing, which I realized more and more as we walked up for a long time. The mountain was covered in tons of flowers, trees, and other plants. I tried to ask as many meaningful questions as I could so that I could learn more about the mountain. My favorite fact was that Mount Kilimanjaro is actually made of three different volcanoes: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is also the tallest mountain in Africa and the world's highest free-standing mountains.

The trail we were on was really thin and quite windy, so it was hard to keep up. It was exhilarating though, and I had a great time. After a while, we stopped to have lunch. Hannah, Nicole, and I all had sandwiches, while Cristian had a traditional Tanzanian lunch. I couldn't really see what he was eating, and I forgot to ask him what it was later, so I cannot relay that information to you.

After that we hiked back down the mountain. When we were almost there, it started to rain. The rain brought out beautiful smells and colors. All of us were hot and tired, so the rain was like heaven. I loved it so much that I didn't want to get back in the rover and go home. On the way back, Cristian taught me more Swahili, so my vocabulary is now pretty wide.

Before we left, Hannah and I decided to ask Cristian to stay with us so that he could show us more things. Plus, I could learn more Swahili. Nicole agreed, and we asked. He said that he could, and that he would be happy to.

Back at the hotel, Hannah, Nicole, Cristian, and I decided to go to a restaurant other than the hotel one. We went to a little market called the Forodhani Gardens. As the sun went down, we got to watch the food being prepared out in the open. It was really cool to see, and I can even kind of remember something one stall made, and maybe duplicate it when I get back home. That would be cool!

Finally, we had eaten our full, and we went back to the hotel for a night of rest.