Blog 2: Marangu Falls and a Cave

March 13, 2019

We woke up this morning feelings refreshed (well most of us) had eggs, sambosa (Sam’s favorite), bananas with Nutella (Larkin’s favorite), watermelon, bread, and more! Ben led us in prayer and words of wisdom. We really like trying new foods, Sam is loving all of it. Some are less adventurous, and Larkin is trying to avoid gluten as much as possible. After breakfast it was time to get ready for a once in a lifetime experience. We got loaded up, didn’t leave exactly on time, but that is ok, it is pole pole here. For those who don’t know what pole pole is, it means “slowly”. Here there is no set time for anything. Mass may start at 8 but if the preist doesn’t show up until 8:20 that is when mass starts.

The drive to Mt. Kilimanjaro and Marangu Falls was an interesting one. For the first time many of us drove on the “wrong” side of the road, or the left side.  There is main paved roads, but that is it. There are some dirt roads, but it was pretty smooth on the way to Mt. Kilimanjaro. The whole drive there we were stared at, waved at, laughed at, talked to, and even flicked off one time (Sorry Jenna). I would also like to mention someone our age called Jenna, “Bibi” or grandma in Swahili.

We drove up a very steep mountain, once we got to our gate towards the falls, there were four main routes to the top. The boys enjoyed looking around the models of the mountain and reading the information. Meanwhile, all of us girls used an American toilet for our last time on our adventure. Soon after arriving we took pictures in front of about 5 different signs and a 10 foot replica of the mountain. Before you entire the National Park there is a big gate you must enter. Going through this gate there are street vendors or fly catchers. They try to sell tourists overpriced souvenirs from the mountain and falls. Many of them came up to us asking over and over, and even followed us trying to get us to purchase a picture or keychain. 

            The Chaga tribe apparently has a lot of history behind it. At least according to tour leader. He spoke to us in a hot shelter type building for about an hour. He would ask for questions, and once a question was asked, the response was about 20 minutes. It got pretty hot, long, and boring for most of us. Both of us only understood and paid attention to like a 1/3 of the information. The Chaga tribe was a tribe from the mountain that was in war or fighting with other tribes. To avoid this conflict they built tunnels under a 5 kilometer radius. To put that into perspective that is 3.1 miles of hand made tunnels under the ground on the side of a mountain. These tunnels were dug with elbows that are only elbow to full arm length wide. We got to go down where they lived, as well as, many died. There would be guards to kill intruders if they didn’t know the secret password. Intruders would be killed with a large, heavy stick to smash their skulls. The other part of the tour was looking at a house the Chaga had when they lived above ground. The houses had amazing architecture but were small and half of the space was for their animals. Our tour guide mentioned that once the children were older, puberty age, he would build his own small hut for himself. At night the wife would sneak out so they could “make love” as we like to call it. We were given a very detailed description about sex before marriage. If you were caught and you weren’t married you would be laid on top of each other and a spear would be sent through both of your hearts by the king. It was a great warning. We are hoping you parents appreciate that;).

            After this tour we had lunch, which was a safari pack that had apples, yogurt, a hard boiled egg, butter and bread sandwich, Chicken, cake dessert, sambosa (again, Sam’s favorite), juice, etc. We’ve been fed so much, many of us are still stuffed from our plane ride! I promise no one has gone hungry, yet!

            It was very steep and curvy path. The path was winding around many trees, and steep cliffs. There are a ton of stairs on the way down. Once we arrived to the waterfall , we took a lot of group pictures and the water felt great. We then had to change into our suits. Boys went first because we knew the girls would take longer. My (Larkin’s) personal opinion, it wasn’t that bad. Squatting in the woods though is a different story.

            We ran into the water, it was cold but felt amazing because it is so humid and 95 degrees here! Larkin is not complaining though, humidity here is better than cold in Minnesota. Sam says, “It is really hot. I hate heat. But it’s nice though to get away from the cold. The humidity is a little much.” The waterfall was incredible. It is up so high. It is so hard to describe, I hope pictures help. The pressure from the water is super heavy though, so if you go under you get knocked over. Larkin agrees this is top 3 days in her life. The waterfall was jaw dropping. Sam thinks the water fall was sweet, it is cool how high up it is. He thought there was going to be more water falling from the top, though.

            After swimming for an 1 hour, 17 minutes and 28 seconds, according to Ben, we had to go on our treacherous walk up. Larkin thought it was going be longer, but my quads are definitely going to be sore tomorrow. Sam thought it was good exercise and a great tanning opportunity.

            Once getting up the mountain we had to change and get on the road again. The drive home we got more and more stares. Even some kisses blown at us by the girls walking home from school. As we were dropping off our guides at an intersection, a man came up and got Taylor and Ashlea’s numbers… NOT THEIR ACTUAL PHONE NUMBERS. They made them up and also didn’t put an area code. It was pretty funny though. The driving is pretty crazy here, different from America, don’t worry we are safe.

            When we got back most people took naps and showered. All of us girls talked, made bracelets, hung out, napped, showered, etc. Some of the boys met a few new people. We met the owners of the lodge that we are staying at, they were super nice and got us pop for free. We also met some 19 years olds from Germany, they have been here since September and are leaving in august. They are here to do service work at elementary schools around the city.

Then a lot of us went to the roof to hang, while Bryce and Brock napped, for a long time! Grayson was journaling. It was time for dinner. We had spaghetti noodles, sauce with veggie, mashed potatoes, deep fried bananas, regular bananas with Nutella, and chicken.  Larkin’s favorite was the mashed potatoes and again the bananas with Nutella. Sam’s favorite was the spaghetti noodles and “the chicken was decent”. After we found out where we are going tomorrow, had a prep meeting, etc.  I’m very excited. Larkin is going to Upendo Orphanage in the morning and Sam is going to Agano Preschool. In the afternoon we are meeting the Women’s Group. After dinner girls also met with Diana, who can make dresses tailored for each one of us! Now, I(Larkin) am forcing Sam to write this really long blog with me. Everyone is good and no one is feeling sick, yet! No worries here.

-Larkin Vangsness and Sam Bastien

(Sorry for the grammar errors, Ms. Voit and mom I don’t care that much and Sam literally can’t spell to save his life. If it didn’t make sense oops)

Hi Fam- Not really missing you yet! Keep reading the blog, I’m having a great time!

Friends- can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Xoxo, Larkin

Hi mom Im doin good and im alive. <3

-sam