The Mountain

October 2, 2008 7:55 PM

Strategic planning on my part ensured that the second of my two day "mini holiday" for Eid worked out pretty close to perfectly. Last night I double checked to make sure my alarm clock was NOT set and even though I awoke this morning at 7:10am, I was able to drift in and out of sleep until 10am. This is probably the latest I have been able to sleep in since arriving in Tanzania 5 weeks and 1 day ago.

I enjoyed a leisurely morning, with some peanut butter and freshly made instant coffee enjoyed while reading an article about Paul Newman in my Vanity Fair that I had not yet read. I have to admit that the last few paragraphs were hard to read knowing that the man that was written about has passed away since I bought the magazine in the Toronto airport.

Finally convinced I had wasted enough time to warrant a walk down the road, I packed up my backpack and took off on a leisurely stroll down my road. Just after noon and the sun was not yet out in its brutal strength yet, I was quite enjoying the cool breeze and questioning my initial plan, but I kept on walking.

Along the way I ran into one of the boys from the centre, who asked me where I was going, "just for a walk", I replied. He looked at me quite strangely, "a walk where?", I smiled, "I just feel like going for a walk". He said ok and we continued on our separate paths. A few steps later I was confronted by a group of kids, probably around 9 or 10. "What is your name?", by now I am used to this question, even though I don't exactly understand the importance of knowing my name and I know I will never remember all of their names. I introduced myself and turned to continue my walk, "Where are you going?" The smile was starting to feel fake on my face. Why do random kids I have never seen before want to know where I am going? I just turned, smiled at them, and continued in my original direction.

A brief 15 minute walk took me to my destination. The Keys Hotel. I walk by this hotel at least 3 times a week. It is on the main road just down from where I live and on my frequent walks into town I can see the pool peaking around the edge of the building filled with travelers enjoying the refreshing water. Today, that was going to be me.

I walked up to the desk and hesitantly said that I had read it was possible to use the pool for the day. The girl at the desk smiled and said, yes, it was 3,000 shillings though. The exact amount the book had said and that same amount was already counted out in my pocket.

I accepted my nice clean fluffy towel and walked around the building. Somewhat surprised I found the pool area empty. Not a person around. After changing into my bathing suit in the nearby washroom I settled in with my book casually look around every few minutes. Ok, the sky was overcast and it wasn't quite as hot as other days, but really? No one? Eventually I started to enjoy my exclusive pool and the temperature rose, as I knew it would, so I took advantage of my private pool and did some lengths. Gradually the other mzungus snuck into the pool area. First an English woman wondering if the water was nice. I assured her it was refreshing. She didn't look pleased at that response, but I felt that the water was the perfect temperature to remind you that you are alive, cold and biting at first but then eventually you barely feeling it as you begin to feel the sun on your skin and you become used to the coolness.

Another woman pulled up a lounge chair, and a man sat down at one of the few tables that filled the space around the pool, with his book and telephone set out.

Happy to have company, but also enjoying the emptiness still I spent the next hour or so alternating between reading my book, swimming, and applying my SPF 50 sunscreen. Then the mood of the pool was flipped. A large group of South Africans took over every last chair and floor space around the pool. It took me a few minutes to place where these mzungu were from because I didn't understand their language, then one man yelled "LEKKER" while jumping into the pool. I had a flash back to Blackheath, SA when Liam, our host grandson would come and join us in the backyard pool yelling Lekker like there was no tomorrow.

This was one large happy group of people. I was amused at how easily they cheered for each other in the pool and clapped and laughed. But I was not amused by the many adults that were throwing themselves into the pool splashing everyone and everything, including my book, about every 5 minutes.

By around 4:30pm the sun wasn't quite as hot and had started to disappear behind the trees, so I took that as my cue and went to change back into my clothes. I returned my towel and did what any other tourist would do. I went to the bar and got myself a drink, then asked to see a menu and ordered dinner to be eaten on the patio of the hotel. Why cook when you can order buttered prawns with fresh vegetables and rice for less than $6? When the server brought my plate I was impressed to see that there were probably at least a cup and a half of baby prawns filling my plate, no ripping off tourists at this place! And they were buttery and delicious.

This morning my stomach wasn’t exactly happy with me, which I currently blame on the tomatoes and cucumbers I ate last night, so when cooked carrots and green beans showed up on the side of my prawns, I was again excited to eat vegetables that did not threaten me with tourista.

After dinner it began to get darker, and I knew I needed to head home to save myself taking a taxi for such a short distance. I rounded the corner out of the hotel parking lot and this is what I saw:

Kilimanjaro, sans clouds. This was my plan but I was still in shock. I knew that late in the day and early in the morning the clouds covering the great mountain's peak dispersed, which is what inspired me to head to the pool for the day with my walk home sneakily planned to face the snow capped peak.

It was hard to take my eyes off of her. Why is there a huge snow capped mountain in the middle of Africa on the equator? I have no clue, but it is very beautiful as the sun sets and casts pinks and purples along its rocky edges. I still have no interest in climbing Kili, but I am happy to watch the peak appear as often as possible.

As I made my way down the road staring up at Kili, I was confused by the people I walked beside and passed, why were they looking at me? Look at that! I wanted to yell.

Interestingly, I was passing 3 guys who were walking, what I would call painfully slow, and as I came up beside them one of them said "hello", using the tips from my local friends, I replied "Mambo", I heard one of them reply "poa", by this point I was about a foot ahead and said habari as I picked up the pace to continue home before dark. Then I hear one of the guys say "I love you". HA! I couldn't resist. Shaking my head I turned to him and said "you don’t even know me!" He just smiled, as I returned to my original walking home pace and refocused on the mountain ahead of me.

Tomorrow after work I am heading back to Arusha for the weekend. Moshi has done a great job courting me for the last 5 weeks, but Arusha has a little more to offer right now. Just because the mountain is bigger in Moshi, doesn't mean Arusha can't make up for what Mout Meru lacks by wooing me with movies and sushi. :)