Lessons learned

What a whirlwind of a final week. We spent our last three days in Arusha saying a multitude of good-byes to all of our friends. We had one last session with Vision 4 Youth on Tuesday to unload their kiln that we had loaded a week ago and do some briquette pressing. It was nerve-wracking waiting to unpack their kiln. Did it work? Did it straight up fail with not even a little bit of charcoal to show proof of concept? Then what? When we took off the roof of the kiln, lo and behold, there was actual charcoal inside. Sure, not a perfect percentage yield but for a first run it was fantastic! Big sigh of relief. I think we’ve left Vision 4 Youth with a very solid foundation on which to build their briquetting business.

On Wednesday we said our good-byes to Sossy from Moivaro and spent the afternoon writing reports—three summer trip reports one of which goes to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (our funders) and five guides for the DHE bioenergy group. Oh what joy. And the writing continued. Late into Wednesday night and more on Thursday morning. But come Thursday noon, done! Eight reports, 160 pages, wow. Glad that’s over with.

After a flight cancellation and a five hour wait in the airport (during which time Emily and I amused ourselves by thoroughly examining all of the trinket shops in the airport. I can now tell you with confidence that they all sell the exact same merchandise) we made it to Zanzibar. It has been strange spending these last three days in Zanzibar with absolutely no schedule. No meetings to attend, no dinner to cook, no dala-dala to catch, no surveys to translate. Strange but also rather nice. We spent Friday and Saturday on the beach, building a terrific sand castle-turned-city with a multitude of moats such that it resembled Amsterdam, being pushed over by a wicked strong rip tide, and getting quite sunburned. The Dhow ride was the highlight of the weekend. Dhows are the traditional, and still commonly used, sailboat of Zanzibar. They resemble a long, dug-out canoe with one sail and a wing sticking out on each side for stabilization (I’m completely blanking on the sailing terminology). In case anyone was curious, bailers are indeed the same around the world; I found an old gallon sized oil container with the top cut off in the bottom of the boat. Then we spent Sunday in Stonetown getting lost in the maze of alleyways  So many shops to peak into and paths to take. A very fun city to wander in.

Now we are reaching the end of the trip and the beginning of the adventure home to Boston. As it stands, from Zanzibar we plan to take five modes of transport to get home over the course of 31 hours and four countries. (Ferry, taxi, plane, train, bus, 5am Tanzania time to 5am EST, Tanzania, Kenya, Netherlands, the States. In case anyone’s counting.) This will be fun.

To finish this blog (though I’ll try to post a few more pictures later), I complied a list of what I’ve learned in Tanzania this summer. It isn’t exhaustive but it covers most of the basics I think. Thank you for coming with me as I navigated through life in Tanzania. Its been a great time. Gold star it you’ve read this far.

Karibuni Tanzania!; always carry your toilet paper into the stall, it does no good sitting outside in your backpack; pee in every flushing toilet you encounter, it’s a luxury not to be passed up; bikinis are a no-no; only practice balancing items on your head that won’t make huge, sticky messes when they inevitably tip; Tucker always has snickers; knives are sharp and should not be jabbed into hands; this is how you make chapati; this is how you make briquettes;  this is how you build a tanuru; this is how you cook 10 weeks worth of food using the same five ingredients; remember, karibuni; this is how you eat a perfect avocado; this is how you greet an elder; this is how you greet a friend and you damn well better reply with the correct response; this is how you pronounce Dutch g’s; this is how you cook Tanzanian rice; this is how you wear a proper konga; this is how you duck in and out of freezing water that passes for a shower; this is how you pee in a squatty without hitting your feet; this is how you fill a modem to catch internet; this is how you get good rafiki, evening, and volunteer price; this is how you write a survey in Swahili; this is how you order food in Swahili; this is how you sync sound on computers for a proper Hunger Games movie night; this is how you mix cassava porridge; this is how you don’t make briquettes; and also this; and this; this is how you cook Dutch food (add potatoes): this is how you make chocolate pancakes with brownie batter; this is how you bucket shower; this is how you bluff your way to winning The Resistance; google translate is your best friend; you’re a spy!; karibuni kiti; don’t itch bug bites, not even a little; oh that? That’s a thermocouple; kunya maji; there’s always room for one more on a dala-dala; big avocados are 500 and small avocados are 300; never accept the first marriage proposal, you never know when you’ll get a better offer; white ash is quite hot; don’t underestimate the power of the surface area to volume ratio; the iced fruit juice just isn’t worth it; it’s perfectly acceptable to push chicks up against a wall to suffocate them before gulping them down (snakes only); add chokaa to your mortar to avoid cracking; karibuni; cats don’t like being stepped on; remember, karibuni; pili pili makes everything better; no conversation can be finish without comparing the US to Europe at least once; movie nights are the best;  remember that bottles with tape are not for drinking unless you enjoy hanging out in a bathroom; briquettes will burn if they sit on a hot metal kiln; Jonas just wants the keys. Whatever else he says in swahili, just nod and smile; Ninaomba wail na maharage; Tunapenda Tanzania; For heaven’s sake cover your knees!; and never forget: We are tourists touring around Tanzania doing touristy things and traveling and wouldn’t dream of doing anything else as we’re just here to safari of course and travel. We’re tourists. Check our visas, they say the same. Why do you ask, immigration officer?