Tuesday June 28 and Wednesday June 29, 2011 – Mimi akaanguka katika upendo na Arusha (I have fallen in love with Arusha)

June 28 went to the cultural museum in Arusha today but it turned out to be a souvenir store with a bit of museum stuff to look at, but mostly an art gallery. After that we walked down to some local street markets and I ended up buying some kanga, which is the African fabric that all the women wear. They make skirts, dresses, scarves, hats, you name it out of this stuff. It`s really pretty and colourful. We walked around until it started getting dark then headed back to our hotel. That night six of us piled in a taxi (four sitting in the back with Alex lying across all of us and one in the front, haha) and then went to this local bar called Empire State Bar for their Reggae Jam Night. It ended up being a lot of fun!

Feeding the babies mashed avocado! 

On Wednesday we had a WildTracks coffee plantation tour planned so the company picked us up from our hotel at 9am and then headed up towards Mt. Meru. If you ever go to Tanzania please come to Arusha, it`s gorgeous! When we got to the village of Nkuaranga in Mt.Meru we met our guide for the day and then he took us to a small shop where part of money from this tour went towards buying some kg`s of rice, pasta and fruit for an orphanage we`d be visiting shortly. We walked a short distance up to the orphanage and were warmly welcomed by the Mama. Our guide told us this was an orphanage of about 24 kids. The primary aged kids were out at the school, but we got to sit, play and cuddle with all the babies that were there. When I walked in, there was about six babies lying on the floor on an old mattress and then toddlers playing around the room. There were some volunteers staying there that helped take care of the kids but there was nowhere near enough volunteers for the amount of kids. It was sad to see and the experience left a strange feeling in my stomach. The kids were dirty and smelly, but none the less happy. I picked up one of the small babies and cuddled him or her (we weren`t sure who were boys and who were girls because they were just dressed in plain clothes. The baby was so content and I think really enjoyed the cuddle! Their lunch came out and we fed them some mashed avocado. I`m not sure if it was because they were babies or if it was because I knew that this was a really good orphanage and the thought of what else is out there in the world was…let`s just say more than depressing.

The gorgeous flowers along our hike/walk!

We then visited the primary school just for a bit before we headed up the mountain through a beautiful, lush forested area. There were countless banana trees and nature galore! I was in my element. We went to a coffee farm owned by a local and got to see how the coffee looks when it`s on the bush and then the rigorous process it takes before the coffee even reaches the point to when it can be roasted. Let`s just say I will appreciate every cup of coffee I drink from now on because the work that goes into making it (especially from places like Tanzania and fair trade coffee companies alike). They showed us the different stages they must do with the plant before it`s ready to be planted again and then grown to maturity and ready for the beans to be picked and then sorted and then dried and roasted. We saw three different natural pesticides they use, which (and I may be naïve but I had no idea) are actual plants! I was so impressed with how much they use nature to their benefit and a bit envious. These plants have special compounds in them to ward off bugs and insects, so this coffee and the all the coffee I bought is 100% organic! Also I had a bandaid on my finger that day and immediately the owners son noticed and told me they don`t use bandaids there and he took me to this plant that is used to rub on cuts and then it stops them from bleeding and helps them heal! There`s even a very soft plant they use as toilet paper and one`s they use as a medicine against malaria (its actually a tree and they scrap off the bark). I`m a sucker for nature and can really appreciate it so I was just loving every second of learning all this. Oh and the flowers up on this mountain were breathtakingly gorgeous! I think some of the beauty might have come from the combination of run down poverty stricken houses in the backdrop of luscious green forest and being in this village made me feel like I was in another world (and it was another world compared to Dar!)

Fixing the coffee plant to prepare it for re-plant

For lunch we walked to the owner`s of Wild Tracks house and had a traditional Tanzanian lunch and the coffee from the farm we just visited on their patio. The food was the best I`ve eaten yet and when I mentioned how wonderful the rice and everything else was she explained that the rice came from a lady down the street, the banana`s or ndyzi also from down the street, and everything else also local! After lunch we saw them roast the coffee and the process all the way to the coffee being sealed in airtight bags and put in cloth bags and tied with dried banana leaf string! I even got to package the coffee that I bought! I loved seeing the whole process and knowing that what they do is so amazing. This company also employs locals and gives them fair wages, which is such a great thing in Tanzania because so many people are exploited and taken advantage of when it comes to employment. Today was an amazing day that I will never forget! Asante Sana Arusha!

Bagging my coffee!

Please check out their website at: http://www.wild-tracks.com/coffee_english.html