A Visit From a Friend

Our friend Linda came to visit us here a couple of weeks ago.  We met Linda in graduate school, some 40 years ago.  Even though she lives across the country (the U.S., that is) we have managed to keep in touch all these years.

 Linda flew in to Kilimanjaro International Airport, and on our advice tried to take the airline's shuttle to Moshi, where we were to meet her at the booking office.  Only, as it turned out, she was the only passenger headed in that direction.  There was some talk about the shuttle waiting for the next plane to arrive before leaving, which was clearly not an optimal solution for her or us.  But, finally, the airline's private car took her to the office for the same low price of $10. 

We spent a couple of days in Moshi, allowing her to rest and get a good view of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  On the second day we went to the hot springs nearby with a car, driver, guide, and box lunches.  We took the main road west for about 10 miles, and then went off road through an arid, bumpy, dusty region for another 12 or so miles.  Just when I was wondering if we were headed to the right place, a large group of palm trees appeared.  We drove into their midst, and parked next to the spring.  It's called a hot spring, but it's really only warm.  The water is clear, with a slightly blue glow, and it bubbles up from an underground cave.   Mark and Linda paddled around for a time.  I am more of a beach bunny than a swimmer, so I sat on the rocks and dangled my feet.  The pool where we swam extends off in a couple of directions, and Mark wanted to explore one of them, but he was advised not to do so by a local attendant, because crocodiles live there(!)  While we were doing that, our driver and guide set up a table and chairs for us and got out our box lunches.  It was a lovely and different way to spend a day.

The following day we took Linda out to our site via bus and daladala, where she was able to enjoy the delights of bucket baths, flickering electricity, doing laundry by hand, and sleeping under a mosquito net.  We took her to the colorful Sunday marketplace.  She sat in on a class of mine and one of Mark's the day before she left, and took many photos of the school.  She said she enjoyed the visit.  I know that we did.     

 

Hot Spring

 

Me and some of my students