These past three and a half months have been an incredible journey for all of us. It was a journey where each of us became best friends through all the challenges, scary moments, exciting times and pee in our pants laugh out loud moments :)We enjoyed every experience across East Africa and have all come out of this experience in our own way, transformed from trying new things, challenging ourselves, taking up group leadership roles, going to new places, volunteering, forming relationships with the local people, and pushing our comfort zones.
Here are some of everyone's experiences, highlights and most memorable moments from the trip:
Chris enjoyed working with the kids at Edirisa where he made connections with the teachers at Lake Bunyonyi and loved the experience of living with the Maasai. At Esilalei Village with the Maasai, Chris tried out the traditional dress in Maasai blankets and played soccer. Chris also challenged himself with trying a healthier eating habit and had a lot of fun getting a lot of soccer jerseys.
Taylor formed lots of little friendships from all the kids at the school in Lubani to all the small Maasai warrior children in Tanzania. With some last hugs and many exchanged goodbyes at the airport, Taylor set off to Morocco on another adventure.
Becca enjoyed living in Esilalei with the Maasai where she fell in love with a little baby named Baracka, a pudgy cheeked, ambitious little girl who takes after cow herding from her mother.
Izzy brought a lot of laughs on the trip. A big highlight of his was encountering a little boy named Mzee Delta that made nothing but "baaa" sounds like a goat. Throughout the trip, he created more Mzee Deltas in the places we traveled to at the Maasai and at the UAACC.
Karen took a big leap in exploring art and education at Y.E.S., Edirisa and the UAACC. She created fun art projects from making candles with beeswax to sweet potato stamps and paint. One of her biggest highlights from the trip was hiking Mt. Sabinyo and creating art with the children at Lake Bunyonyi.
Alexa's best experiences were at Lubani, spending time at J.J.'s house and Peace Kawomera Coffee Co, volunteering with Edirisa, living with the Maasai and scuba diving in Zanzibar.
Vicky pushed her comfort zone to greater heights. Some of the best times were rafting on the Nile, working at Edirisa, the Sipi Falls Hike, Halloween at Lake Bunyonyi, dinner at the Mille Collin Hotel in Rwanda, going on runs across the savanna, safari, mountain biking, living with the Maasai, swimming in the Indian Ocean and dancing in Zanzibar.
Will's highlights of the trip were hiking to the summits of Mt. Sabinyo and living with the Maasai. Will also grew from being one of the quiet ones in the beginning to the most sassy.
Charlotte- "My most memorable moments are looking back at the things we accomplished: painting at Lubani, conquering Mt. Sabinyo, scuba diving in the sparkling Indian Ocean, and many more".
Jessie pushed her comfort zone numerous times and brought a lot of support to activities when she was captain during free travel in Uganda. Jessie enjoyed swimming in Lake Bunyonyi, jamming with Mama Charlotte at the United African Alliance Community Center, climbing Sipi Falls, dancing with the Maasai, and loved swimming in the Indian Ocean with dolphins!
Zoe brought a lot of musical fun to the group playing guitar and singing during jam sessions. Her highlights of the trip was every moment hanging out with the group laughing and just growing and changing together.
Cliff gave a lot of encouragement and support to the group on all the challenging hikes and climbs. His best memories are with the people we've met on the journey: Salim, Padi, Carol Adams, Mzee Delta, and Emsea. Cliff also enjoyed the picture pals project with Roses family when we were with Y.E.S. in Uganda and flagging down transportation with the help from a young boy with a machete and an old man on a bicycle back in Fort Portal, Uganda.
Much love and many, many smiles as we return to the states for the winter holidays and go onto our next adventures accross the globe. CARPE DIEM!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
More from Zanzibar!
Hello again!
We are taking advantage of the close-by Internet cafes to squeeze in a few more blogs before the semester ends...
Today, the divers completed the underwater portion of the scuba certification process, while others did cultural things around the amazing island of Zanzibar. I (Zoe) was part of the diving group, while Vicki did the Spice tour and checked out some museums, so we'll each have good input to the blog.
The diving was amazing, we lugged our diving bags onto the boat and once again headed out into the impossibly clear ocean. Once we arrived, we got in the water, and finished up some of the required skills needed for the certification. These include mask clearing, emergency swimming ascent, finding the regulator if it falls out of your mouth, and using your buddy's air source if you run out. And a whole lot more. We were split into pairs, each pair went with an instructor. The groups of three split and even though we weren't far apart, there's so much to see that we all saw different things. For example, Taylor and I were lucky enough to see a sea turtle and a ray! Everything about both dives today was amazing. After a lunch break on the boat, we set out for yet another dive, the fourth one of the required four to be certified as an "open water diver." When we surfaced, we all got high fives and congratulations. It was all very exciting. So now I'll let Vicki take over, so she can tell you about the other awesome stuff that is happening on Zanzibar!
OKey dokey peoples! Yesterday, Taylor, Izzy, Becca, Chris and I went to the Palace Museum after their scuba dive and it was pretty cool. The Palace Museum is like a "kingdom by the sea" with views of the ocean outside of the royal bedrooms, balconies and windows. One of the most fascinating things we learned was about Princess Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar and the many different cultural ties she had.
Today, Karen, Becca and I went on the Zanzibar Island Spice Tour and we got to see, taste, smell and take back some of the spices and fruits. On the first stop of the tour we saw Persian baths and then drove out to the spice farm where we walked around smelling and tasting nutmeg, cardamon, starfruit, Jack-fruit, cloves, cinnamon...
We also received some hand-made bracelets, rings and necklaces from the local guys who also came on the tour- one of which proposed to Karen with a coconut leaf ring. LOL. We were also given lunch which was absolutely delicious- rice cooked with cloves, coconut sauce, spinach and chapati. After that, the last part of the tour was time spent swimming in crystal clear beach waters!
We will continue to update you all with the events of our last few days together! we can start by saying that tomorrow we leave the beautiful island of Zanzibar and we head back to Dar Es Salaam, where we will spend the rest of the time (all of a day and a half) before we say our goodbyes to Africa!
Much love from Zanzibar!
Zoe and Vicki! <3
We are taking advantage of the close-by Internet cafes to squeeze in a few more blogs before the semester ends...
Today, the divers completed the underwater portion of the scuba certification process, while others did cultural things around the amazing island of Zanzibar. I (Zoe) was part of the diving group, while Vicki did the Spice tour and checked out some museums, so we'll each have good input to the blog.
The diving was amazing, we lugged our diving bags onto the boat and once again headed out into the impossibly clear ocean. Once we arrived, we got in the water, and finished up some of the required skills needed for the certification. These include mask clearing, emergency swimming ascent, finding the regulator if it falls out of your mouth, and using your buddy's air source if you run out. And a whole lot more. We were split into pairs, each pair went with an instructor. The groups of three split and even though we weren't far apart, there's so much to see that we all saw different things. For example, Taylor and I were lucky enough to see a sea turtle and a ray! Everything about both dives today was amazing. After a lunch break on the boat, we set out for yet another dive, the fourth one of the required four to be certified as an "open water diver." When we surfaced, we all got high fives and congratulations. It was all very exciting. So now I'll let Vicki take over, so she can tell you about the other awesome stuff that is happening on Zanzibar!
OKey dokey peoples! Yesterday, Taylor, Izzy, Becca, Chris and I went to the Palace Museum after their scuba dive and it was pretty cool. The Palace Museum is like a "kingdom by the sea" with views of the ocean outside of the royal bedrooms, balconies and windows. One of the most fascinating things we learned was about Princess Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar and the many different cultural ties she had.
Today, Karen, Becca and I went on the Zanzibar Island Spice Tour and we got to see, taste, smell and take back some of the spices and fruits. On the first stop of the tour we saw Persian baths and then drove out to the spice farm where we walked around smelling and tasting nutmeg, cardamon, starfruit, Jack-fruit, cloves, cinnamon...
We also received some hand-made bracelets, rings and necklaces from the local guys who also came on the tour- one of which proposed to Karen with a coconut leaf ring. LOL. We were also given lunch which was absolutely delicious- rice cooked with cloves, coconut sauce, spinach and chapati. After that, the last part of the tour was time spent swimming in crystal clear beach waters!
We will continue to update you all with the events of our last few days together! we can start by saying that tomorrow we leave the beautiful island of Zanzibar and we head back to Dar Es Salaam, where we will spend the rest of the time (all of a day and a half) before we say our goodbyes to Africa!
Much love from Zanzibar!
Zoe and Vicki! <3
Friday, December 3, 2010
SCUBA! SCUBA! SCUBA!
We've finally completed our certification classes for open water scuba diving! Yay!
Here's how the journey started:
On Thursday morning, we all went to the One Ocean Dive Centre and got signed up! It was a long, long, long day filling out a ton of forms, watching videos, reading and taking tests. The whole process took about 9 hours...yup, getting open water scuba certification is a loooong process! :)
For Charlotte who already had scuba certification, she got to go on her own dive adventure while the rest of us had class. Charlotte went with a couple of scuba guides to do a wreck dive! Under the glimmering blue waters, she saw sting rays, a ton of tropical fish (and a few rare ones), sunken ships and porcelain plates scattered all across the ocean floor. Charlotte also got a bit sun-burnt from this experience but it was "amazing!"
That night, after completing the classroom part of scuba certification, many of us got henna art drawn on our skin and had dinner at the seafood night market. The sight of lobster, king fish, crab, shrimp, prawns, clams, octopus, squid, shark, tuna, and a bunch of other tempting delicacies from the sea grilled right in front of us smelled and looked absolutely delicious. IT tasted soo good and we also had some cats purr at us annoyingly to get a bite of our meal. Lol.
The next morning, we took a 10min float and a 200m swim test, tried on scuba equipment and hit the pool to test them out! It was quite an experience getting used to breathing under water and using giant flippers. We were taught some basic skills and signals (since we can't communicate verbally under water) and some of us stayed under water practicing with the dive master for over half an hour.
Charlotte also got to go on another dive, and Karen also went on a dive on the northen part of Zanzibar Island. Yay!
AND TODAY.....with our official open water scuba diving certificates, almost all of us will dive into the crystal blue waters of the Indian Ocean and explore life under the sea discovering the different ship wrecks, coral reefs and marine animals! We are all very excited and it is going to be one unforgettable adventure! Yay!
Stay tuned to hear more soon about our first scuba dive in the ocean!
Here's how the journey started:
On Thursday morning, we all went to the One Ocean Dive Centre and got signed up! It was a long, long, long day filling out a ton of forms, watching videos, reading and taking tests. The whole process took about 9 hours...yup, getting open water scuba certification is a loooong process! :)
For Charlotte who already had scuba certification, she got to go on her own dive adventure while the rest of us had class. Charlotte went with a couple of scuba guides to do a wreck dive! Under the glimmering blue waters, she saw sting rays, a ton of tropical fish (and a few rare ones), sunken ships and porcelain plates scattered all across the ocean floor. Charlotte also got a bit sun-burnt from this experience but it was "amazing!"
That night, after completing the classroom part of scuba certification, many of us got henna art drawn on our skin and had dinner at the seafood night market. The sight of lobster, king fish, crab, shrimp, prawns, clams, octopus, squid, shark, tuna, and a bunch of other tempting delicacies from the sea grilled right in front of us smelled and looked absolutely delicious. IT tasted soo good and we also had some cats purr at us annoyingly to get a bite of our meal. Lol.
The next morning, we took a 10min float and a 200m swim test, tried on scuba equipment and hit the pool to test them out! It was quite an experience getting used to breathing under water and using giant flippers. We were taught some basic skills and signals (since we can't communicate verbally under water) and some of us stayed under water practicing with the dive master for over half an hour.
Charlotte also got to go on another dive, and Karen also went on a dive on the northen part of Zanzibar Island. Yay!
AND TODAY.....with our official open water scuba diving certificates, almost all of us will dive into the crystal blue waters of the Indian Ocean and explore life under the sea discovering the different ship wrecks, coral reefs and marine animals! We are all very excited and it is going to be one unforgettable adventure! Yay!
Stay tuned to hear more soon about our first scuba dive in the ocean!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Free Travel-Moshi and Tanga!
Hello!!
We just had an amazing and exciting past few days of free travel. We started our free travel journey on Thanksgiving at the United African Alliance Community Center. The group ended up deciding to split up into two groups, a group of five and a group of seven. We all traveled from Arusha to Moshi together and stayed the night at a backpackers hostel in Moshi. The next morning, the group of five left for Tanga (Karen, Izzy, Becca, Charlotte, and Will) , where they explored caves and ruins. They got to go to the beach, and tried to go dancing, but the club was closed. The two of us (Vicki and Zoe) were in the larger group with Cliff, Taylor, Chris, Alexa and Jessie, so we don't know much more detail on that, because we stayed in Moshi to explore the city. Vicki, Jess, Alexa, and Cliff went on a hike to Ndoro Waterfalls, where Alexa and Cliff jumped off the waterfall, and Cliff gracefully slipped and hit the water face first. It was classic. The group also got to see and hold a horned chameleon, which the waterfall guide was scared of-he was hiding behind Vicki!
That same day, Chris and Zoe stayed in Moshi to do a little more exploring, and Taylor even got to go to Arusha and see family that was there! That night, the seven of us decided to go dancing. Before we type this, we had to take a break for laughing. At the dance club, we ran into the most enthusiastic middle-aged Indian men. They had a few interesting signature moves, and one of them danced with a 1.5 liter water bottle on his head for a good 15 minutes. Classic. It was definitely one unforgettable night.
The next morning, before our departure from Kilimanjaro Backpackers, we got to see the actual mountain from the third floor of our hostel. It was beautiful! It was a good start to a long day of traveling. We caught the Dar Express bus-a luxurious coach from Moshi to Dar Es Salam, complete with air conditioning and complementary sodas and movies-for a nine hour ride to Dar! It was actually very enjoyable and comfortable! Vicki, with the role of "Cribs" (our accommodation leader), found us an amazing campsite at Makadi beach. We stayed in bandas that were raised from the sandy beach on stilts. It was like a Corona commercial! A beautiful beach with aqua blue water complete with hammocks! The next day, when most of the seven of us went back into Dar to explore, the Tanga group arrived at the campsite! The whole group went into the Indian Ocean for a reunion swim-the first time in the Indian Ocean for a lot of us! Anyways, we enjoyed two more nights at the campsite with the group, and this morning, we caught a ferry to Zanzibar! Tomorrow we start our Scuba class, so Vicki and I will do our best to keep you updated with how that goes!!! We are enjoying our last week together, and will see you all very soon! Much love!
Zoe and Vicki!!
We just had an amazing and exciting past few days of free travel. We started our free travel journey on Thanksgiving at the United African Alliance Community Center. The group ended up deciding to split up into two groups, a group of five and a group of seven. We all traveled from Arusha to Moshi together and stayed the night at a backpackers hostel in Moshi. The next morning, the group of five left for Tanga (Karen, Izzy, Becca, Charlotte, and Will) , where they explored caves and ruins. They got to go to the beach, and tried to go dancing, but the club was closed. The two of us (Vicki and Zoe) were in the larger group with Cliff, Taylor, Chris, Alexa and Jessie, so we don't know much more detail on that, because we stayed in Moshi to explore the city. Vicki, Jess, Alexa, and Cliff went on a hike to Ndoro Waterfalls, where Alexa and Cliff jumped off the waterfall, and Cliff gracefully slipped and hit the water face first. It was classic. The group also got to see and hold a horned chameleon, which the waterfall guide was scared of-he was hiding behind Vicki!
That same day, Chris and Zoe stayed in Moshi to do a little more exploring, and Taylor even got to go to Arusha and see family that was there! That night, the seven of us decided to go dancing. Before we type this, we had to take a break for laughing. At the dance club, we ran into the most enthusiastic middle-aged Indian men. They had a few interesting signature moves, and one of them danced with a 1.5 liter water bottle on his head for a good 15 minutes. Classic. It was definitely one unforgettable night.
The next morning, before our departure from Kilimanjaro Backpackers, we got to see the actual mountain from the third floor of our hostel. It was beautiful! It was a good start to a long day of traveling. We caught the Dar Express bus-a luxurious coach from Moshi to Dar Es Salam, complete with air conditioning and complementary sodas and movies-for a nine hour ride to Dar! It was actually very enjoyable and comfortable! Vicki, with the role of "Cribs" (our accommodation leader), found us an amazing campsite at Makadi beach. We stayed in bandas that were raised from the sandy beach on stilts. It was like a Corona commercial! A beautiful beach with aqua blue water complete with hammocks! The next day, when most of the seven of us went back into Dar to explore, the Tanga group arrived at the campsite! The whole group went into the Indian Ocean for a reunion swim-the first time in the Indian Ocean for a lot of us! Anyways, we enjoyed two more nights at the campsite with the group, and this morning, we caught a ferry to Zanzibar! Tomorrow we start our Scuba class, so Vicki and I will do our best to keep you updated with how that goes!!! We are enjoying our last week together, and will see you all very soon! Much love!
Zoe and Vicki!!
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