I've forgotten more than I'll write

Back in civilization. It feels quite strange to be among so many people, instead of the same 30 or so for three weeks. I've probably forgotten more than I'll even write, these weeks have been so crazy. Good crazy, though. I'll do my best to chronologically update.


Thursday, 15 October 09
We were introduced to our huge, open-air trucks that we would be with for the rest of safari. Drivers Habibu and Simon, who were absolutely amazing. Guides Douglas and Killerai, also amazing. General culture truck had Habibu, Douglas and Daudi Peterson, though we became close with everyone. I already miss Douglas and Daudi and Killerai like crazy, even though it's only been about a week since I've seen them.

We drove the whole day, stopping about every five minutes to look at some kind of damn bird. That got old QUICK. The ride was also kweli bumpy; you could rest but not sleep. Worked for me though. Also, Hillary, Rachel R. and I played MASH for some of the ride. We had a variety of themes: Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Arrested Development, Disney characters, Harry Potter. It was rather hilarious.

The next morning, we literally walked in the footsteps of elephant. Each truck went with their teacher and guide (my group with Daudi and Douglas) for a three-hour walk in the morning. We saw dikdik and bush duiker--two little antelope. I also identified a bird, and felt kind of important about it even though only a day earlier I was annoyed with the birds. That night we played Mafia around the fire, which was super fun. The villagers killed me off of course, which they always do, even though I wasn't the Mafia. But it was a great group activity.


Saturday, 17 October
We climbed a mountain! I almost died a bit, heat and asthma and elevation gradient and all, but everyone was really nice and I made it eventually. We had to climb the walls through a little cave, which was cool but I broke my camera kind of. Just the lens doesn't really close now, but it still works, and I took TONS of pictures (I'm going to try to get a few on facebook) for the rest of the trip.

I talked to Eli on the top of the mountain because it was our two-year anniversary. :)

We walked again in the evening, the general culture kids with Daudi and Douglas. We saw a lot of impala and began our identifying birds and poop and tracks. At one point Alex yelled, "Big cat! Big cat!" and I literally jumped over a bush to get there and see it, and it turned out to be a herd of impala. She definitely got made fun of for the rest of safari.

At this point I decided Daudi was my favorite of the Petersons, but I think that no matter which one came with us on safari, he would be my favorite. For the rest of my life I just kind of want to follow them around and record all their stories and maybe steal all of them from their wives. Maybe.


Sunday 18 October
I really think this was the best day of my life. I thought that during it, even though I also figured you couldn't know if that was true while you were experiencing it--but I still think it. I was so happy the entire day that I could have cried.

We drove to Tarangire National Park. On the drive we saw the usual: zebra, impala, giraffe. They hadn't (and still haven't) lost their wonder to me, but I was feeling tired and kind of meh so it wasn't a big deal. When we stopped at the edge of the park to pay and choo (pronounced "cho" and meaning "bathroom", though it has become a verb on this trip), I was feeling better and gave Lila and Claire piggy back rides (separately) which was fun.

Then. Tarangire. Oh. My. God.

We saw LIONS! I was 30, maybe 40 feet from a lion in the wild. From a couple lions actually. Other things we saw:
zebra, giraffe, impala, dikdik, reedubck, waterbuck, elephant, jackal, leopard, mongoose, wart hog, monkeys, wildebeest, water buffalo, python, monitor lizard, lots of birds.

By this point I had started to really enjoy looking at the birds, especially the raptors. There are some awesome eagles here.

Giraffe might have to be my new favorite animal. At least when they are running. It is mind-boggling beautiful. They look like they're moving in slow motion except they are going incredibly fast. It just makes you feel.

The whole day made me feel. Life bubbled in my veins and tried to burst out of me. We drove fast in the trucks and it rained on us but not hard. Makes you realize the world outside of yourself, yourself outside of yourself even.

20-22 October
We were in the Nou Forest. It was COLD and misty and so much like Oregon. The drive up the mountains was RIDICULOUS with the amount of trees and branches that were in the road. We were covered in leaves and burrs and bugs and everything by the end of it. And we had to stop in the middle and get out to machete the heck out of a tree that had fallen in the road. This was the drive that made us realize how awesome Habibu was; also how awesome his name is to yell: "Ha-bi-BU!"

I froze every night in the crappy sleeping bag provided for me by the program since mine disappeared on the airplane from London. But Michael gave me his Maasai blanket and I learned to stuff the open areas of my sleeping bag to better keep warm. And the days were fun, mostly free, though we had to write lab reports.

We hiked to a waterfall too, which was AMAZING! It was a long, long walk, and we passed it by playing a game. Someone would pick someone on the trip without telling everyone else who it was. We then had to figure it out by the answers to questions like "If I were a color, what would I be?" Devyn picked me, and I had thought it was me for a while but didn't want to guess myself. I was: a mix of Steve & Miranda from Sex & the City, faded blue jeans, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, a twisty water slide, the Gravitron, and trespassing (for what federal offense I would be). Also, if I were to kill someone, it would be in a Dexter-like way. I felt special and important.

When I picked Miles, most of the group, once they figured it out, told me I had him all wrong. But Sam told me he knew it by the third question (which was, sillily, "What kind of soil would you be?" with an answer of "Rich and damp but not muddy"). Seeing how Sam and Miles are attached at the hip this trip, I figure I did a pretty good job with it.

We finally made it to the waterfall and it was AMAZING! It was super cold, but most of us swam anyway. It was not as cold as the Lake often is--aka you didn't get a brain freeze if you stood under it for a while. So it was really really fun and people took lots of pictures. The way back from the waterfall was tough, all uphill. Kai stuck with me though and was nice, so it was a good walk back.

Afterward I spent 5 1/2 hours straight in my sleeping bag because I was so cold. But it was totally worth it.

Miles's birthday (the 23rd) was mostly a drive down from the mountains to our first Hadza camp in the Yaida Valley. It was a very pretty place and there was a beautiful rainbow too. The next day we went gathering with the Hadza women, which was interesting. The cooler part was finding honey--a guy broke it open with an axe and we got to eat it. There were some bees (non-stinging thankfully) in the honey, and Douglas said, "It's just a little extra protein" and I was a little nervous since he was channeling my mother. :) Delicious honey though.

That evening we shot arrows with the Hadza. I failed, rather miserably, until my last shot, which at least made it the distance of the target. I knew well enough to quit while I was ahead. Sam and Kai were the only ones to hit the target, though Michael came close. When Sam's arrow hit, Douglas, who had shot at the same time, jokingly got really enthusiastic that it was his arrow, and Sam was adorable and so sad! He just sort of shrugged and was like, "Oh, good job, man." And then got excited again when he found out it was actually his arrow. Michael did hit the target with a rock from his sling. He has basically a David and Goliath sling and just hurls rocks. The THWACK of the rock against the cardboard box target Douglas and Killerai made for us was rather satisfying.

That night we hung out around the fire with the Hadza. We traded songs--they'd sing to us and then we'd sing to them. They sang and danced and sounded good. We were insane. We sang My Country Tis of Thee and Row Row Row Your Boat and some other things. Our dance was the Macarena, which was RIDICULOUS. I left after Take Me Out to The Ballgame. Made me a bit happy but a bit homesick.

I had actually be rather homesick a lot then, but Miles took care of me again. He's a good kid to have around. I'll really miss a lot the bio kids come TOMORROW when they leave.


Sunday 25 October
We WALKED from the top of one mountain, down into the valley, across the valley, up another mountain. It took hours and was *incredibly* hot and by the time I made it to the top of the mountain at the end, I had kind of forgotten what flat ground looked like. But it was definitely worth it--the view from camp was AMAZING.

We slept on the big rock instead of in my tents, but it was cold and hard and I alternated between cuddling with Hillary and cuddling with Michael in my sleep. The next day we went HUNTING with the Hadza. I was feeling a little hivihivi, so we moved rather slowly and I actually came back early, but it was still a ton of fun. We shot at birds and dikdik and even a type of cat! Then I came back and slept for a long time. Everyone else went back out because one of the groups had shot a giraffe with a poisoned arrow. So they gave it time for the poison to work, then went back to get it. Apparently they tracked it for quite some time, but it was so big the poison wasn't enough, and it got better and ran off. Sounded like a fun time, though I was sleeping through it all.


Wednesday 28 October
Ngorongoro Crater! It's a controversial place because the Maasai living there got kicked out to make it all touristy, but the Maasai had kicked out one tribe who had kicked out another tribe, so it's not so easy to figure out. But it's a very cool touristy place.

We saw 15 LIONS! BEFORE LUNCH! It was mad! I was in a land rover with Alex and Devyn and Lila and Daudi (who was impressed with my birding skills merely because I could identify a heron. I mean, c'mon, who can't identify a heron?). We had such fun. 10 lions were in one group, moms and babies, and land rovers were everywhere around them. They just ignored us and walked through, made a bit of a play for some wart hogs, then just drank water. It was amazing though. They were 10 feet away!

Wildebeest are another favorite animal (in addition to giraffe). I think they are awesome looking and love the way they run and everything. We also saw over 100 species of birds. Zebra, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle, cape buffalo, elephant, warthog, and HIPPOS! No cheetahs or rhinos though, unfortunately.

That night there was A BULL ELEPHANT IN OUR CAMP. I ACTUALLY STOOD 10 FEET FROM A WILD BULL ELEPHANT. Don't worry, there was something between us (a trailer) so he couldn't just charge me, though actually I'm sure if he had wanted to kill me he probably could. He was just coming up to get some drinking water from the camp. It was pretty cool. There were also zebra and bush pig in the camp. Crazy!

The next day was a travel day. We stopped and picked up a turtle shell to look at it and suddenly everyone screams and then yells, "Meryl! It's in your pocket! It's in your pocket!" I was fairly sure it was a giant spider or scorpion or something. It just turned out to be a little adorable lizard. Douglas got him out for me and I took a picture.

Halloween was fun--everyone dressed as other people from the trip, and some were very very good. I dressed as Ken Clifton, which was rather fun. Other than that, we spent this couple of days studying up for our final test. Then Daudi and Douglas and Killerai left us. :(

3-5 November
MAASAI HOMESTAY! Ohmigoodness, it was amazing! Some of the kids spoke a little Swahili, so I could communicate mildly. My mom was about 90 and totally awesome and very sweet. Took great care of me and fed me a ton.

Everyone was just super nice, and Heather lived close, so we hung out a fair amount. We did a lot of beading (necklaces and earrings and anklets and bracelets!) The second night Heather and I played a game of sort-of tag with all the little kids in our boma. There were a ton of them and she would chase them one direction and I would chase them another and if we caught them we would tickle them or twirl them around. After that they all got a lot more comfortable with us.

We gathered firewood and walked to town and fetched water. It was all very interesting and cool and fun. The kids loved to sing at dinner and then make me sing back. The only thing I could come up with for them to be able to sing along was the chorus to the Sexual Life of a Camel. So there are a lot of kids in a Maasai village in Tanzania who know the chorus to that and would sing along as I sang it. Hilarious.

I have to go play Monopoly now--we have a free day in Arusha and then the bio kids leave us tomorrow. I have a bit more to tell you about (another waterfall!) but people are waiting!

Love to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!