Kipilefti

Bret biked up from Bulongwa for the weekend, departing Friday after school and arriving before dark. It was, as he said, like a vacation, even for me. Having him stay was enjoyable and completely, surprisingly comfortable, as though he were a family member I’d known all my life.

He brought a ton of apples in a bucket on the back of his bike, so Saturday we made apple crisp, and today after he left (in the morning, to dodge the rain) I made applesauce with the rest.

On Saturday we went for a hike, up one of the mountains around Makete. Asifiwe (lit., Praise Him), the little brother of a teacher I’m storing things for who’s been hanging around my house, came with us and served as our guide. We made it to the top of the mountain, climbing through a completely burned-out area where locals had razed the forest to make charcoal. On the hike, we saw the various stages of forest recovery from an event like that, which was interesting but also depressing. The natural resources of this country will be gone soon.

On our return trip it started to rain, so we ducked into the house of a friend of Asifiwe’s and sat in the living room for an hour until the rain passed. Bret almost fell asleep, tired from the bike ride the day before and the hike. I was pretty tired myself.  The highlight of the visit was meeting the guinea pigs that the family raises to eat. There was a baby that was really cute! When we got back to my house we made guacamole and chapati and ate leftover hummus from the previous day (when we’d made guacamole, chapati, and hummus).

And tomorrow, maybe, I start teaching. I sort of wish I could just hang out with PCVs and forget about teaching! It’ll be better once I’ve started, I hope. Next weekend I’m going to walk up to Bulongwa and spend the weekend there, weather and energy permitting. Tanzanians make the hike in two hours; we’ll see how long it takes me…