Lushoto

After lunch we headed back up to the hotel for a nap. At around 6, B woke me up and we decided to nix dinner and continue sleeping. I guess the workshop and the travel really took it out of us. But the 14+ of sleep paid off, we were fit as fiddles for our walk up to the rain forest and Irente Viewpoint. Our guide was Saidi (again, apparently Saidi is a common name here) was a young student who grew up in Lushoto, went to Koranic school but "became" Catholic so he could attend the Catholic school. After he graduated, he decided to instead "just be me" and claims no official religious affiliation.

The rainforest hike through a portion of the Usambara Mountains was challenging but fun. We passed through unspoilt regions of tropical forests, even got to see some monkeys. Even in some of the most isolated areas, I still felt like a mzungu celebrity. Children called us out and announced our arrival to their friends and villagemates as we passed through. After being offered flowers, a group of kids demanded that I give them pens. Unfortunately, I don't tend to carry pens on hikes with me.

After the rain forest we hit up tourist hot-spot, Irente Farm and Viewpoint. We had a picnic lunch at Irente Farm, with homemade bread, cheese, and quark--a sour cream like dressing that's amazing on carrots and tomatoes. Exhausted and freezing cold, I think anything would have tasted good. After lunch we headed up to Irente Viewpoint. I can't resist including the cliche "pensively looking out to the spectacular view" picture. We didn't have the best of weather but the view was still certainly worth the hike.

After the hike we made another circle through the market. The women in kangas and the vegetables were brilliant. Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries, so I have to steal B's pictures (in fact, all of the pictures in this post are hers). After an uninspiring meal and a tired game of Scrabble, I fell asleep almost instantly.