Arusha

Our time in Tanzania did not get off to a particularly fortuitous start.  When our plane flew by Kilimanjaro, I wanted to join Monju and take a picture or two from the air, but was unable to do so because I couldn't find my camera.  Even after turning my bags inside out, I couldn't find it.  I'm pretty sure that I left it on our earlier flight from Jo'burg to Nairobi, probably sticking it in the seatback pocket after syncing some pictures to my iPad and then proceeding to forget about it.  D'oh.  Good news: I have all my pictures.  Bad news: I have no camera.

But our misadventure wasn't quite over.  The lodge where we were staying is quite a ways from the airport, and I'd volunteered to book our extra night and arrange an airport transfer.  I did request the transfer when I booked our room, but forgot to confirm said transfer directly with the lodge.  Accordingly, no one was waiting for us when we arrived.  Monju was a champ, explaining our situation to various people, arranging a phone call to the lodge, and eventually securing us a ride.  Meanwhile, I was unsuccessfully attempting to see if I could track down my camera, acknowledging that it was almost definitely futile but unwilling to give it up without at least checking.

In sum, I really established myself as an excellent and organized travel companion.

After a decent night's sleep, I'd recovered some of my composure and we actually had a pretty great day today in Arusha.  The driver the lodge arranged for us, Sylvester, used to be a porter and then a guide on Kilimanjaro with Exodus UK and the African Walking Co (the company we're using), so he was full of helpful information about the mountain.  He also told us a bit about his life: he grew up in a Masai village, one of 26 children his father had with 4 wives.  When his father refused to pay for him to go to school, he ran away to Arusha and slept on store verandas after the businesses had closed.  Eventually he began working as a porter, and Exodus eventually paid for him to go to school to learn English, after which he worked as a guide.  After having lumbar problems, however, he had to stop climbing the mountain and began his career as a driver.  

We first visited Shanga, an organization that hires disabled people to make jewelry and household products from recycled materials -- even most of the tools used in the workshops are recycled.  Next, we ran a couple errands, including a stop at an electronics store, where I was able to replace my camera.  So my absentminded mistake was regrettably both avoidable and expensive, but ultimately fixable.

We leave for Kilimanjaro tomorrow morning.  Wish us luck.