Marathon Weekend! All continent time

The night before marathon. Double Rainbow...good omen

This week is the week of weeks.  The Kilimanjaro Marathon has occurred for the past 11 years.  It is an all continents marathon so those insane people who love to run marathons, come here to complete the continent tour.  It is probably helpful to the Kenyans that we are so close, as they always win.  The Marathon is an amazing weekend.  People are arriving in our small town by Friday, and wandering around, mostly confused, but when you are in a small town, confusion is not so bad, because everyone is willing to help for a few shillings.  For those of us who are living here, we stay out of town as much as possible.  But, we register, and we love it.

This year's marathon was great because John was feeling his fitness, and thankfully his knees held up.  Our sweet neighbors turned out, and Matt who is one or two or 20 years younger than John ran as well and they had been training together.  He ran half marathon race in 1 hr. 26 min (I think)  very fast for sure.  His adorable children and wife were there to cheer him on.  John ran in 2 hr. 2 minutes (2nd best for him) and I ran the 5K in 30 min.  We were all happy.  You have to understand that these races involve a lot of uphill /up mountain runs.  For the half marathoners, they run the first 10.5 entirely up the Kilimanjaro mountain on the Mweka side.  It is so bad that almost all of them declare in the first 1 Km that they cannot do it.  What makes them consider to keep going is unknown to me since the 5 K route is mostly just prevent a trample from the other 3,000 of your best friends.

We finish with the beautiful Kilimanjaro mountain behind us

John waiting for his time

ACTG, beware....John and Agnes rock!!!

Greg, John Jan Trish Bob Matt and a few kids

Mat, Jess and their very cute kids!

5 K end and some Moshi CAB folks...yea

Double rainbow was really last night but who cares!

Showing my fitness at the end!  Ha ha.  but it felt great.

So the good times were indeed great! Another year past.  I mostly was so proud of my 19 CAB members who did the 5K.  Most of them had not thought about this before and yet they all did it.  I have this picture of some of them.  What a wonderful weekend. 

All 19 participated, but I could only find 11 to get together (my fault!)

Week 3 Visiting Kenya

Morning in Shimoni Bay

Our weekend in Shimoni was filled with excitement about marlins.  2012 had been filled with fish, and we expected that this trip would be even better.  We planned our drive carefully, and this year decided that taking paved roads all the way, skirting Mombasa entirely, and passing Tanga and the border at HoroHoro would be the best way.   I missed the Tsavo elephants, but timing was right for the easier way and  I had excessive pleasure in watching the baobab trees, the sisal farms, the people in the towns and the interesting road signs.

 

Sisal hanging to dry

Beautiful Flame Tree

one of the diversions...at least entertaining

 So, we headed up a brand new nice road from Tanga to Kenya, where we did the immigration thing...one place to another.  We noticed quite intently that there was a tent where yellow fever vaccines were being given.  Busses crossing the border seemed to be full of travelers who did not have proof of their yellow fever vaccines.  Let this be a warning to those who try to travel without their proof.!  They were patiently led to the tent.  (and the cost is USD $50). The experience was much quicker for us however than it was in Holili and Taveta, and for that we were thankful.

Kenya side immigration

This lady was opening the gate--notice the gun!

The drive from the border was short and sweet.  What a welcomed difference from last year.  We arrived at our hotel, visited the Hemphills and headed off for showers and dinner.  Our first day started with excitement.  Listening to the lines running out into the ocean.  And then the wait.

Fishermen working chatting

Bob struggles with seasickness

Greg checking e-mail...things are slow

Look carefully...there is a Marlin bill (little did we know)

Things seemed to pick up when Greg got a hit and landed a nice Dorado.

Greg pulling Dorado

Then within moments there was a huge hit and John's turn.  It was a Marlin.  He fought and fought for over 30 minutes.  It was big, but didn't jump and that worried the captain.  But they hung in there.

Bob and Greg watch the show

The excitement strong and once John got in the chair, there was movement back and forth, and the marlin came in, very close.  We could see the fluorescent color of the fin.

 

John with a big marlin

But sadly, the catch was false.  The hook had imbedded in the flesh and as the fish came towards the boat, he shook the hook off and was gone. And that was that for the day.  No more bites, just beautiful sea and close watching.  The good news, is that after every day of fishing there comes tea at the Hemphills and then a good bottle of beer at the Smugglers Cove.  The boys had earned this day.

Very good beer

The next day was more of the same.  Though I was very excited about the Colobus Monkeys at the hotel and at the Hemphills, the boys were unimpressed, and I was reduced to taking random pictures.  Only one near bite and not even much of that.

 Funny looking Colobus.  They are more like the Red Colobus Monkeys from Zanzibar but black ones.  And there are apparently lots of them and not surprisingly they have learned to love fruit.

 I suddenly felt inspired by Disneyworld's Pirates of the Caribbean ride (remember the hairy toe?) Very sad

 I took a picture of the pretty but empty lures.  That says a great deal about the day.

But at the end of it all, we had a nice trip.  Good friends, nice excursion.  But oh how the boys wanted to catch fish.  There is always next year!

Packed week lots of work, friends, family, catching up, and NO POWER

Moshi Week 2, 2013

We experienced a busy busy week in Moshi, topped by a wonderful but hard “hash” and a huge downpour that flooded the streets and made driving frightening. Dust settled and we had a few days in which the sun did not stab our brains.

Dr.Puli, Alice and Cecilia at First Health

A scary muddy drive to First Health Dispensary, but their happiness to see me was touching.  Thank you Barlett for your supplies, they were greatly appreciated!  (a small gift and huge smiles) 

Our wonderful neighbors came to visit with their very cool youngest son John Paul, and sweet Anne Marie (two others not with daddy Matt)

Anne Marie and Jean Paul with dad Matt--w/out sis Lucy and bro Dominic...or mommy

Thank you very much Stephen, I got to witness real tears as Margaret of Children of Destiny opened your envelope with your entire Christmas folded in to $100 and $20 dollar bills.  Her little orphan charges were so worried about her tears that they even interrupted the steady trend of conversation (he’s teasing me, she called me names, he took my dolly, I need to “PEEE”) with “Are you ok, Mama?”

Margaret showing gratitude for donation

These children, happy with whatever they have

Children of Destiny is an orphanage where the director is one woman...no board....with just a big heart.  The children are happy, all 25 of them.  They are incredibly poor and barely survive, but always offer me a plate of precious rice and beans.  Though it is rude to say "no", I do anyway, just thinking about that child's mouth to feed.  Stephen has saved their orphanage twice with donations of just about 1/2 of my own month's salary.  Enough to get them food for 3-4 months.  What more can you want!

Hot, and happy friends

The perfect "hasher"

We had a wonderful run/walk around our greater neighborhood and my legs have been sore all week.  I cannot describe the ravines, very deep on either side with no definite path for the way out.  Only jumping across rocks and if you miss, into the water (I went once into the water)

Jan, always where the action is....

John and Bob plan the Kenyan Trip

My greatest joy, meeting with different members of the community to talk about our research efforts.  Happily, the Coffee Shop folks are welcoming and warm, no matter how much I buy—their ice coffee is to die for--.

And then their was Dada’s dinner.  To be incorporated? Dada's United...We will change the world! Pamoja Tunaweza (Together we can)      That dinner crowned the week. 

The "baby" of our Dadas, Eunice does a little dance

Add We are now a big group of Dada's United....

Next week “off to Kenya”

Kilimanjaro is losing the ice cap fast !!!

Durham to Moshi in 36 hours

From Winter to Summer in 36 hours. 

You did see 3 peaks in the previous blog, but so wonderful

John could care less about what a homeless man he looks, but it was cold

The jolt of an old body seems to attack John and I now with relative frequency.  In particular, this occurs because we plan our trips to Tanzania when we find the weather particularly unpleasant in one country or another.  So, for instance, we have frequently returned to Moshi in July or August when weather is balmy, but in the US, boiling hot.  Our friends in Moshi think that they know boiling hot, but they don’t know 100+ degrees with 100 percent humidity.  And generally, the temperature in Moshi drops drastically after the sun goes down.  And, they don’t know the 12 degrees that Boone is currently experiencing, for even in the Moshi winter, the temperature rarely drops below 50 or 55 degrees. (we all complain when it gets that cold). Certainly however, traveling for 36 hours is intense enough, and moving from one weather pattern and one time zone to another is amazing, and the older we get the more we have difficulty.

Date palm tree loaded with fruit

This trip, at least for me, has been just fine thank you.  It is hot, and it is more humid than usual.  For some reason, the long rains seem just around the corner and my hair looks like a lion’s.  But, it is cool at night, hot but bearable during the day, beautiful in the am. (and you don’t have to be outside too much in the middle of the day thank heavens).  So—hear is the jolt!

just a few of the eggplants

Just a few of the banana peppers

Just a few of the Mangoes ( birds are feasting)

We arrived to the beauty of our yard in Moshi and all the hard work that Pauli had done while we were gone and he was entertaining other visitors.  The manure that he engineered had paid off.  I have never seen banana peppers or eggplant so fabulous and HUGE. 

This is the biggest most beautiful eggplant I have ever seen in my life!

part of Palmetto tree

The tree—all the palmetto trees (look Julia) is loaded with fruit and the new plants are blooming. (and this isn’t really the right season).

When we arrived, we hit the road.  I had immediate CAB activities and realized how lucky we have been to have Elizabeth on the ground as our co-leader of research activities, and how lucky we are to have such an active CAB.  I have tried to catch up with as many of my “girl” friends as I can and more to come next week.  (all are active in health related activities in which we are involved in the community).  John has spent every day in meetings and activities until at least 6 at night and then on e-mail to Duke for another several hours.  We have a wonderful new emergency room attending Kathryn who is with us for another week, and who is amazing.   

Kathryn in a moment between pages and pages of readings

Charlie is guarding his girls

Charlie in his full beauty

Prices are higher on everything, but with our garden and our fruit, at least we have some break.  And, the love right now is our Rooster, Charlie who came from our wonderful carver in Marangu (Mamba) and has grown to be a beautiful guy who is not mean to his hens, but looks just magnificent.   

It seems that food for our chickens is plentiful, and it is warm enough that they don’t need any little crocheted coats.  Perhaps the best thing that happened was that we were able to buy Zantel Internet sticks.  After our Voda sticks were slower than possibly imaginable, we tried them.   They now seem compatible with both Apple’s and the KCMC compound. The price was much cheaper, and they are much faster. 

So, life is good.  We will wait until next week.!

Big Snow in NC

Thanks to John, we lived through a harrowing drive from Durham to Boone. For the first three quarters of the drive, rain pummeled the windshield and provided a few moments of scary road sliding.  As usual, the crazies came out around Burlington and tried to bump us off the road in their zeal to drive at least 20 mph over the speed limit (perhaps they were just thinking about the snow on the way).  But the really interesting part of the trip occurred as we started up the mountains.  The "wintry mix" had started just before Wilkesboro, but the weather switched dramatically and suddenly, this was John's visibility:

visibility 421

Kitty and I were very quiet but probably her little paws were sweaty and my hand gripped the door.  Cars started careening around--and by the time we got to the cross of the Blue Ridge Parkway, all the 2 wheel drive vehicles were doing their best to slide into us, be abandoned either in the middle of the highway or already in a ditch.  We slowly inched along.  Even downtown Boone was a mess, but lots of students were out jumping around, beer in hand.

We made it up to the switchback, walked the rest of the way. and quickly poured bourbon and gin.  By the time we got to the house, we had about 5 inches of snow, in some areas, drifts over a foot.

Porch on Arrival

 The snow on our side stopped shortly after our arrival, but we awoke to a winter wonderland.

3 Peaks in the am

Cabin in the hills of Caroline (a)

Blue Spruce

Side of our house

So, cheers to John for his great driving, and for our fabulous view for reminding us of how much we love our little neighborhood!