Day 5: Base Camp

          Today we journeyed into the heart of the jungle, up the rugged slopes of Kilimanjaro, to our base camp, battling snakes, crocodiles, lions, and other vicious animals along the way.
          All right, all right, so maybe it didn't happen quite like that.  But we did move out of the bed and breakfast and into the base camp for all our actives in Tanzania.  And it is near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  However, it also has running hot water, electricity, and staff and servants.  No, it's not a fancy hotel, it's my Uncle Tereveli's house.
          Everyone wanted to talk to my baba, and he was almost literally getting drowned in attention.  So my Uncle burst in in a whirl of dust and screeching metal, scooped us up, and drove like a mad man (on the wrong side of the road again) away from Arusha towards his home in Moshi.
          Uncle Tereveli's place is really nice, with a pond with fish and nice lawn and garden.  There's even a fort on top of the garden shed for his two kids, Nina and Nema.  And a guest house with two beds and a bathroom for me and Baba.  Uncle Tereveli's wife Ester invited us to settled in, unpack, and relax.
          A routine was established, breakfast in the morning (which always consisted of hot dogs, which in Tanzania is considered equivalent to sausage, toast, juice, and chai tea.  I've actually grown quite fond of the tea here.  Guess the British did know a thing or two...), then either a trip into town or a day at home.
          Nina, the older of Uncle's two daughters, had won acceptance into a very prestigious private catholic boarding school, and was home on break.  She was going back on Sunday, and would be there till the end of March, so I spent a lot of time with her and Nema.  We actually got into some spiritual discussions and I showed her many things from the Bible.
          Uncle Tereveli has two people who work for him and help keep house, Neto a middle aged man who mostly does stuff outside, and Elisa, who takes care of the house and cooking.  Uncle also has four dogs to guard the place at night.  And with a nice central location to all the parks, it's a perfect base camp.
          Well, that's all for now, I'll write again if anything interesting happens...


E’ya! - Tate

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