The Only Mzungu (White Person)

Today was by far the best day of my trip. At least fun-wise. Remember from yesterday all of the swingset planning and stuff? Today was when we put it into action. After breakfast, the girls all left to get a dalla-dalla to go to Matonyok per usual, while I waited here at the hotel for Mike. He arrived at 8:30 and we began our journey across Arusha. Hold onto your hats. Remember yesterday Mike and I walked to every hardware store in Arusha? Today we went to one final one that wasn't opened yesterday, and got basically everything we needed for next to nothing. We got several U-shaped bolts for tying rope to, as well as several meters of rope, and some long bolts to attach the logs together in an A-frame. After we grabbed those supplies, we walked to the place where we got the log-sized wood for the frame yesterday and paid for all 8 pieces...about 120,000 shillings. Also at that place we hired one of the guys who wheels stuff around on carts. If you Google Image "Africa" you'll probably see them. Basically they have huge wooden wheelbarrow-type things and you pay them to cart your supplies wherever you need. We paid him around 5000 shillings to carry all of our stuff (and it was a lot) about 3 or 4 miles. First we piled the 8 logs on, then he ran ahead of us to the carpentry store where the desks were waiting. At that store we loaded on the 4 desks with their attached seats (each one holds 2 to 3 kids) as well as the 5 swings that we had cut (we bought a long piece of wood and had it cut down to 5 swings, 2 ft long each). On top of THAT, Mike and I walked next door to a rice wholesale store and bought 50 kilos of rice (about 2 months worth) which we also threw on the cart. To recap...this 60-year old looking dude had 8 logs, 5 swings, 4 big desks, 5 kilos of rice, and the big chunk of rope that we got for the swings. This guy was ridiculous. So he ran ahead of us to one of the entrances to Olasiti, where we had arranged for Ndemno and Manuel to meet us with the trusty Land Rover. Mike and I walked a little slower to let him get ahead, but basically we walked the entire distance that we've been doing the dalla-dalla for everyday...about 4 miles. On the way I got to meet his dad, which was cool. So we finally arrived at the entrance to Olasiti, and of course the cart dude was waiting for us. We unloaded all of the supplies on the side of the dirt road entrance and waited for Ndemno and Manuel. When they arrived, it turned out that the Land Rover wasn't big enough for the logs and desks, but they did take the swings, rope, and rice. They headed back to Matonyok to rent a pickup truck to come back and get the rest of the stuff as well as Mike and I. So we waited. Luckily, this entrance to Olasiti is also a communal shopping-type area. I met one of Mike's frends, David, and he spoke a bit of English as well. He bought me some grilled corn, and I bought Mike, David, and myself some ice cream from some guy who was selling it for 100 shillings each. Then the three of us plus some random kid split a Special K Chocolate bar. Finally, after about 30 minutes, the pickup truck came back. It turns out that they had rented it for the day, because we also had to buy and ship the cows. It was basically a Toyota pickup with metal bars over the bed of the truck, making kind of a cage a little taller than the truck itself. I have pictures. Manuel drove, while Mike and I sat on top of the cage. It was pretty awesome riding through Arusha on top of a pickup truck. We took all the supplies to Matonyok and unloaded. As we were arriving, Ashton and Amy were leaving to go to the Rwanda Tribunal, located in Arusha, where they try criminals from the Rwanda conflicts and stuff. Mike, Ndemno, Manuel, and I waited at Matonyok for Emmy and my mom to come back from the bank, where they had extracted a lot of TFFT money for the cows and stuff (all the ATMs are broken here), ate lunch (rice and beans), then headed out to buy cows. Let me talk about cows. Apparently certain market days are reserved for certain goods, as far as Maasai markets go, and Thursday is cow day (tomorrow is chickens). So Emmy, my mom, and Manuel (driving) hopped in the front of the same pickup, while Mike, Ndemno, myself, and their friend named Elfus (he owns cows so he came along as the cow expert for buying and moving the cows) sat on top of the cage and stood in the back again. We drove through an even more remote section of Olasiti before getting to the main road which heads to Nairobi. My mom got out to catch a dalla-dalla back to Arusha. The rest of us headed down the highway (I was sitting on top of a pickup going about 80 with nothing but Africa and mountains around me...sick!) and then turned to go through a huge coffee plantation owned by some European dude. Except for Mt. Meru in the background and the obvious African-ness, this could have passed for South Carolina. Acres of crops with people working them...it was really pretty. The road itself stopped being paved, and we bounced along on top of the pickup for about 30 more minutes. We pulled off on a side road, got out of the car, and climbed up the side of a hill covered in about a foot of volcanic ash (like really really really fine powder) to get to the cow market. Ndemno, Manuel, and Elfus went ahead to negotiate for the cows. Apparently if I was associating with them, the dealers would charge much higher prices, so Mike, Emmy, and myself walked around and looked at some rope to move the cows. It was funny. Mike and Emmy would see a good cow, and then call Ndemno over the cell phones to tell them so no one would see us talking. This was like a LEGIT market, too. No one spoke Swahili (only Maasai, a separate language) and I was the ONLY white person within at least 10 miles. We were at the market for about 30 minutes before they finally settled on two female cows...one black and one white and brown. As we left, Mike handed me the rope to the white one, so I got to guide a cow out of a Maasai market in the middle of Africa. We went down the same ashy hill, only this time with cows, which decided to run, which kicked up all the ash, which made it like walking through a dirt cloud. To load the cows (which they named Julie and Amy) onto the truck, Mike grabbed the two front legs, I pulled the rope from inside the truck, and Ndemno pushed from behind. Primitive, but effective. Then Ndemno, Emmy, and Manuel hopped into the cab of the truck, while Mike, Elfus, and I sat on the bars above the cows. The road back was rough, and the cows kept slipping and falling down. I thought they were going to die, but they did just fine. Mike and I hopped off on the main road (a 30 minute drive sitting over cows) to catch a dalla-dalla back to town, but first we walked a few hundred yards to the Coffee Lodge. This is basically a fancy resort for white people set amidst a picturesque (?) coffee plantation. We decided to pose as safari guides interested in posting clients at the lodge, so they gave us a tour of all the grounds, the dining area, and all the rooms (which are basically houses...you get your own little cottage when you stay there). They also printed out the rates for staying (very expensive) and all that. It was a lot of fun. We finally got a dalla-dalla back to town, but on the outskirts and mainstreets of Arusha, we got stuck in traffic. This makes dalla-dalla guys mad, apparently, because when the can't get more passengers aside from the ones that have paid, they can't make money, so they all try to put their passengers in other dalla-dallas so they can go back for more. This happened to us, but we finally managed to get back to the hotel. After Mike left, my mom, Amy, Ashton and I went to McMoody's for dinner (the American place from last week), then got a taxi back to the hotel. We're done for the night basically, and tomorrow we will construct the swingset (hopefully), go buy some chickens, have a party, and say our goodbyes. Until then, wait for the pictures. Kwa heri.