Yesterday, Annett tried to get her bus ticket back to Uganda, but the bus was full for today. So, she can't leave until tomorrow. So, of course, I'm also staying until tomorrow. The rest of my friends, however, left Arusha today.
For the past 3 days, there have been clouds covering Mt. Kilimanjaro. Annett really wanted to see Mt. Kilimanjaro, but we could never see it. So, today, we thought, "That does it! Let's take the minibus to Moshi (a town about 20 km from Mt. Kilimanjaro). We'll be sure to see it there!" When we got off the bus in Moshi, some people came up to us, asking if we wanted a taxi. I said, "No, thank you." But they started to get pushy and crowd around, saying, "Taxi, madam? Taxi, madam?" Immediately, my guard went up at this, so I went to put my hands in my pockets to prevent pick-pocketing. As I did it, I saw another hand in my pocket! My instant reaction was to SCREAM bloody-murder! The hand came out of the pocket fast, but I couldn't see whose it was because there were several people crowding around us. My head darted around and I said, "WHOSE HAND WAS IN MY POCKET!" And Annett, who was just behind me, said, "That one," pointing to somebody. So, I checked his hands, he had nothing, and I checked my pockets, everything was there. But the scream seemed to have done it because the crowding men (boys, really) parted and Annett and I walked out of the minibus-park.
Later, when we were relaxed and having a beer together, we had some good laughs over the incident. Annett said, "You should have seen him when you screamed. He looked scared." I laughed and said, "Good! He should be scared!" I then said, "Wouldn't it be great if we went back there and robbed them, using their own crowding and pushing scheme?" Annett laughed and said, "Yeah."
... But, alas, even from Moshi, we still couldn't see Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was very cloudy and overcast. Not to be defeated, however, we decided to take a taxi to the very base of the mountain. Which we did. When we were negotiating with the taxi driver, he said, "Let me understand correctly. You just want to go to the bottom of
the mountain, and then turn around and come back again?" We said, "That's right." So, he took us. Annett was happy because there was a lot of matooke growing and she said, "I've heard that the Chaka people who live around here are like the Baganda and eat a lot of matooke. Now I'm seeing it with my own eyes." When we got to the base of the mountain, we could really hardly see anything because it was overcast, but at least we were *on the mountain*! And here is a picture to prove it!---------------- TODAY --------------- TOTAL
Cycled ----------- 0 -------------------- 3,487 km (2,189 mi)
Sagged ----------- 100 km (63 mi) ------ 1,932 km (1,313 mi)
Total ------------- 100 km (63 mi) ------ 5,419 km (3,502 mi)
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