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Updates from the Field! |
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Update #5 |
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Ah, Tarangire. A thing of the past now. The crew gathered up their gear and holed up in Josephine and Judy's Bed & Breakfast in Arusha for the night. From there the skeleton crew returned to Kilimanjaro to check the cameras in place up on the mountain--just Marcella, Chediel (pronounced Sheh-deal ), and Zawadi. Zawadi's name, by the way, means "gift" in Swahili. His mother carried twins and he alone survived. Many Tanzanians name their children well after birth, when some aspect of the child's nature or circumstance suggests a fitting name. They find it odd that we pre-name our children when we have absolutely no idea what the child will be like. The gang arrived on the mountain late and after camera maintenance they retired to Peter Jones' ranch for the night. The next morning they set out for the Shira Plateau again. This time they had nice weather for a change, as opposed to the cold and wet of last time. Marcella had the chance to really see the Plateau and surrounding mountains in the early morning clear. Staggeringly beautiful. So beautiful it made work an irritation. Back at the Jones' ranch for another night and a session of idea-tossing with Peter Jones. Seems he's interested in encouraging student groups to come and use the ranch as a base of operations in that part of Tanzania. Marcella says she's now got loads of ideas in her head to toss around with me, which gives me cause to worry. Putting those two big brains together for part of an evening wore everyone out in no time. Chediel suggested they sing Christmas carols. He belted one out and everyone joined in for the first verse, then the room fell silent. So Chediel cranked out another carol. The gang started singing at the top of their lungs for, you guessed it, one verse. This continued all night. It would seem to the casual observer that while Christmas carols may be know 'round the world, the knowledge ends after the first verse. Sort of like the Pledge of Allegiance. I mean, the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Somehow the gang ended the evening on a political note, hit by the Tanzanians who really, really wanted to know how America managed to re-elect President Bush. Marcella skirted the issue at first. Who really wants to represent an entire Nation while at the mercy of Local Opinion? Especially when the Local Opinionators have been drinking eggnog all night. The Tanzanians pushed the issue. To them, the choice seemed obvious; they extrapolated their view to the rest of the known world and transformed their own inquisitiveness into a Global Inquiry. So Marcella pushed back: What did they think of our choice? Without hesitation the Tanzanians present offered up their hatred of Bush. 'Nuff said, I guess.
Who among us could even name the leader of Tanzania, and what that office of leadership is called? As the last remaining Super Power, maybe we should have more World Geography and a little less Phonics.
Coming next: Christmas at Ndutu Lodge. |
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© tboy 2004
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