Majimoto

Posted by Ali

Yesterday our friend Kirsty had a picnic at her house for her church members and friends. Her parents, who hosted the Bible study I went to last fall, left Tanzania for a three-month furlough and to be with their oldest daughter and son-in-law in New Zealand for the birth of their first grandchild. Kirsty stayed a few weeks longer but is leaving on Thursday to meet up with her family. Danielle, Kezia and I wanted to go to the picnic and see Kirsty again before she left since she won't be back in Africa for at least six months and maybe not for a year or so. We took a daladala to Tengeru and then walked along the road to Kirsty's house. Once there, Kezia spread out her Maasai blanket and we dug into the food we'd brought along. Unfortunately, we had such a good time relaxing and talking that even though I had my camera along I didn't take any pictures...pole (pronounced poe-lay, meaning sorry in Swahili).

But don't cry, I do have pictures of our adventure today! After our hike last week Kirsten said we should go to Majimoto (literally translated hot water, although the water is not hot but just a really nice, cool temperature), a spring about and hour and a half away from Usa River and off the main road into Maasai land. Kirsten and I exchanged texts during the week and we eventually decided that Sunday would work best for the majority of people who wanted to go. In addition to us ADRA/CoL people (Danielle, Kezia, Darren and I), six people from Pamoja Ministries (about 15 minutes from the ADRA campus) came along, too: Kirsten, Davin, Kim, Liz, Natasha and the Pamoja director's son, five-year-old Jacob. Here's the proof...enjoy!

A good branch for jumping in

Darren clearly enjoying his swim

Danielle and Kezia before getting wet

Lounging after a morning swim and a picnic lunch

Jacob waiting to get back in the water after lunch

Davin coming up for air after rope-swinging in

The locals came by for a dip in the afternoon

Watching the swimmers

Danielle, Kezia and I just before leaving

Other highlights:
- standing on large rocks near the edge to let small fish nibble the dead skin off our feet and lower legs while trying not to flinch from tickleishness
- rope-swinging and jumping from tree branches into the cool, clear water
- using goggles to see all the beautifulness beneath the surface
- teaching some of the others how to play Picto Gabs (Mad Gab but with pictures included) after lunch
- spotting a couple monitor lizards waddling along nearby
- passing up the starting-to-collapse, thatched-walls-around-a-hole-in-the-ground "toilet" in favour of using the great outdoors...good thing there were some bushes nearby ;)

Lowlight: (at least in my opinion)
- not spotting any crocodiles (We were told that they come to the spring at night, but we didn't stay long enough to find out if that's true... I guess it's probably a good thing, although I do want to see a real African crocodile in the wild before I leave here.)

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and really, really want to go back to Majimoto at least once or twice in our last few months in Tanzania (although, since it was quite a ways off the main road, it might be a bit of an adventure to find the hot springs again if Davin isn't along to lead the way...). I'll be sure to tell you all if we make it back again!