Rats, Mountains, and America

13-8-2010

I am glad to announce that my bat problem resolved itself several months ago, but they, unfortunately, were replaced by rats. At first I thought it was just one, and I would see it only occasionally. But then, the week before I was leaving for the world cup, I watched like 6 of them march across my rafters. Since my house was a duplex, they were in my neighbors house too and they put down rat poison while I was gone. The moment I opened the door upon my arrival, it was apparent that the poison had been effective, since I was greeted with the overwhelming odor of dead rats, which was made even worse by the fact that I squished a dead one with the door when I entered. I searched the house, and was only able to find one other, and after they were disposed off, the smell seemed to be mostly gone, so I assumed I had found them all. I had to leave the next day though, for another week or two. When I returned from that short trip though, I found a third one in my basin of clean dishes that I had washed before leaving for South Africa. I discovered it when I took out my french press and noticed that it had the distinct odor of dead rat, and when I emptied the basin, I found the rat.

Enough about rats though. A week ago we hiked my mountain again, successfully reaching the peak this time. It was a smaller group who went, two other volunteers and a couple students and teachers. We climbed it from the side of the mountain that I live on, which takes less time, but is way steeper than climbing from the Katesh side. We reached the peak around 1, and my name will be forever emblazoned in pink paint on a rock at the top. The descent though, was way trickier. We somehow got on the wrong trail, and as a result, instead of zigzagging our way down the mountain, pretty much just slid strait down the side. We literally had to climb down vines or slide down long stretches of super loose dirt. We eventually made it though, thankfully just before it got dark. It was still a good day though, but my feet and legs were sore for a week.

And now, America. For those of you who haven't heard, I am now back in America. I decided to end my service early, and arrived home at like 10 last night. I loved the time I spent in Tanzania and will remember it forever, and I also made several friends that I know I'll be close with for life. So thank you all for reading and for putting up with long gaps between posts. I hope to see everyone soon. Kwa Herini!