Goodbyes and 5 star hotel

 Pool at the Meru

 

View out of my room

Well yesterday we all said our goodbyes and it took a while. We have been a family for a month.

I am using my phone to do this and I am not sure how the pictures will flow. We flew to Arusha today and got our first sense of the dry plains we will be seeing. Not much recent rain and this is the rainy season.

The hotel is very nice- hotel Meru. Infinity pool and golf course. I laid in the sun. A few others went in the pool. Tomorrow at 9am we head out on the safari.





Sent from Lotus Traveler

Last supper in Morogoro

We just finished dinner at the hotel .  It is our last night in Morogoro and we head back to Dar es Salaam.
Most of the blogging has not been about work.  Just so you know, we did work hard and we are done with the report and presentations.  We present on Thursday for the final, and then a short overview on Friday at a farewell party.  This link has photos of us at work - probably not too exciting for you guys.
https://plus.google.com/photos/106213495653851467641/albums/5716815757262018289?banner=pwa&authkey=CPa0s8GK8onA_AE 

And we traded photos over the last two days.  Forty Gigabytes of photos.  For those of you not too technical types, that is a bunch of pictures.

This is a view of everyone cranking on the final reports.  My spot is the empty one.  Sonja is doing her blog. Ashish has just told us " It's done, just two more hours" for the 10th time in a row."

Ilona, Petra, Pearl, Johnathan, and Shaun  all working -  and still working as I write this.  Down to the wire.

And this is what we will miss.  When we eat lunch, this is the view.

Saturday - work day and shopping

Worked the morning, then went to downtown Morogoro.

The whole place is one huge market, selling everything and anything including new and used.

It was very competitive - trying to get the best pictures of the most massive things you can carry on your head.  Ian would stop people and get them to pose for him - some would , some got irritated.  Mine are all natural and discrete.

The fruit and vegetables are amazing.  and they are everywhere.  You are always afraid you are going to step on someones livelihood. 

 What are these?

 And this ??

 and more

 And moving a tire

 Negotiating the deal

And you never know what might come driving by.  yes... actually driving, not parked.

 Corn on the cob on the sidewalk, on the grill. 

I loved this and asked permission to take this picture.  Old Singer sewing machines which are foot powered by pressing with your foot on the plate near the ground. 

 

 Christie, Ashish, Petra, Sonja and Ian all shopping endlessly for Kangas - a traditional African wrap that women wear. 

 

Many choices for Kangas.

 

Carrying a bit of firewood - on where else?

Uluguru Mountain Hike

Saturday. 
  Aldrey from Brazil arranged our hike and Charles and his brother ( his name is pronounced Doe Tow - with long O's ) were the guides.  Doe Tow means Twin, and he was a twin with his sister.  Interesting thing is that I just took a picture of one of the Hotel's restaurant workers and her first name is exactly the same.  She is also a twin.
 

We boarded the bus at 8am and stopped at a small grocery in Morogoro to load up on lunch or better said, some junk food, and of course water.  1500 ml of water,  about a quart and a half. 

Half hour later we are at the foot and start walking.  For 20 minutes it is sort of a dirt road, then it turns more and more into a real hike with some steep sections.  It had rained last night so you could almost always hear water running down down the mountain in streams and lots of waterfalls.  Mostly it was shady from the trees and it was a nice hike.  Not as hot as I thought it would be.  We were sweaty and panting at times from the effort, but there were times to rest.  Charles only had to grab me twice to keep me from falling in the water.   I stayed away from Sonja as she has been keeping track of my missteps, especially at host locations.  It was a daily occurrence for awhile.  Some buildings have steps that are not equal in height - it is not my fault.

 Ok, back to the hike ,  in random order

Some not quite ripe bananas . 

This plant is called the Don't Close plant..   If you touch the leaves, they kind of wilt down.  It is weird.  

Maria in front of a school house that was part way up the mountain.

 Maria beside the blackboard that is full of pockmarks.  They could use a new one.

 Ian checking out the desks.    Bars on the windows, but no screens.

 Incredible views, but what is impressive is that the steep slope you are looking at is being farmed.  All by hand.   Using your standard garden shovel and a hoe. 

 And some trees are truly immense as this comparison with Aldrey shows

A very cool waterfall.

 And this was very interesting.  Notice in the rear, that they have carved away the ground. And then they have fashioned bricks.  Many buildings are made with these red bricks. 

 At a house some kids came out to see us.  I only have a few Smartie candie packs left so I took out one and asked the kids to share.  Well the guide did and as with all kids, he had to say it a few times.  They loved it. 

 Another view.  Off in the far distance is the city.  On the right is a house on the hill

 Sonja and Maria following three ladies up the trail.  Notice the head gear. 

And these  are guava

Bananas on the tree and the thing hanging down is the start of another bunch

 

 Passion fruit juice is very good.  Tart and refreshing.  They make it fresh here sometimes at the hotel.  Charles bought us some of the actual fruit and cut it in half.  You eat the orange pulpy stuff inside and wow it is really tart.  I like tart drinks, like lemonade, but this stuff is way beyond that and definitely needs sugar to be added. 

 We laid around on this big rock area that overlooked the valley into Morogoro.  Goat poop was ever present. 

Ian and Aldrey walked into the waterfall.  You can imagine how cold that was.  

 Charles with his harem of girls.  Petra, Sonja and Christie.

We found this snail beside the trail up on top of a plant.  Little fuzzy in the picture, but you get the idea. This guy is a little bigger than your fist.

Petra takes the plunge down while Charles thinks we are bunch of pansies.  

Christie is being helped by Charles across a little river full of slick rocks with mud on them. As you can tell by the line, the ground getting down to here was steep and had little to no hand holds.  

And this picture proves that even at the highest point on our hike that you never lack an opportunity to shop for the latest in paintings or other local goods.  

On the way down and back to the bus to take us home from the hike.

And back at the hotel.  This is where we eat dinner and lunch while at the hotel.  And the board room to the right (door near the TV) is where we work.

And our hostess at the hotel all dressed up in her Massai wear.  A very beautiful woman.  

Sokoine

On Thursday we went to present at Sokoine University.  We used the same format as yesterday but added some context for an agriculture oriented school.  The room was quite different with lots of tables.  The funny thing was that the IBM team had gathered on one side of the room ...

 

... and almost all the students sat on the other side.  At first it looked like a totally segregated room and I was feeling uncomfortable about it and tried to get some students to spread around, but that was not successful.  

 

And I have the luncheon photos from Mzumbe University with Mr Musabila  the day prior.  

 

Ashish, Sonja, Mr Musabila and Philip.  The guy in the background is serving. 

And so today, the hotel staff came to me and asked if I could move to another room.  That would be number four at the Arc Hotel here.  They wanted me out of the Presidential Suite.  I think there was some government officials coming.  I was reluctant, but really had no choice.  They moved my stuff including the 10,000 Shilling tip I had left under the edge of my pillow. - Looks like I cannot even give away a tip. 

On Saturday, we are going on a 5 hour hike in the mountains.  Imagine hiking in 85 degree weather with 90 plus percent humidity with the sun directly overhead (remember we are at the equator).  So if I don't blog next week, you will know why.   

And just now I found out that the Internet is down.  We think we have maxed out our usage for the month.  That will be a problem as I will not be able to save what I am typing right now. 

 Ah  . . .  but three hours later, we are back up and able to save and publish. 

Muzumbe

We went as a group to Muzumbe University yesterday to present to their students and staff.  About 120 people attended which is great, because last year only 10 were present.  We talked about 14 different software applications that help IBMers work in a global environment.  Each was done by a different speaker who introduced their country and then the application.  It went well and the best thing was four ladies who came up afterwards and talked to me about careers at IBM.  They were all in the information technology program. 

Mr. Musabila invited us to Lunch and I got to sit right in front of the air conditioner which was much appreciated after leading the session and running up and down the stairs of the lecture hall to hand the microphone to students who wanted to ask a question.   When you get warm here, it takes a long time to cool down.

Other random stuff. 
 - all power outlets here have a switch beside them.  I am sure there is a reason as I have seen this in other countries, but it is as though someone thinks that electric power will sneak out if the outlet is not turned off.  You have to remember to hit the switch or your phone will not be charged in the morning. 

- My room suite is great and the air conditioning is helping me get a good night sleep.  My living room which is separate has a nice couch, but the air turns off on some timer that nobody can figure out.  The manager came up yesterday and he did not even know how it works.  He found the instruction manual later in the day and left it under the remote.  After trying to use the manual I realized that it was a manual for some other remote, not the one I had.  

- My laundry did not show up yesterday and I am in desperate need.  My team kicked me off our table yesterday until I changed my shirt.  That was a little embarrassing, but we are constantly changing from casual to suits and it is hard to keep track of what has not been washed, what has and how long ago.  I need my wife Kim  here!

Off to Sokoine University.

Still more random stuff

At the Arc Hotel in Morogoro they rotate flags of the guests and today (well last week some time, they had ours.  I didn't notice until about 11PM. 

This is the gang at the ferry for going to Zanzibar.   But let's back up a bit,  We drove from Morogorow in 3 and half hours to Dar es Salaam.  The bus hurdled through the night with only five or six times when we thought death was imminent.  More on an example later - well ok now.    This is picture snapped as we drove by a truck that had rolled on its side on the highway.   We were not sure how until today.  When driving back to Morogorow our driver continued to make scary passes on the two way highway.  He crept up behind the truck ahead, with a few feet to spare.  In several cases it was a petroleum truck, with Highly Flammable warning signs and then would sharply turn and move to go around, but it seemed like it was better for him to do this on upward hills, rather than downward. Right, I don't get it either.  Well one time, the truck ahead had to slam on the brakes, so our bus slammed on his brakes, and the truck behind us had to swerve to avoid crashing into the back of us.  he ended up slammed into the dirt hill beside the road and our driver continued on as though nothing had happened.  So the truck below probably had a similar issue.



  After arriving, we thought we thought we had time to go to Precision Air and buy our return tickets from Zanzibar.  We would have bought them online, but their website was not operating.  We walked to the office, about 5 blocks away.  We bought the 10 tickets as a block and had a price, but the price now was 20% more which we refused to pay and they reduced it eventually.  In return, they gave us the wrong time for return even though we wrote down exactly what we wanted and indicated we were getting it.   Time was running short so most of us headed back to the bus and two remained to finish the process.  We waited and waited; the ferry was leaving at 9:30 and we had 20 minutes and we still were not exactly sure how far we had to go.  finally, they showed up after sprinting to the bus.  The bus moved forward through a crowd, hopefully without too many being run over.  Truly unbelievable how these buses move.  Then we were at the entrance and a set of porters helped us unload and took our luggage about 50 yards to the loading deck.  Then they wanted payment although we had not asked and they wanted 60,000 Shillings  - about $36.  So we have 5 minutes to get on and they want this money and we refuse and basically Ian handed them about $10 and we assertively moved away.    Notice that Maria is ready for the beach on Zanzibar,  She is wearing jeans, long sleeve shirt and scarf.  Gets pretty cold in that searing sun. 

 Last Friday, we went to an orphanage.   Mission to the Homeless Children, 10 kilometers from Morogoro.  This is Robert Simba, the Executive Director.  These guys are great. They have about 52 children from very young to a few that are going to college.  So they really do take care of them.  If you wanted to donate to them I can assure you that the money would be well spent.
Mission to the Homeless Children  
email homelessorg@yahoo.com

 The kids sang for us and we gave away paper, pens, pencils, and a variety of other gifts.  We played football (soccer) with them and while our 5 person team had to leave before lunch, the rest stayed until late in the day.  Everyone had fun.  When I took out my Starburst candy, it was a swarm.  I started a keep away soccer game with the kids and they ran me ragged.  I had brought a big map of the world and I took it out and spread it out and then I would point to myself and show where I lived, then pointed at them and asked where they lived.  Then we would say a country and it was a hunt to find that country.  It was very fun for all.

I have drank a lot of juice here.  Most is fresh, some comes in packs.  All of it is very good and rich. 

Last week we finally got out to another restaurant and they came and let us wash our hands at the table, both before and after dinner. 

Agusto check out the Chiles.  The red was nice and hot.  Then he tried the green one, and it was a bit much for him.  He said it was the hottest ever!   He was standing up and walking around.  

 We ordered a bunch of food on  platters and shared.  It was great. Tusker on the right is a Tanzanian beer.

At one of our hosts - Muslim University.  A private university started to help the Muslim community to have a better opportunity to get into universities.  Facility used to be for a telecom company.  They have lots of space and they have a communications center with their own radio station.  The day we were on site the power went out in Morogorow and they took us into very dark rooms, booted up their system on backup power and started broadcasting on their FM station.  The only light was from my phone and the computer. 

Class was out this week on break.  Here is a view of desks.

Muslim University is building a new building.  Nothing like digging your foundation by hand.

Now we go back in history to Mekumi National Park where I forgot to tell you that Philip (our CSC man on the street), continues to find ways to supplement his income.