Marangu Tour #2

We left CCS home base around 8:30 yesterday morning for Marangu. Although I did the tour with my own group Moses let me go again since I thought it would be fun. Our first stop was the giant Baobab tree. While Ibra told the group about the tree and its uses and while they took pictures I was searching for a secluded spot where I could pee. Just when I thought I found one, little kids came running down the hill excited to see the Mzungu's. So, I went and got Sara, our program manager, and she stood guard and made sure the kids stayed away while I did my business. In my quest to find some privacy I found myself in some pricker bushes and ended up with prickers all over, which were oh so much fun to pick off. So funny! Then we continued to Marangu. We stopped at the cave first. I went down again with Melissa since only one other girl in their group didn't chicken out. This tour guide didn't take us all the way to the back chambers of the cave which you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get to. I was happy I had gone before and our guide took us to the chambers because it was more fun crawling in such a small place to get to the little rooms and we saw so much more than this group did. The boys were more afraid than the girls of the giant spiders and bats that were hanging around. After the cave the group went to see the Chagga Live Museum and I helped Ibra get the lunches set up and hung out drinking a soda water at the resort until the group was done. After lunch we headed down to the waterfall. It started thundering on our way down, but we weren't sure if it was going to rain since it often thunders here but doesn't rain. We made it to the bottom and had enough time to take some great pictures before the rain came. We walked down farther away from the waterfall to the area where you can swim. Riley and Andy were the only two who swam (the water is so cold!) but we all sat on the rocks in the pouring rain watching them. It was so much fun, and the rain was so nice after having such hot days. It was the first good rain this group has seen here. I was happy I got to see the waterfall one day that was sunny and hot and one day that was raining. The rain looked so cool hitting the falls and the swimming pool. Eventually we headed back up to the top. On the way home we stopped at Unique Batik and I bought a quilted hand made blanket that I have wanted since the first time I saw it 5 weeks ago. It's beautiful! Totally worth the wait. We got home right before dinner and were so happy to find that Primo made a feast for us. By far the best dinner I've had here so far! He made kabobs with onions, peppers and beef on the grill, grilled chicken and pork, this amazing meat sauce, fresh hot garlic bread, rice, mixed vegetables, a fresh fruit salad, and a lettuce salad with fresh avocado (all the vegetables and fruits we eat are grown at the CCS home base), cucumbers and tomatoes. He also made fresh popcorn for an after dinner snack. It was amazing. We were pretty tired so after dinner we sat around, munched on popcorn and played cards.
Today it was nice to be back at school with my kids. We had one small incident involving blood which Living took care of since I was a little grossed out but overall the kids were in a very good mood. After lunch Melissa, Riley and I are heading to the Precision Air office where we reserved plane tickets to Zanzibar. We are going to pay and confirm. We will be going Friday, March 5th and returning Monday, March 8th (my sister's birthday!). So, we will have about 3 full days there. We are SO excited! That is my last full weekend here so it will be the perfect ending to my trip. I can't believe I only have a little over 3 weeks left, time is flying by!