Nuns and View

On the third day of hiking (or fourth, since we had already hiked on the first day), the guide was impressed by our hiking skills and kept saying, 'Wow, you Swiss mountain people are fit - very very fit.' The fact that we took fewer breaks than the average tourists also meant that we usually arrived at our destination by noon. On this day, it was a Catholic monastery that offered emergency accommodations. These were very basic: showers were either ice cold or with a bucket of water and a ladle ('African shower'). The mosquito nets were too small for the beds and full of holes, but according to the locals, it didn't matter because there is no malaria from mosquitoes here. There was no electricity. We spent the afternoon watching the nuns and discussing with the guide. The former was particularly interesting because the nuns were all surprisingly young. It felt more like an American high school. Their attire was also amusing: they wore Adidas jackets or hoodies over their traditional nun outfits. The monastery also had beer, which led to our guide revealing his opinions about God and the world. These opinions were a funny mix of educated views and traditional ideas. For example, he advocated for vaccinations, but believed that a sudden hearing loss could only be cured with chicken oil or sheep oil. He also believed that religions are nonsense because everything that is told is made up. At the same time, he feeds the good spirits in his home. His views on world politics were also different from ours: according to him, Gaddafi and Idi Amin were heroes who helped Africa become wealthy and were only hated by Westerners for that reason. We occasionally asked critical questions, but mostly accepted his views silently since we can't change them anyway. Through the conversations with him, we learned a lot about the local culture, the views of the locals, and their customs. He also enjoyed spending time with us, especially since we constantly provided him with beer, cigarettes, blister plasters, and magnesium. Näthu even bought tobacco from a local family. However, it's not particularly good to smoke because it is still too moist and coarse.

After a night at the monastery, we set off for the last day of hiking. We only had about 15km left of the 70km long route, and time passed quickly even though our legs were getting tired. Of course, waving children and many chameleons were part of the journey as well. After lunch with a family, we were able to visit the pottery shop in the village, where we bought pottery. We'll see how we'll transport it. The decision to buy dishes was very clever, especially considering that we will have to deal with a weight limit of 20kg again on tomorrow's flight - but it doesn't matter.

A little later, we finally arrived at our destination: a beautiful cottage at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level. The view stretches all the way to Mount Kilimanjaro, which compensates for the cold and strong wind - although not entirely. The offer to leave earlier to spend an additional day in Tanga ultimately did not work out. When we told the guide about this wish four days ago, he said it was no problem, we didn't have to decide right away, but could spontaneously decide on the last day. When we expressed the same wish again on the last day, it was 'too short notice.' Well, with a campfire in the evening, a sleeping bag, and a thick blanket, it's quite comfortable to stay here. The principle applies again to the cottage: wow at first sight, but not so great on closer inspection. The floor is full of dirt, the mosquito nets are too small for the bed size, the mattresses are worn out, the common room looks like a psychiatric ward from the 1920s, and the shower has hot water, but the water heater only allows you to shower either very cold or very hot. So you can choose between an icy shower or a third-degree burn. But none of this bothers us at all. We have solved the shower problem by showering with one hand. With one hand on the water heater, we can turn it off and on every two seconds, so we can still generate something like lukewarm water.

Tomorrow we are flying to Zanzibar. We are looking forward to the warm temperatures.