This is by far the longest journey I have been on since I started traveling with Da Vinci Capers - 34 hours door-to-door. Feathers ruffled, but at least I don’t need the visa, shots or malaria pills. Tanzania, Africa, is our destination to experience the culture and to go on an animal safari – a trip to celebrate Mike’s 60th birthday.
We arrive in the evening. Traveling from the airport to the hotel, it is very dark and I have no sense of direction. People are walking everywhere along side the road. It’s a Saturday night. Where is everyone going? Many people are balancing things on their heads. Oh, my… someone is actually carrying their lit charcoal grill on their head! “Self-confidence,” that’s what I say.
Behind high stucco walls, we enter a gated hotel and grounds. It is not luxurious, but the beds are comfortable and the mosquito nets are charming until I recall the reason they exist! I place medical tape over holes bigger than a pencil point and place a towel over the faucet as a reminder not to drink the water – we are not in Italy! This is our first evening before we embark on our Tanzanian Adventure!
The next morning we head for a coffee plantation combination cheese-maker located north of Arusha on the slopes of Mount Meru. First, our hosts dress us in traditional garb and sing a welcome song. We pound coffee beans, taste cheese and sip coffee. Since they must see groups of tourists regularly, they were delighted to see moi – a chicken! In fact, the owner, Ismail Pallangyo, asked to take our picture together and send him a signed copy. I suddenly feel like a movie star!
My star status quickly deflates to ” Lucy works the wheel!” We drive a short distance to the Tremi Pottery Factory. (Factory may be too large of a word - Studio is more accurate.) Having created European architectural elements in the 90’s, I actually know a lot about design, materials, firing and finishing of clay sculpture. Once you have your eye lashes seared off from peering into a kiln, you are initiated into this club!
So I, chicken-artista, had a special appreciation for what the owner, Ndekirawa, was doing. He asked for a volunteer to “try the wheel”, a true hands-on experience. Being an aficionado of Da Vinci Capers, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity! It is here that I must confess - I always did hand-building and never worked on the potter’s wheel! But, I climbed up his jerry-rigged wheel (a bike seat with a wood cut-out disc to push with one foot). My legs are too short - my foot could barely touch the wood base; and the clay was so hard, my hand could not puncture the center to start a shape. Ndekirawa came to my rescue… But, it looked so easy!
We finished the day with a trip to the tanzanite center in downtown Arusha to learn about this brilliant blue gem only found in Tanzania. Tanzanite is a precious gem with three colors depending how you hold it to the light: deep blue, purple and red. It’s Mike’s birthday, but he bought me a beautiful “cushion-shaped” gem in perfect form. I love birthdays!
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| Tanzania Trip – March 2009 |
Coffee Plantation & Pottery Experience Photo Album
Tags: Arusha, coffee making, pottery, tanzanite
