After the visit to Arusha I had a little time before dinner. So, I decided to take a little walk on the trail inside the plantation compound. The trail is about 2 k and goes up a good sized hill at the back of the compound. I had walked the trail earlier in the day on the advice of one of the Lodge workers. They had said if the clouds were clear that I could see Kilimanjaro. It had been a long running dream of mine to someday see and climb to the top of Kilimanjaro. This after all was the original intent of my trip to Tanzania. But since my doctor would not clear me to make the climb to over 19,000 feet because my minor life-long heart murmur, I had to settle for just seeing the white topped giant of Africa. Luck was with me this afternoon. The clouds had cleared exposing the only snow covered mountain peak on the equator. I guessed that we were about 50 miles away. Too far away to take a good picture. So I just sat there and enjoyed the view for a while. Even though the rainy season was coming to an end, it seemed to be cloudy most of the day. Well, time to get ready for dinner. I had already had two fabulous meals and could not wait to see what dinner would bring.

It is 6:43 now and it is completely dark out now. On June 2 at home in Kansas City, the sun would not set until nearly 9:00pm. This seemed strange to me that it would be dark before 7:00. It turns out that the sun sets and rises change only a few seconds a day at the equator. Sunrise is about 6:40 every morning and sunset about 6:20. We have just over 12 hours of visible sunlight each day here.

Before leaving for Tanzania, my wife got me well supplied with quick wash and dry clothes. Clothes that can be hand washed in the sink that will dry quickly. Last night I washed a couple shirts that I wore on the plane so that I could be sure to have enough shirts to last for several more days. However, it is so humid and cool here that the shirts I washed have not yet dried. It sounded like a good idea but so far does not seem to work.

DINNER

Another fabulous meal on the veranda of the Lodge. The salad was fresh from the plantation garden and was great. I was served a bowl of potato-leek soup that was just awesome. I have to admit that I would probably never order that at home myself. So already in two meals I have eaten pumpkin soup and potato-leek soup and spiced up my life just by being in Africa. The main entrée was an excellent spring chicken. I believe the chicken was raised right in the village. This meal was toped off with a chocolate banana brownie. I am told there are around 40 varieties of bananas grown around this are. Bananas as I am finding out are a major food staple here. Oh, and I had my first African beer with dinner. It was called Kilimanjaro Premium Lager. It is an amazingly good crisp fresh beer. I’ll have to look for it at home.