After the visit with the headmaster we went back to the nun's outdoor cafe for lunch. Eggs and potatoes and beer. From there we went for a hike; Joseph's favorite walk in the town About a two mile hike up the plateau to the top. He had told us about his hike up the plateau and further on to visit his friend in the peace corp - about a 25 km walk. I remember last fall asking him how come he didn't take his bicycle up to his friends. He explained that it was too steep. Well, we started walking, and it was pretty easy up past the Monks swimming hole and then it got steep. I was wearing a skirt (not my usual hiking outfit, but it's hot in Tanzania even in the middle of winter). On the way up, an African passed us carrying his bicycle. Joseph said to him in Swahili "I am sorry for your troubles", which is apparently a polite form of recognizing that others lives are not easy. As Ray and I neared the top of the plateau, the boys laughingly leaned over the last turn and told us that they had some m&m's to entice us to go further. When they were little, to get them to hike a little further we would dole out the m&m's which they would do anything for - the m&m's theory of the great outdoors.
When we got to the top of the plateau, Joseph told us that we were at the top, only dry barren Africa was beyond, and we should stop and take the view there. Ray, Daniel and Kyle continued to walk, Joseph and I stopped to take in the view. As we were sitting on some boulders, two women and a man came up the path, the women carrying baskets on their head, the man carrying two suitcases. The women were surpised to see two westerners at the top of the steep path, and stopped to talk. They were returning from their "wash day" in the river down in the town, and walking up the mountain with all of their clean cloths. Life is not easy in Africa!
