Lock Stock and two smoking trangia's.

Hey up, this is my first blog form Tanzania, im accompanied by Kerry. Serri and Niel are currently having a 'tet ar tet' outside the hardware store in Iringa, meanwhile Phil has gone to get us some wood.

We are currently on our project phase at a campside near iringa called 'Riverside' and its bloomin marvelous. The showers are good, the long drop toilet is good. Although emphasis on long drop is henchley required.

Today is our first full day in Iringa and myself, Kerry, Serri, Phil and Niel went to check out the school we are building for. We survayed the environment like eagles stalking their pray and came to the conclusion that a lot of work was needed. This work (at aid of the local village folk and carpinter Niel) begins tommorow where the camp owner will shuttle us to and from the school as our working day begins and ends. However our budget somewhat restricted the materials we can obtain, so 1940's style we Made did and mended. We barterd so hard that our throats are sodden with guilt, but we managed to obtain the fundage needed to finish the jordies structure and also build our roof. (the roof is now made of blue tarporlin, not corrgiated iron due to the lack of funds, but a roof is better than none).

The current food situation is on the up, although Rahul gave us a list of food to buy which consisted of tinned hotdogs and asparagus soup, which the locals found somewhat amusing. On the other hand we did manage to purchase Kelloggs two spoon that went out of date on the 7th of july, but like a good cognac, it only gets better with age; and by the time they read this they will be ridden with the plauge.

Camp life is goooooooood. Dan, expert woodsman and Phil cunning craftsman, have constructed many a fire in our experiences of camping. Last night we were treated to burgers and fries as we arrived late in Iringa which was a welcome to surpise to us all, we have also got our fiendish fingers on a tub of nutella which Megan somehow aquired.

Kerry: "We have eaten so many biscuits that there is sure to be a biscuit famine, like the potato one in Ireland. We will return to our current coordinates in ten years time to find but only a museum dedicated to The Biscuit Famine of 2010. A hard year for us all."

Wise words.


So we finished our acclimatisation the other day and although we did not reach the peak we still managed to get higher than Snowdon. This gave everyone a cool sense of achievement which can be only described as sweat. We made record time on the downward, this was probably because we were going down, or the fact that we had our biggest breakfast yet; A potato, a slice of bread, and traditional Tanzanian Simba Tea. We were muchly impressed. The tea leaves that were left purposefully into the drink really added a new dimension to tea drinking for us all. Also we made friends with the guides, especially Dayo. He has a special place in all our hearts and many of us formated songs praising this ethereal entity that glided before us wielding an AK-47.

Songs such as:
Day'o Night.
Dayo Dayayayay O
D...D...D...Dayo, eats lots of mayo... etc.

kept us trekking to a sturdy beat.

a quote that will always stay with me and Kez is one from Ben. A child that wouldn't say boo to a goose and is now a large fan of washing up. The quote goes:

"I knew we came to experience africa. I did not know we came to experience Famine."

Classic.

And on that note we will depart, we are all safe and having a great time, dont worry and dont miss us too much, you'll hate us when we get home.

Asanti Sana.

Ciao for Niao, Andrew and Kerry.


That be all, see you all soon!