Tea Time!

One of the more popular activities of our trip grew to be tea time. It wasn't ever supposed to be an official thing, I think, but we got tea one afternoon in Bumbuli, and then people wanted it everyday. It really is a nice little tradition - tea in the afternoon.

Today for tea time, I'm going to post some pictures. I had some tea, too. Maybe you should go have some tea to sip while you look at the pictures!

This was the first picture I took in Africa:
It is Shanty Town Road, the road on which we stayed while we were in Moshi. It isn't a very exciting picture. Don't burn your tongue! You know... on the tea... the tea you're drinking for tea time? At least pretend to play along...

This is the Bed and Breakfast that we were staying in - the Kitolie House B&B. That is Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. It is the tallest mountain in Africa, and the only place where you'll find show. A lot of people climb it, as it isn't a very tough climb - three days up, two down. Though, for me, I'm thinking more like six days up, helicopter down.

Our first day in Moshi, my fearless companions and I set out to do some shopping. I like this picture for the painting in the background. It is a style of art popular in Eastern Africa, known as Tingatinga named after the artist from Mozambique who started the style.

After hanging in Moshi for a couple of days, we took a few hour bus ride to Bumbuli. I took a whole bunch of pictures slong the road. I'm trying to post one, but the computer is being difficult. Alrighty, that's enough of trying for that one. It wasn't a great pic anyway.


In Bumbuli, we met lots and lots of kids. They loved having their pictures taken, especially when they could see the pictures on the digital cameras. They would start swarming us saying "Picha! Picha!" and then hamming it up for the camera.

In Bumbuli, as in the two other villages we visited, we spent the first day doing "Triage." We'd visit many houses, and fill out questionnaires at each home, listing the residents and some of the living conditions. Then we'd find out if there was anyone who needed medical care. We'd take blood pressures, and leave the family with intake forms, outlining the medical problems. The patients would bring the intake forms to clinic the next day to be seen more thoroughly (presumably) by us with a supervising doctor.

We saw the patients in clinic in a building similar to the houses we'd been visiting - clay walls and dirt floors - in Bumbuli. In Rombo and Faraja, we were in larger, more open spaces (which was convenient as we had more patients in those places).

We had a pharmacy stocked with medicines relevant to the diseases we'd be seeing. (Including motorcycles...). Actually, in Rombo, we didn't have one very important medicine, which added to the chaos. This pic is from the pharmacy area in Faraja. I decided that on the last day, I just wanted to sort and count pills. It was fun.

(We did all sorts of things, and I took a gajillion pictures, but I'll skip to the safari days now, for the sake of brevity.)

At Lake Manyara, the baboons...

...and the elephants were my favorite.

At Ngorongoro Crater, it was all about the lions.

I'm sure your tea is cold now, so I'll stop there. I have a bunch-a-bunch more. And don't worry - I won't mind showing you ALL of them. Especially if there is tea involved.