Saturday, March 2 Arusha, Coffee and Shopping

 Saturday, March 2

We can sleep in this morning as we don't leave till 9:15!  But everyone is used to getting up early.

We have passed many partially built houses.  Adam says that some people add what they can each year and it may take up to 10 years to complete a house.  They usually will complete and live in one room while continuing to build.

We go by many farms and continue to see quite a few young children as shepherds.  Schooling is mandatory, but not enforced. Greg says he has seen only a few girls/women in this role.

We arrive at Shanga foundation in Arusha, where handicapped people work on recycling and crafts.  They collect glass from hotels, lodges, etc., separate it by color and recycle it into glasses, sculptures, vases, etc.  The handicapped are often shunned, so this is a very worthwhile facility.  Too bad we can't carry glass in our duffle bags!

The glass blower here is deaf and his assistant is mute. They have their own signage to communicate and work together. 

 There are people doing beadwork, weaving, sewing and other crafts too.

From here we go to Arusha Coffee Lodge for a lovely lunch

 It begins to rain, but we are under cover.  But our tour of the coffee farm is truncated into a pleasant talk about coffee, coffee roasting and sampling coffee. 

 There are quite a lot of fields of plants, which take 8 months to produce ripened beans.  Beans are hand picked, shelled and roasted, then ground into coarse, medium or fine ground.  

From here we go to a Culture Heritage stop, which is really just another large shopping opportunity. But a nice one, without pressure. There is a gallery attached, with some high end carvings, tanzanite and other items.  We are welcomed with music. 

There is a Jane Goodall museum scheduled to open in the Fall, but nothing now except a few photos.  Notice the nice kicks on this gentleman!

Another stop was at this location, where we bought a giraffe carving and some beaded coasters.  I've lost track of when - earlier in the day washroom stop I believe...

Tonight we stay at Kahawa House which has excellent rooms.  Our farewell dinner is another buffet, quite nice .  Did I mention that beer and wine are served with most every dinner?  Now that we are back near civilization there is no more mosquito netting.   Someone passes a sheet to get everyone's email addresses, which is then shared.  Some photos are shared, too. Some very nice people on this trip! 

Tomorrow we will cross back into Kenya and say goodbye to George.    It seems that most all flights  leaving for Europe and the US leave late at night.  Ours will be 11:20PM but we have a day room at a hotel near the Nairobi airport and a shuttle to the terminals.