Day 4- Day off

Updates:

I got a cell phone today so if you want to call me the phone number is +2550788797218

Also if you want more info there is another blog at www.troyaintanzania.blogspot.com

Today was our first day off from the orphanage. In the morning I was convinced to go on a run through the local neighborhood. It was good training for Kilimanjaro and besides a beautiful sunrise we were followed by all of the local kids. After that we had some of the staff at the residence give a tour of the near-by jungle. Its was about a 30 minute walk through farms and rice paddies until we arrived in the thick rain forest. There was a lot of different kinds of birds and other wildlife. After hiking for sometime we found what we were looking for. It was a large group of Caribus Monkeys that were jumping from tree to tree. They look very cool with their huge black and white tails and have the ability to jump huge distances. We continued hiking deeper and among some other interesting finds we saw a tree over 200 years old and bigger than a redwood it was over 100 feet tall and more than 15 feet in diameter.

After the hike we went into town and did some shopping both for us and for the orphanage. It is low season in Moshi so the street vendors are desperate to sell things so we were immediately bombarded by people selling and bargaining. We made a few purchases of our own and then bought school and cleaning supplies for the orphanage. We continued to wander the town and ended up getting lost very lost but we met some cool people in the process. Some of the school kids try to befriend us and get our email addresses with hopes that we will stay in touch and maybe one day bring them to America, you feel like a celebrity here with all of the attention.

We ended our excursion at an amazing leather factory that employs handicapped people. We met the owner and got a tour and history of the place all the way back to the 60's when the socialist government tried to nationalize his business. Overall a fun day in Moshi.