Mt. Kilimanjaro Marathon

Beautiful Mt. Kilimanjaro

Vervet Monkey!

This post is long delayed. At the end of February I visited Moshi, home of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is the world’s tallest free standing mountain and is comparable in height to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. I was a little disappointed flying into the Kilimanjaro airport (which is the nicest airport that I have seen thus far in this country, by the way) as it was a bit overcast and I could not spot the mountain. Driving into the hotel the bottom third of it became visible but the rest of it stayed hidden in the clouds. On arrival to the hotel I forgot about the mountain for a while.... the hotel was great! There was a well stocked bar, comfy lounge chairs and a nice pool. Even better than all that.... there were tortoises and monkeys! 

3 Little Tortoises :)

I was the first to arrive to the hotel, but I was meeting up with several other VSO volunteers and staff. The 2012 Kilimanjaro marathon was taking place over the weekend and a few volunteers were running the full or half marathon. The rest of us would be joining the 5km “fun run” and cheering on those who were doing the serious running. 

The VSO Kilimanjaro Marathon Team

Once the rest of my VSO family arrived, we lounged by the pool for a while before making our way into town to register for the marathon. Moshi not only has the cleanest airport that I have seen so far in this country, it also has the cleanest streets. Moments after I voiced this observation we found out why the streets were so clean. Fellow Canadian volunteer, Robert, tossed an inconsequential piece of rubbish on the side of the road as we climbed into the car. This is not something that Robert would normally do at home in Canada, but living for the past several months is Dar es Salaam has conditioned him to accept this sort of behaviour. Moments after the rubbish hit the ground there were 2 not so official men in shiny shirts flashing badges and pamphlets at Robert telling him that he would have to either give them 50,000 shillings (just under $30 CAD) as a fine for littering or he would have to go to the police station to explain himself. It was quickly decided that we would accompany Robert to the police station rather than pay these guys off. Upon learning that Robert was living in Dar es Salaam the gentlemen at the police station immediately understood the reason for his infraction and let him off with a warning, a smile and a handshake. 

Another Monkey.... With her Baby!

The Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania is known for their excellent coffee in addition to their beautiful mountain. So following our run in with the police we decided to enjoy some lunch and coffee at a place that is aptly, if not originally, called “The Coffee Shop”. I had a cappuccino and a bacon and avocado sandwich. Mmmmmmmm how I miss cappuccinos. I bought 2 kilos of coffee while in Moshi, and I have my French press here in the village, so I’m not deprived of good coffee..... but there certainly isn’t a Starbucks in the village so this was a real treat for me and I knew that I would be back at “The Coffee Shop” before leaving Moshi. 

The night before marathon day was a loud one. I was woken during the night constantly by the hotel’s resident dog who felt it necessary to bark almost without a break for at least 2 hours. When he finally finished barking I think I figured out what he was barking about as I was once again awoken by booming thunder and flashes of lightning. In my frustration at being woken I thought of those in the group who had to wake before me to do some actual running (the runners started quite a bit 

before the “fun runners”) and tossed them a little pity before going back to grumbling to myself about not being able to sleep.  After waking and having a small breakfast our fun run crew set out only to find that the bus that would be taking us to the starting line was stuck in the mud. We learned that earlier that morning the runners had to take the public dala dala to the race. While we certainly had good intentions, and we considered taking the dala dala ourselves, it didn’t work out that way. It turns out that the main street that we were standing on was right on the marathon route so we opted for grabbing a few cold beers and cheering on our VSO team of runners as they passed us and then, once the bus was out, just heading over to the stadium to greet them at the finish line.

As always, it was a great reunion with my VSO family filled with many drinks, shenanigans and laughs.

Miss you all,

V

Those of us who did not make it to the race.... and 2 guys who seemed happy that they were not the only ones in the bar at 8am