Some work, some play

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Our late night of stargazing made us want to sleep in this morning but the flow of people heading for church on the road outside our camp made us wake up anyway.  We decided to skip church today so that we could finish the painting at the school near us.  The next few days might be hectic on the fence job so we had to be sure that the schoolhouse didn’t lose our attention completely. 

We managed to take a leisurely start to the day but still got up to the schoolhouse and finished the painting as well as we could with the materials we have available.  We ran out of some of our paint colors and we also need to sand some splotches off of the concrete floor.  Still, the place looks bright and lively and ready for learning.  Thomas, the owner of our camp, sent someone over to replace the hardware on all of the windows and doors and to install glass in the barred window.  Collectively, these are all big improvements that should help the school to function again soon. 

We went back to camp for lunch, then made our way back to Simon’s house for some more swimming adventures, including jumping off of waterfalls other than the one we did last week.  It was a blast.  Simon brought his adorable son Aidan (?) along and we were also joined by some adventurers staying at Simon’s farm who are about to start the hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

Simon’s property adjoins five absolutely stunning waterfalls with accompanying swimming holes.  We revisited the one where we jumped/swam last week, then went upstream for another really impressive one and downstream for three more.  Simon knows the area so well that he can tell us every detail about how to operate safely in the swimming holes.  Lucky, lucky us!

Tonight we hooked up our borrowed projector and watched our own completed videos (all of which we are still diligently trying to post – please keep checking back as we fill in photos and videos).  We also watched a dvd that covers Simon’s expedition agency, who will be our guides on our upcoming safari.  The stars of the African night sky still beat any multimedia work that we or anyone else can produce but we were happy to gather in our lawn and review some of the events of our recent days. 

We hope you enjoy them too.  Please click back every once in awhile to see what you’ve missed!

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   Alec dancing to the drums
  
  
  
   An Avocado tree at Simon's farm
  
  
  
   Simon's coffee
  
  
  
   We finished painting the school!
  
  
  
   Wilson showed us how to grind coffee beans