Random stuff

Here is a link to my pictures.  I've posted about 150 pictures from Mt Meru & Kilimanjaro and another 100 from the safari.

Kilimanjaro = http://doubledmountainrunner.shutterfly.com/4837

Meru = http://doubledmountainrunner.shutterfly.com/4607

Safari = http://doubledmountainrunner.shutterfly.com/4750

Random notes – caution some questionable content and pictures!

Half of the fun (maybe more?) of the trip to Tanzania was having a lot of laughs with our group.  With 6 hours of hiking each day and meals, not to mention tight quarters, we had plenty of time to bond.  There were a lot of inside jokes and hi-jinks throughout the trip.  Here are a few of the memorable things that I thought were funny, of course my brain may have been fried by the altitude.

50/50 chance – EVERYTHING had a 50/50 chance, as in “Do you think it will rain?” to which the reply would always be “50/50 chance”.  There were only two outcomes, it either would or would not happen…hence a 50/50 chance.

With all due respect – The old joke is that any time you start a sentence with “With all due respect” you are essentially saying “You are not due any respect and what you are saying is stupid”.  So someone would say “With all due respect, you sir are an idiot”.  It never failed to crack me up.  Often times it was made stronger by suggesting that the person should go “shit in your hat”.

Fish melon – One of the many food items we could not identify.  Pretty sure it was in the melon family but it had a weird fishy smell.  You had to be pretty brave to try the fish melon.

1 to 9 hours – Everything takes from 1 to 9 hours.  Example: “How long will the hike take?” the answer is ALWAYS 1 to 9 hours.  “How long will the 50 mile drive take?” again, 1 to 9 hours.

Yes (or yes please) – Any question is invariably answered with “Yes” or “Yes, please”…even if it isn’t a yes or no question.  Example: “How much does this cost?”…”yes”

Jelly, peppers, cold chicken – of all of the weird things I ate on the trip, this was probably the most unusual.  I mixed together a Jelly (or was it Jam) and peppers sandwich with a hunk of cold chicken and came up with a very tasty lunch.  Lunches could become monotonous as we got the same food every day.

Fresh baked muffins – food was often a topic of discussion.  Every lunch had a small muffin that was invariably very stale.  The joke was something like “Oh, fresh baked muffins!  Fresh baked a month ago.”.

African Pizza – A great surprise, I ordered the African Pizza at the Weru Weru lodge and it was especially tasty.  African = pineapple & banana, not something I’d normally get but it was great, just the right mix of different sweetness from both.  Yummy!

That's what she said – used extensively to make even the most innocent expression into something dirty.  Example:  “My hands are sore from gripping the poles all day”….”That’s what she said”.

½ of ½ - Robert swore that any time we paid more than ½ of ½ of the listed price for anything we were paying too much.  The goal was to negotiate everything down as low as possible, I had fun trying to get the best deal possible.

"The special you gave me last time" – A negotiating tool, ask for the special you got last time you were there or the “normal” discount…despite the fact you’d never been there before.

The small 5 – Sort of the opposite of the “big 5”(Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard) that everyone wants to see in Africa.  The small five (as best I can remember) were: Dog, Cat, mouse, goat, and cow.

Simba/Pumba – Our guide on Meru kept offering encouragement during the climb and would say “You have the heart of Simba”, I added on “but smell like Pumba”.  Heart of Simba, smell of Pumba became our credo.

Even Action Dave got sick!