here i am

We're in Arusha, northern Tanzania at the foot of Mt. Meru. It's cooler here. The drive from Dar es Salaam passed incredibly steep mountains and wide plains with cinder cones in the distance. Outside Moshi, the horizon becomes one big mountain: Kilimanjaro. I think I spy the summit which is about twice as tall as anything nearby. It's wreathed in clouds. Then I look to the side and realize that higher still is the actual summit: just a small patch of snow looming above the clouds. It's impossibly tall - mind-blowingly large. Big.

This afternoon, we were walking on the dirt at the side of the road that constitutes the sidewalk. It's dusty, the sky was looming rain and minivans full full full of people rushed by competing with bikes, pedestrians, cars, trucks and buses for the tarmac. Ahead of me, I saw an African woman in a colorful kanga (wrap) - it's yellow, red and black print. She had a matching piece wrapped around her head. On her back was slung a small child with big black eyes staring out at the world. I stepped around her and looked up to see a tall Masai tribesman walk by in colorful purple and red robes. Then my field of vision jumps further out to the dusty road and the loud cars and the thronging people and the crappy shacks that pass for stores and I realize: I am in Africa.

Tomorrow we go on an 8 day safari. I cannot wait to see zebras and lions and leopards.