day eight was an exciting, bit scary, interesting, picturesque, educational, fun-filled day — taking us from mkuzu creek to mashewa via some uphill and lots of downhill riding.
WARNING: if you are an animal lover or your children are around your computer, you might not want to proceed past the goat photo below.
leaving mkuzu creek resort, it was cloudy and drizzling, but so beautiful.
a break at one of the villages.
the boys were so interested in the changing of the flat tire.
i learned that a hotel in TZ is not the same as a hotel in america.
so often, the children carry the babies.
barry celebrated his 50th.
i think i’m going to hang this in the entryway of my house.
we had lunch at this village. and this group of kids stayed very shy and stand offish the entire time.
this amazing group of children sang to us, for quite a while. i took some video, which i’m hoping to share later (still need to download it off another drive). i can’t even begin to describe how beautiful their voices were.
playing with one of the balls we left them, as we departed.
poor simon!! a cow, crossing the path, ran right into simon, knocking him hard to the ground. thankfully, he wasn’t seriously injured, but he did hit his head and the doc watched him closely. he ended up riding in the truck with me for the following two days.
heading into mashewa.
barry’s first surprise.
we headed into the nearby village of mashewa to shop for food, to accompany our main dish.
marc stopped to play football with the kids for a bit.
maji is water, which this village obtained in 1972.
in TZ, they burn their garbage pretty much anywhere.
three of the riders decided to get their heads shaved.
THE goat!
the goat, which ended up being our dinner. he was killed by the village elder / councilman (isa). it was super quick and humane — as humane as killing a goat can get.
and last but not least, barry’s 50h birthday celebration. he had no idea this was coming and it was such a wonderful surprise. once i knew the cake was coming, i told the group that i wanted to see if i could take some photos in the dark with some of their head lamps on. 
i can’t imagine a more incredible way to celebrate a 50th birthday!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I wanted to join the Peace Corp when I was younger and live in Africa, so I am really enjoying living out my photography/traveling dreams vicariously through you. Your images are breathtaking, thought provoking, and tell a great story of your experiences. Thanks for the inspiration!
I just have to tell you once again how much I’ve been enjoying your TZ posts. So beautiful. xo
Love love love all these photos from TZ…..has been a pleasure to look through them all and read your blog posts