May 18th

Hello everyone! It is getting harder to find internet out here. Today was a great day. It seems like each day gets better and better. We started the day off with a drive to a small village called Karatu. We stopped at a school there to visit the children. That was probably one of our favorite parts of the trip so far. The kids sang to us in Swahili and we sang them a song back. We gave them money for books and some soccer balls. They took off towards the field with the soccer balls and they really enjoyed that. We got a chance to mingle with the kids. They were a lot of fun and they really enjoyed looking at the pictures we took of them. After visiting the school we checked in to our next lodge. This is called the Ngorogoro Farmhouse. They grow a lot of fruits, vegetables and coffee and the food here is 85% organic. The gardens all around the land are very beautiful. The view from our room is of the mountains and it is amazing. This is my favorite place to stay so far. After checking in we had a delicious lunch. At 3:00 we went to a tribal village to see a demonstration of their traditions. They make their own beer, clay pots, and bridal skirts. A few of us got to wear the traditional bridal clothes and got "married". Don't worry mom it wasn't real. After that, some of the group went on a tour of the farm and saw how they grind their coffee. We had another delicious meal and got to eat with our drivers. Rafael, the driver of my group, shared how he met his wife and it was a very interesting story. We are learning more Swahili as we go. Lala salaama means "sleep well". Tomorrow we drive around the rim of Ngorogoro Crater on our way to the Serengeti. We are super excited for the Serengeti because we heard rumors the great migration of wildebeest and zebras were passing through. There is also a good chance that we will see the big cats. Now it is time for us to write in our journals. "Lala salaama!"