mto wa mbu; part two.

Hamjambo,

It is Wednesday night and we are now about 3/4 of the way completed with our journey here in Tanzania. With each passing day I get sadder knowing that it is going to eventually come to an end. I've met some incredible people and have made wonderful friends on this trip that I'll probably be friends with for a very long time. For now though, I'm trying to enjoy every single minute while it lasts and record as much as I can into my travel journal and here so I can retain the memories.

As mentioned in my most recent post, I considered the bike ride into Lake Manyara to be one of the greatest days of my life... little did I know that the next day would be one of the most interesting and culturally shocking. We went into an actual Maasai village yesterday and participated in a celebration. They were celebrating the circumcisions of two men and four women that were circumcised that morning. They killed a cow and the fathers of the circumcised sat on the cow's head symbolizing their sons and daughters path into adulthood and newly constructed connections with the divine. It was an amazing experience but it made us all feel very shocked. They do not even sedate the circumcised... and these are grown men and girls just hitting puberty that are getting circumcised. It was a good example of how the Maasai have kept their traditions in the face of modernization. While there we also ate goat that was just killed. It did not taste very good to me haha. We also participated in dances and were asked to express happiness. The Maasai consider these circumcisions a very enjoyable occasion... they want everyone to be happy while it is all going down.

Tomorrow the five men in our group (including myself) will branch off from this compound and live with real Maasai men for a night. I'm excited and nervous at the same time for the experience. I expect it to be one of the craziest things I'll ever do.

Okay gotta go internet is dying. kwaheri!