Some concluding remarks...
A week's log of living among the Masai:
Sunday: a trying time on an overcrowded bus traversing the 7hrs over hot, dry, and extremely dusty roadways before our arrival in the secluded village Engaruka. Our accommodations are quite modest yet comfortable. Our dwelling is a mud house with a dirt floor. Beds are of a soft mattress that is raised up off the floor. We do showers from a bucket and use the out house for our bathroom. It's camping practically.
Monday: when we discover that Masai don't truly understand the benefits of a hearty breakfast. They think it odd my request for coffee before we've even given thought to breakfast. They take tea and coffee WITH breakfast not as a wake up morning drink. And that brings us to breakfast, white bread. There is also peanut butter which we have to use quite sparingly. It hardly suffices since we have to trek a half hour to clinic; hunger pains set in often before we leave for clinic each day. Lunch and dinner are better, rice and beans with perhaps some goat mixed in, quite tasty actually. Clinic is a bore most of the time. Not much medicine happening because it's such an isolated clinic without any kind of ancillary support. Still, we see lots of gastro and upper respiratory illnesses. They do what they can with what they have (which I can't stress enough is NOT MUCH) On another note, in the afternoon I took a motorbike ride about 45 min down the road to get a good view of the active volcano here that the Masai call the Mountain of God. The last time it erupted (not violently, just some smoke and lava overflow) was 2 years ago and its norm is to go every 3 or 4 years. Also got to see a really cool scorpion right before bedtime only a couple feet from our house entrance. Had to be about 3 inches or so with an impressive stinger. I'm happy our beds are raised. Also, I was just drifting off to sleep when I felt a legitimate earth tremor....then another about 10 min later. All I could think was how exciting it'd be to see that mountain of god get fired up!
Tuesday: when we were all missing our mzungu food to the Nth degree. Breakfast again is the same white bread with a thin film of peanut butter, and dinner from the night before which was the ugali (flavorless white starch with the consistency of mashed potato made from cassava and maze flour) with a little spinach just isn't enough calories to satisfy. I am starving but we did have a great bean and corn mixture for lunch which quieted my growlings. The afternoon we visited the spiritual healer who uses local medicines to treat his patients. He also fortune tells by reading stones that he pours out onto a dark goat's skin. I did not consult his mysticism but just observed. The other girls did consort, giving them a glimpse of their future in terms of whether marriage was soon coming or how many children to expect. It seemed all quite benign but that was when I really reflected upon their tribal culture and how closely they live in conjunction with nature where I identified their one big fallacy; they worship and praise creation instead of the Creator. The mountain of god is their temple and nature god is what they serve. The Lion King really does hit the nail on the head when identifying with their spiritualism. The Masai do not believe in the after life. They live and when they die they go back to dust to become a part of this physical world (the circle of life). Walking back we got to see a dung beetle rolling its dung ball...I was excited from a biologist's stand point. Only ever saw one of those on the discovery channel.
Wednesday: the time to experience Masai disco, that is a Masai dance where the men do their jumping and the women dance and shake, each party trying to attract and impress the other. It was quite comical actually with their guttural chants and high pitched squeals mixed with their odd dancing styles. I was excited to take part in this event, half the time giving serious reflection as to what was happening because it was just THAT strange. You can see the men's dance and song on a video I posted in my web album which will help you visualize what I'm talking about. Go to this link and remember to scroll towards the very bottom: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113979206884651606903/albums/5834838552272766513?authkey=CMviyoX1rsiPigE
Thursday: when we realize just how much free time the Masai people can have. After clinic, there was no cultural event scheduled so we did our simba time (resting under a shade tree, especially during the brute heat of the day). Sometimes there was so much simba time that it got quite boring. The Masai really do have a low stress life style and it shows, many of them can live to be over 100. Our guide Lewis' grandmother lived until 107! Anyway, with so much down time, there is only so many books to read or round of rummy to be endure, especially when trying to forget about our appetites that perpetually gnawed at us.
Friday: when we sacrifice a goat. While traditionally the Masai give a goat to the nature god to plead for rain, we didn't really do any kind of sacrilegious ceremony or prayer. We pretty much just cooked a goat for lunch. The Masai smother so as not to lose the blood because they like to drink it mixed with crushed spleen, which is supposed to give them strength. They also like the taste of the raw kidneys, so along with the blood drink, we also got to try some of the kidney as well. (I even tried roasted scrotum which still had some hair on it which was quite tough like a bad calamari. I ended up having to spit it out). Pics are up from that experience. Beware, the bits where I'm lapping up blood is a little graphic. Fun experience, but definitely one I don't need to have again. Because the goat was slowly suffocated, the meat was quite tough and unenjoyable, quite disappointing actually because I was incredibly hungry at time of consumption.
Overall we had a great time in Masailand. King Lewis (pics of him also up, he was our guide for our week in Engaruka) was exceptional to tell us about the sexual practices of the tribal people, how women used to also be circumcised just like the boys as right of passage from child to woman. Now that genital mutilation is illegal, the tides are changing and many Masai are seeing how poor of a practice female circumcision was. Female empowerment is becoming a bigger deal too. Where once Masai culture was all about polygamy and definitely a man's world where the Mamas did everything from construct the houses, to cook and do laundry, and raise the children while the men just herded their cattle and had sex with their many wives. That traditional model is changing where many Masai men are choosing monogamy and to share some of the family responsibilities. A partnership instead of a one sided marriage is becoming the more attractive option for many. There are still the traditionalists who have their many wives and fulfill the traditional gender roles, but I think outside influences are creeping in.
Also I have some pics of Zanzibar which pretty much speak for themselves (see captions). I had a great time just basking in the sun and enjoying the crystal clear Indian Ocean. Good times but especially after enduring the camping conditions at Masai village, it was time to come home. Remember to scroll towards the bottom. Here is the pics link one more time: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113979206884651606903/albums/5834838552272766513?authkey=CMviyoX1rsiPigE
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