Strong Like Pipe

First to explain the title. One way to greet someone in Swahili is by saying "Mambo" which like a colloquial greeting, like saying "Hey." The other person can respond with a few things, usually you say "Poa" which means "Cool." You can also say "Poa Mdizi Kama Ndizi" which means "Cool and crazy like a banana." In addition, you can say "Dole" or "Bomba;" dole means bravo and you need to give the thumbs up when you say it and bomba literally means pipe. When you reply to Mambo by saying Bomba it means "Strong like pipe."
Now to explain why I feel strong like pipe. Today CCS went on a trip to Marangu, a city in traditional Chagga territory. Our first stop was the blacksmith, which was also the carpenter's. There were all sorts of things for sale and I bought a wooden bowl and a spear. The spear is about five feet long and has a blade long enough to be a small sword, so obviously I love it. After the blacksmith we went to the market. I remember how for a long time I wanted to visit a Middle Eastern bazaar just because I always thought such a place was so interesting and you could find such exotic things. I still want to visit a bazaar but the Marangu market brought me to the reality of an open air market in a third world country; it's loud, dirty, and hectic. I didn't even try to venture in, instead I stood by the sidelines, which I later realised was the butcher's, sipping a Coke (fun fact, in Tanzania all sodas are sold in glass bottles which are returned to the merchant when finished so that the bottle can be cleaned and refilled. Also Coca-Cola has they're loggo plastered on nearly every sign in Moshi, this includes churches, schools, and banks.) One of the the volunteers, whom I share my bedroom with, bought a chamelion for 2000 shillings, the equivalent of 2 dollars.
After the market we headed to the cave. Around the 1830s the Tanzanian tribes were at war amongst each other and themselves. Livestock was the equvialent to currency at that time and the Masai were notorious for their ruthlessness in stealing other people's animals. The cave we went in to today was dug by a Chagga family to protect themselves from the Masai. The entire family would live underground, along with their goats and sheep, while the cows were hidden further up in the mountains. Down in the cave there were bats, I thought they were cute but the women of the group were creeped out, and there were roots hanging down from the ceiling with droplets of water hanging from them.
Afterwards we went on hike for a waterfall. The last waterfall I went to was a far distance to hike, but for the most part was relatively level ground. The path for this waterfall was extremely steep, it was essentially right in front of us, only it was about 70 feet down. Our guides kept telling us "pole pole" because the path was so steep. We had to wade across some streams and climb over some rocks to get to the actual waterfall and on the way I sunk thigh deep into a silt bank, I was glad I had left my shoes at the river bank and rolled up my pants.
So today I felt strong like pipe because I got myself a spear, braved the harmless bats of the caves, and hiked a steep path to a waterfall where I waded through thigh high silt banks.