Overseas Adventure Travel is known for the person to person interactions and today was our home hosted lunch. We started off by going to the market to buy gifts for the homeowner. Josh gave us the name of a fruit or vegetable in Swahili along with money. We had to go into the market and interact with the locals to find what the item was. A couple people googled it after Josh told them not to. Kind of defeated the purpose. Any how, it was really fun and we had a lot of laughs.

The group split in half and I went to Mama and Papa Frank with Marcy, Janice, Tim and his wife Linda. Mama and Papa are referred to as “Frank” as that is the name of their first born.

Here is Mama Frank meeting us and accepting the gifts with her grandchild.

Mama and Papa Frank own a 4 acre banana farm. It has recently been taken over by the eldest son, Frank.

The chickens roam free range in the banana farm. And yes, that is a poinsettia plant. They were all over the farm.

After our tour of the farm we went inside their home to get to know each other better. Frank acted as an interpreter between his parents and us. Mama and Papa Frank understood English but could not speak it. Much of the discussion was about the customs of the family, how the arrangements of marriages take place and the solid family and community foundation they have. Next we had to go around the room and talk about what we did for a career and anything else that we thought was relative. The first was Linda who introduced herself as Mama Heather (the name of her first born). Next was Marcy, Janice and me who have no children. So we introduced ourselves as “No Mama.” All three of us wondered what they thought of us not having children. I asked Josh about that later and he said that in a Maasai family what usually happens is that the childless family will usually adopt a child within the extended family.

The son, Frank, was absolutely infatuated with the fact that I had worked in law enforcement. He saluted me and kept saying that “I have the right to remain silent.” We were all sitting down for lunch when he told me that his favorite TV show was the Blacklist. We all know that Megan Boone, granddaughter of Gary Morse, starred in that show. I tried to explain that but I don’t think he quite understood. What a coincidence.

After this wonderful experience, we returned to our lodge for a nap. At 5:00 PM we meet for a walk to a local family owned coffee plantation. I was there 3 years ago and bought 2 pounds of the most delicious coffee I have ever had. This year I bought 3 pounds. The entire coffee process occurs in the tiny backyard of the house. After the beans are picked by hand they are put into a machine to separate the pulp from the bean. To make a very complicated process short, they dry the beans in the sun. Crush them with a huge mortar and pestle to separate the covering of the bean from the bean itself. The beans are then roasted for 45 minutes over a charcoal fire being turned constantly. When the time is up they are dumped into a screened container and shook until they are cooled. Next up the best coffee you have ever had.

And finally the best part, the roasting. Continuous turning for 45 minutes or the beans will burn and must to discarded.

After dinner, off to bed in our beautiful room.

Tomorrow on our way to the Ngorongoro Crater.