Mangos

November.. and it’s getting hotter…. The kind of hot where you wake up sweaty and proceed through the day with a layer of moisture on your skin.  It doesn’t help that my office is more like a sauna than an office, and although I have a fan it does little more than circulate hot air rather like a fan oven.  The paediatrician says he might bring in some of the sick babies from the NICU as it’s hotter in my office than the incubator!  The small rains have started now so after three or four days of increasing heat and tension it finally breaks with a heavy shower which cools the temperature a bit, but as soon as the clouds clear and the sun re appears all that moisture evaporates back into the air making it really humid!

On the plus side November means mango season.   There are many mango trees in and around the village, the one next to my house overhangs the neighbour’s house so every time the wind blows mangos fall onto the metal roof with a sound similar to gunshots.  If you are quick enough you can pick them from the ground, however you will have to race the children, neighbours, security guard and everyone else who is waiting for them to fall.  People seem to appear out of nowhere as soon as a mango touches down, and it is one of the rare occasions you may see a Tanzanian run!

 

Mango tree

If I’m not quick enough to get the free ones, I can buy a big bag of Embe Ndogo (small mangos, about the size of an apple) for 500TSH (20p) or a good size mango for 300TSH (12p)!  and they are the best mangos I’ve ever eaten!

More exciting news this month.. My blog is featured on the VSO UK website (http://www.vso.org.uk/volunteer/impact/volunteer-blogs),  I have bought a blender!  (mainly to make mango based juices and smoothies)… and I spotted these two big beetles getting jiggy in the garden!

 The fun never ends!!!!