Arusha Adventures

Going to Arusha:

The bus with enough people for 24 was only filled with 5 people including me. The driver and his 2 kids were an extra 3. The scenery was similar to that of my first failed peace corps site. We spotted Ostriches, Jazelles, and Zebras. The hills and beautiful scenery was amazing. Our bus driver was referred to with the generic bwana, knew just enough English but not enough to make him seem nice. However, when spoken to in Swahili his demeanor was that of a kindred spirit. We had a choo break and he nearly left someone because he surpassed the ten minutes allotted to the break, preventing me from taking my choo break later. After a while, my body gave out, especially with only 1.5 to 2 meals in the last 21 hours and only an attempt to 4 hours of sleep, I just crashed.

The first afternoon/ night in Arusha:

We received a surprise upgrade to our room and Laura and I just crashed. We got a free ride to L’Oasis. Laura and I were so tired we just accepted and hoped to get there and we did. Around 7 PM we woke up for dinner and received American Food and requested for Tanzanian. What we thought was going to be $25 was actually $13, and I had my boiling water. And yet again we met another couple, one from England and the other from Germany. Laura and I spent the night playing cards with my head light as apparently L’Oasis has periodic power outages. We also played shadow games. Once the lights came on, Laura helped me repack, and let me say there is no more pain in my back! We fell asleep to the day-night bar of rap and pop music and dogs barking. Laura told me we would have to come up with nicknames for each other that could be used for multiple trips. She came up with “Trouble” for me, and “Trub” for short. I laughed, calling her cupid, because of some conversations she was relaying. I also woke up suddenly realizing that there are no mosquitoes due to the cold weather. We also met people who parle le francais!

The 2nd day in Arusha:

We woke up at 6:50 AM. It was sooooooooooo very cold. We woke up, I meditated with a dog who laid in front of me. Then Laura was trained in TKD. Onto fresh breakfast. Then we got the couples names, versus waiting till the last day, we decided to get it after breakfast: Paul and Josephine. They too are flying to Zanzibar. While returning to our room, the gardener, Katurra, I think offered a tour into a village for free. We were unsure, but agreed. We left at 10:30 AM and returned at 1:30 PM. It was like going with a friend who didn’t understand English nor my Swahili. He would not let us take pictures. When we met the chief Messiah of the village, we got a picture but gave him money for it. There were not explanations as to which town we were in, the history, or anything. He even took us to a conversion place when we said no in English and Swahili. However, we did got to a Messiah store (he said market) and it was run by Indians whose grandparents came over 100 years ago. I got my first attempt for bargaining. Instead of 3 keychains at $10, I got 4, and I also got elephant teeth keychains at the same cost. Laura being like me, could not find her wallet, only to realize later that her smart self put it in her inside coat pocket. Our guide told us it costs $60 to get to the airport and takes about 50 minutes to walk. So we decided to walk, only to find out later that he did not mean 50 minutes, he meant 50 kilometers. I was told by the guide that I need a baby, I said I’m not dating and hen says you should have friends, many, and I say Laura is my friend! Mzungu was not uncommon. We went for lunch and I wanted 1/3 of chicken we ended up getting 1/2. Our guide did not understand bottled water and hence could not provide translation so we pointed to it. We also ordered chips (fries) and ugali. I asked for an extra plate and two forks as our guide just dug his hands right in, after licking them and putting it into the salt. He even inquired about Laura’s wine bottle and when Laura presented it to him, he got out two drops, drank it and then licked the bottle. We got home, Laura, learned Swedish from the hotel owner who is Swedish, and I looked at planning out Zanzibar. We poured 2 ¾ cup of boiling water into our dehydration packet of Channa Massala and ate straight from it. It was tasty, but I got full fast. We were indecisive about going to the disco and finally decided to have martial art performance and crazy behavior and take downs and bear hugs at the reception. We were an amazing duo. I came up with a name for Laura. Spontany for Spontaneous, and for short “T-‘a’ny.”
So our card games include
Rummy
Slap Jack
6 plus (another game of Bridge in Russia)
We both know speed
Spit
We played speed and Spit.

Last day in Arusha: Through the eyes of a Watoto (children)

Last day, we woke up, did TKD, had fresh breakfast. The girls asked which one of us is older and they said me b/c I looked bigger. We went to the orphanage where kids ages 1-11 are accepted. They are either orphans, run aways, or poor and families in the village adopt them and pay a discounted school fee. We played, taught and just had fun with them. It was there first day of school, we were not aware of that. Helping out at this school, made our day. To see the kids faces light up and having them engage even more in their academia because we were there was precious. A little one came and held on to my leg and sucked her thumb and wouldn't leave me and the boys came with with punches!!! I would like to help them, as they are need of books, and other supplies! Lets work together to help them :D

Then we went of to the airport with Paul and Josephine. The mama’s at the hotel made us promise to email them and so we did. When we got to the airport, we found Laura’s bag first! IT was found, the joy, the excitement, the sigh of relief…. We could not find lunch, hence, it was left to a bag of chips and almonds, which we did not finish….

Till next time, the adventures of Zanzibar