Sakina Campsite Arusha

... know how we went later.

Funny thing we bumped into a couple of SAfricans with an interesting story,, Basically one Saturday they were watching Rugby and then dropped into the Outdoor Warehouse, which seemed strange to us!! There they saw a kayak and a map of Africa.. well!! They decided to buy the kayak and paddle all of the great lakes in Africa. Went home ...

... for the parts. All people very sweet here and are willing to help you in anyway possible as they love to speak/improve there english.

Will write more about the kids next week as running out of time. We will all take them to a hotel tomorrow ( 23 kids as joyce and kayaa also have 2 kids) 5 adults (the volunteers), godson (the driver) plus the matrons and the kids who work in the house cleaning cooking etc they are only 13 and 14 by the way and go swimming ...

... that we should wait and do it here. That it is reliable as well as inexpensive, not to mention the only place we’d be where there was a post office.

We had set aside clothes and things we didn’t think we’d need for the rest of the trip in an effort to get rid of more heavy things as well as pad our chair. It was 12:15pm when we arrived and we hurried off to DHL to check on prices and have it wrapped. They charged ...

... There were times where it seemed we were the only ones driving on the road because we didn’t pass anyone for a very long time. The terrain also turned into a virtual desert real quick with Masai people either herding their livestock or just sitting by the side of the road. It was kind of creepy but cool. We arrived in I think the town of Arusha and were given some free time to walk around a Masai market. I didn’t buy anything because ...

... the youngest of our truck!! and there are lots of couples whcih is a pain but hey im loving it still!! also found out that we joined a truck full of peeps who i actually met in bujigali where i volunteered, they were the hige overland who i painted wirth!! so basically people leave and come at new stages on an overland, peeps are leavng after the serengeti on tuesday and new people are arriving which is cool, and also at ...

... a Spanish couple ( in their late 30's), 2 UK girls, an Irish girl, 2 US girls, a Canadian girl and a Canadian man (49 yrs the oldest single traveller) a German girl, a Japanese young man and 2 other guys from USA. A strange group as some had been on an earlier leg of the trip and the rest of us began to chat and suss each other out if we had not met the night before. There were already dynamics from the previous group so it was interesting finding out the issues. Our trip begun in ...

... to the US and prefer it here - US is too fast, too busy, too crazy, too obsessed with work; one woman specifically did not want her children being raised in the US. She wanted them raised here. That was shocking to me. We tend to think that everyone wants to come to America, that if a Tanzanian could get out of here, they would. It's so not true. People are happier here, more relaxed, more full of life. But as an American, it's easy to automatically get angry and place blame ...

... when he is circumsized?"
27) "If you have sex with a girl on her period can she die?"
28) "If you beat ********* a pregnant woman's stomach will she get any effects?"
29) "What will happen if you spread semen to a girls skin?"
30) "Why does a man fail to erect after an ejaculation?"
31) "Why do men love women more than women love men?"
32) "Can a person die after being raped? If so why do other people keep living while having sex?" - horrible, and this started a ...

... to a cheerful “Karibu” by such a warm and nice individual. Our first breakfast: three pieces of bread, tea/coffee, egg (or eggi as they say; the Swahili term is “yao”) and avocados (big shout outs to Zorawar on this one). We can have Jeff pressing avocadoes for the dip in no time, haha. Good breakfast, though I wasn’t the quickest (still very jetlagged). The group was like “what happened to Deepal”. I woke up ...

... and went to bed early. I woke up early as usual, ate a quick breakfast and walked down to the GSC office to meet Melinda, Janelle, and Rogers, the guide that was taking us up to Mt. Meru.

Meru was absolutely unbelievably beautiful, and absolutely unbelievably exhausting. I was positive that my legs were going to fall off and I don't know how I finished the whole thing. Even Melinda who was born in upstate NY and is a serious mountain climber was saying it was a ...