March 8 Travel
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2008
1
10
26
Trip End
Mar 29, 2008
Moshi,
Tanzania
Monday, March 17, 2008
OMG! There is so much to tell, and so little time! I will start with letting everyone know that I am here, safe, and hot!!
My trip started on Friday from Dulles Airport at 6:00pm. Boarding went well, and the KLM/NW plane was really nice. The trip to Amsterdam took 8 hrs. About 7:30 pm they served us dinner. A real dinner! Salad, Chicken in mushroom sauce, potatoes green beans and dessert. Yum! Because of the time difference, we were arriving at Amsterdam at 7:00am. So at 5:30am, they served us breakfast! That was 12:30 am EST. (I think!) So I had dinner and breakfast within 6 hours! Breakfast was yogurt, an apple and a banana muffin with juice and coffee. I got to Amsterdam fine, and had a 3 hr layover. I met up with 3 other volunteers there ( 1 from LA, 1 from the UK, one from Massachusetts), and we hung out and chatted. We boarded our flight at 10:20 am for Kilimanjaro. I sat next to two Tanzanians from Dar es Salaam, a man and a woman. They had been to Dublin for a class on economics. They were very nice, and could speak English pretty good. They both had native dress on. This flight was 11 hrs, and we got to Kili at 8:45 pm their time. I felt like the President! I had never gotten off an airplane directly onto the tarmac. We had to walk down those metal stairs, just like you see on TV. I felt like reporters should be waiting, and we should all be waving! The airport was one small building with three lines to go through to show your passport and visa. Then we all looked for our driver with his 'CCS' sign. We found him, Peter, and went to his van. After all of the luggage was packed in, we had just enough room left for the 4 of us. It took about 40 minutes to get to our home base in Karanga. The first part of the trip was on a fairly good paved road. It was a little strange, because we kept seeing people walking along the road, which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere! And it is very dark, as they don't have streetlights. We never did figure out where everyone was going. In Karanga, we turned onto a dirt road to get to our home. It was just like off-roading! Huge bumps and holes. A fun drive. I was really surprised when we got to the house. It is like a compound. There are high walls and fences all around it and a gated entrance. The hose looked quite beautiful, but it was hard to see at night. We went in and they took us to our assigned rooms. There are 4 women in mine and I have a top bunk. The mattress was quite comfortable, but it took me a while to figure out how to get the mosquito net down! Sleeping is an experience. Did I mention it is hot and humid !?! I was sweating and listening to the wild dogs bark, and the strange insects. I did get to sleep, but I kept waking up and thinking it was morning, but it wasn't! I finally got up around 6:00am and went outside to the little garden that is especially for smoking. The roosters were quite rambunctious! At 6:30 they put out the tea. It is a type of chai tea that they brew with milk. Delicious! Then breakfast was at 7:00am. (I am talking about food a lot, aren't I?) We had mango juice, toast, fresh made peanut butter, scrambled eggs, these tiny pancake-like things that were great with the peanut butter on them and sliced mangoes. Once again, delicious! I don't think I am going to lose any weight here. Well. I am tired of typing now, so I will write more later.
