Its almost 10:30 pm in Dar es Salaam, and the seven of us are sitting on the bed in Caitlin and Paul's hotel room, waiting for 1 am when we will head to the airport and begin our trip home. Its been a successful final few days here in Tanzania, and getting ready to leave is a bit surreal. Lets recap:
We arrived in Dar around noon on Monday, headed to our hotel and got settled in before heading out to find lunch. The place where we had originally intended to eat was closed for the month (thanks for nothing, Ramadan) so after lots of walking around the bus streets we ended up in a tea room where all they served was goat curry. Fun. It was definitely an authentic experience, to say the least. After lunch we walked back to the hotel and relaxed until our driver came to take us to a local mall for some window shopping and dinner. There wasn't much to see in the mall, but dinner at a fun fish place was the source of good food, fun American 80's power ballads and a bathroom with a real toilet (no paper but you take what you can get). A quick pit stop for dessert was followed by another hole in the wall market, then we all came back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
Yesterday we drove about 2 hours away to the town of Bagamoyo. A former trading center and place of deportation for African slaves on their way to the middle east, it later became the site of the first Catholic mission in East Africa. We toured around the old town for a while, had lunch at a restaurant playing American music videos (I love Wiz Khalifa) and stopped to look at some paintings at a shop owned by our tour guide's friend. The highlight of the day for me was probably seeing the Cross Cultural Solutions homebase in Bagamoyo, and meeting three volunteers staying and working there. CCS is the organization I went with to Ghana last spring, and I definitely had a positive experience. It was fun to meet other people from the states, and to hear a little about what they're doing in Tanzania.
Today we decided to go to the beach, so we packed up our rooms after breakfast, checked out of the hotel (except for one room- hence the crowded bed scenario) and headed off to the White Sands Resort. A pit stop for a loaf of bread, peanut butter and some fresh fruit gave us our lunch, and we spent the rest of the day lounging in the sand and swimming in the Indian Ocean. It wasn't as hot as I would've liked, but at least I wont be sitting sunburned on a plane for 20+ hours. We showered and had dinner back at the hotel, then our last class with Paul. We're currently getting our Olympics fix (its not swimming so I dont really care) and waiting for our driver. Just over 25 hours (ignoring time zones because thats just confusing) and I'll be home in Pittsburgh!
We arrived in Dar around noon on Monday, headed to our hotel and got settled in before heading out to find lunch. The place where we had originally intended to eat was closed for the month (thanks for nothing, Ramadan) so after lots of walking around the bus streets we ended up in a tea room where all they served was goat curry. Fun. It was definitely an authentic experience, to say the least. After lunch we walked back to the hotel and relaxed until our driver came to take us to a local mall for some window shopping and dinner. There wasn't much to see in the mall, but dinner at a fun fish place was the source of good food, fun American 80's power ballads and a bathroom with a real toilet (no paper but you take what you can get). A quick pit stop for dessert was followed by another hole in the wall market, then we all came back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
Yesterday we drove about 2 hours away to the town of Bagamoyo. A former trading center and place of deportation for African slaves on their way to the middle east, it later became the site of the first Catholic mission in East Africa. We toured around the old town for a while, had lunch at a restaurant playing American music videos (I love Wiz Khalifa) and stopped to look at some paintings at a shop owned by our tour guide's friend. The highlight of the day for me was probably seeing the Cross Cultural Solutions homebase in Bagamoyo, and meeting three volunteers staying and working there. CCS is the organization I went with to Ghana last spring, and I definitely had a positive experience. It was fun to meet other people from the states, and to hear a little about what they're doing in Tanzania.
Today we decided to go to the beach, so we packed up our rooms after breakfast, checked out of the hotel (except for one room- hence the crowded bed scenario) and headed off to the White Sands Resort. A pit stop for a loaf of bread, peanut butter and some fresh fruit gave us our lunch, and we spent the rest of the day lounging in the sand and swimming in the Indian Ocean. It wasn't as hot as I would've liked, but at least I wont be sitting sunburned on a plane for 20+ hours. We showered and had dinner back at the hotel, then our last class with Paul. We're currently getting our Olympics fix (its not swimming so I dont really care) and waiting for our driver. Just over 25 hours (ignoring time zones because thats just confusing) and I'll be home in Pittsburgh!
