July 15th

We made it to Arusha, Tanzania yesterday afternoon. The Kilimanjaro Airport is situated in what seems like the middle of nowhere, but beautiful mountains surround and the landscape in Tanzania is lush and green. We took a car for a little over an hour to the Greenhouse Hostel, which is part of a non-profit here called Green Living Planet. The hostel is quite small but the people are very nice and extremely helpful. And they provide breakfast, lunch and dinner which is kind of amazing. Tavia and I are sharing a dorm room with two other girls that has two bunk beds. There are about 9 people staying at the hostel currently, I believe. The rooms are nice, although I was woken up periodically throughout the night by a Muslim call to prayer, which sounds like it's located directly outside my window. 

Right now we're sitting in a coffee shop in town, trying to get the wifi to cooperate. We're figuring out the subtle differences between Uganda and Tanzania. The currency is still shillings here, but Tanzanian shillings rather than Ugandan. The motorcycles like boda bodas are called piki pikis here, and there are public taxis called dala dalas. We took one to get here this morning, and it can get quite crowded.  We're thinking of spending the day in town here at the coffee shop (if the wifi improves) and running to the supermarket before returning back to the hostel. Tomorrow we have a day Safari with Tanzanian Experience in Arusha National Park. The park is said to have most of the animals I want to see (giraffes, elephants, hippos) but no lions. I definitely wanted to see some lions, but I'm sure my mother will be quite relieved to hear this news. The next day we are looking into taking another day adventure- apparently there are some waterfalls and green forest areas that we can explore. We haven't quite figured it out yet. Then we fly to Zanzibar on the 18th. Our flight out of Kilimanjaro keeps getting pushed back, and we now leave at 9:00pm. I am hopeful that the time won't change again, but TIA. If there's one thing I've learned about traveling Africa it's that you have to be patient and flexible and not have too many expectations. 

I'll try to post some pictures soon- wifi permitting. I'm hoping to take lots of pictures in the park tomorrow! But I may only take them on my Nikon, which means I won't be able to post them here. But we'll see. 

Oh! They speak Swahili here, which is fun to hear and learn!

Jambo: Hello/hi

Asante: Thank you

Asante sana: Thank you very much

Sawa: Okay

Shusha: Stop (when you're on the dala dala)

Ndiyo: Yes

Hapana: No

Hujambo: How are you?

And we're still called muzungus here. I thought we'd get away from it, but alas!