On the jet stream again and happy landings in Tanzania

August 2, 2017

It’s been a whirlwind. We left home on a

 1:50 pm fight which means we got a good night’s sleep before starting the journey. We took a direct flight to Amsterdam, 10 hours and not bad on Delta. Along the way we crossed ver Greenland and Ron took a few pictures with his phone from 39000 feet.. Not much green in Greenland.  We also flew over Iceland, but weren't on the correct side of the plane for a photo. We had two hours before our next 10 hour flight to Dar Es Salaam with a stop in Arusha where 90% of the passengers deplaned to go on safari in the Serengeti. We were on the ground for about 50 minutes while the cleaning crew readied the plane for the return to Amsterdam out of Dar Es Salaam which was a 40 minute flight from Arusha. Neither of us slept on the plane even with taking one of our sleep aid pills. Bummer. About six hours into the second leg flight was I pretty uncomfortable with lower back pain and I was very tired of the confined space. We got to our hotel in Dar at 11:00 and to bed around 11:30 or midnight after being awake for 30 hours.

We got up at 7:00 bleary eyed. Ron left for work at 8:15. I hired a taxi later in the morning and went to an ATM, looked at a craft market and did a little grocery shopping. I had sticker shock when I spied our fave chocolate at $6.47 a bar. Ouch! Guess we will have to ration it. I was delighted to see many locals dressed in traditional garb. Ever see photos of the Masai tribe? Well many men here were wearing similar dress. There were two lengths of cloth of different fabrics: one wrapped around their body and one tied around their neck. It made for a colorful display. Women wore wonderfully brightly printed dresses, some tailored and some similar to the men in that they were draped and tied.

Ron picked me up at 1:00 to get a SIM card for our phones. That took an hour. OY! I got back after 2:00 and ate a salad in our hotel. Our hotel is quite nice with a mini kitchen that has nothing other than an electric tea kettle, instant coffee, tea and sugar. There is a two burner stove but no pots, no dish soap, no drying towels and no cutlery other than two teaspoons. I brought our coffee, filters and cones for pour through coffee from home as I had anticipated not finding good coffee here.  The gardens at the hotel have lush vegetation and the hotel is very attractive with open hallways where the breezes flow freely. Just lovely.

Ron got home early so we crashed for an hour’s nap a little after 4:30. I was in a deep sleep and having a dream. I heard voices and thought they were part of my dream but it was two women from housekeeping coming to turn down our bed. They walked in and said ‘housekeeping just as they spied us in the bed, groggy as all get out. They exited quickly. We snuggled then got up and got dressed for a dinner with the work team. Eight of us dined al fresco at a good restaurant near the ocean. Quite nice. We ate seafood and it was really good. Three of the people on the project are retired city managers from OR. Ron has known Roger and Wes for decades so it was a bit of a reunion. Wes brought his lovely wife, Evelyn and we chatted throughout dinner.

At dinner we found out we were to leave the next day on a 7:00 a.m. flight for Iringa where Ron will be posted. That meant getting up at 4:30. Jeez. We went home, packed and crawled into bed. I woke up before the alarm and gave up trying to get back to sleep after 45 minutes. But it gave me time to make us one cup of coffee. Our driver picked us up at 5:00 and appeared to be the only one on the road stopping for the red lights. I felt like we were back in the Rep of Georgia! The traffic was light that time of day. Dar is famous for its really bad traffic congestion. It is a city of four million.

The domestic airport is quite small and so are the planes that service it. Our plane was a 12 seater and there were five of us to take the 90 flight to Iringa, a mountain community. We flew at a much lower altitude than the big planes so got to see some scenery and the rest of the time we were flying in the big white fluffy clouds. We landed in a very dry area and I could smell the dust when we deplaned. It was pretty barren. As we were approaching the runway we spied some hills with large rocks protruding straight up as though they had been placed there. Our driver met us and we drove 15 km to Iringa, climbing the entire way. The altitude in Iringa is 5,000 ft. 

Along the way there were mud huts/houses with either straw or corrugated metal roofs on each side of the road with an occasional cinder block house. This trend was reversed as we entered town. This is a poor area as witnessed by the commercial area. As soon as you step off the road you are on dirt: no sidewalks or paved parking lots. No fancy shops here. However we did see two places with very large mansion like dwellings that looked like new construction.

Our lodging is arranged by the organization Ron is working with. We were disappointed with our lodging as it is out of town and too far to walk. This leaves me stranded and isolated. They do serve three meals a day here so we asked to see the menu. HA! It is an all Indian cuisine menu. If you read our blog from our 10 months in India you know we are very tired of Indian food. As a matter of fact we have only eaten it twice since we left India in late January. We used to eat it at least once a month. So that makes it a bit difficult for me. I will need to find a way to town most days and I assume the lodge can call a taxi on my behalf. Hopefully I will luck out and find someone I can use daily. But this is an adventure which means it isn’t America and an adventure requires being outside our comfort zone. We travel to developing countries because it requires us to stretch, to be uncomfortable, to be inconvenienced in hopes that we will be more open and open flexible in our dotage! It also means it is exotic and thrilling to see such different ways of living. The facility is small but our room is a good size but a bit funky but then so are we. The bathroom faucet leaks all over the counter when you turn it on. If you push the faucet back with one hand you can make the leaking water flow towards the sink. I will amble up to the office at lunch time to see about a repair but know that that may not happen based on previous experiences. We get CNN, BBC and Al Jazera on the TV so that makes me happy. The staff seems pleasant and there is no traffic noise because there is no traffic!