Sunday, January 1, 2017

Habari za jioni! Good evening from Tanzania!

The group arrived in Dar Es Salaam and spent some time exploring and celebrating the new year before traveling to Iringa.
After 24 hours of travel through Amsterdam and Kilimanjaro airports, we arrived in hot and steamy Dar Es Salaam around 1a.m. The team arrived safely, and everyone remains happy and healthy. We arrived at the hotel, Wistas, and settled in just before a rain burst.

The next morning, we were greeted by two friendly tortoises in the courtyard. We had a lovely gourmet breakfast at the lodge, which included fresh mango juice and chapatti, which is a very common food in Tanzania that tastes just like lefse.


We then loaded back into our bus and visited TransAfrica Water, a local water equipment distributor. We learned about pumps and equipment available for our water delivery designs. Lunch was at a restaurant called Sea Cliff with exquisite balcony views of the Indian Ocean. The afternoon was then spent at the carver’s market, where the group wandered through tiny vendor stalls and bartered for souvenirs such as paintings, carvings, and clothing.


The team then refreshed at Wistas and traveled to our New Year’s Eve dinner at Slipway. We really lived it up, spending 1.3 million Tanzanian Shillings on a spectacular buffet while watching the sunset over Msasani bay. Team Tanzania rang in the New Year back at Wistas with the Middle Eastern time zone (10pm Tanzania time) and then went to sleep, as it had been a very long day.

The next morning was an early wake up call so we could get on the road for the 11+ hour bus ride to Iringa. Despite being very long and slightly cramped, the sight of giraffes, elephants, zebras, wildebeest, wild hogs, impala, and baboons, really spiced things up and kept everyone awake.


The headmaster of Lutangilo school, Sebastian, also hitched a ride back to Iringa with us. He graciously gave us two Swahili lessons before we made it to The Lutheran Center. It was a joyous moment when we finally arrived and disembarked from the bus. Exuberant hosts welcomed and ate a tasty meal with us. The team is excited to have our first lesson and explore Iringa tomorrow.


usiku mwema (Good Night)