Hey there guys!
So during student directed travel we went to the Udzungwa Mountains, after our time in Mang’ula we got up at 4:20 am on the 27th, walked over to the bus station by 5:00 am and boarded our crazy train to Morogoro. We finally starting leaving around 6:30 or so and then no less than 10 minutes into our trip there was a problem. A truck somehow managed to block 3/4 of the road and have its back end stuck on a ditch on the side of the road. We were all sooooooooo pumped to have that happen right off the bat. In order to get around the situation everyone had to de-board the bus and the bus had to drive back into town and take an alternate route down another road to pass the accident. Finally we got back on our bus and began our journey to Morogoro where we would get a transfer to Dar Es Salaam. In the middle of our travels we passed through a national park and looked out the window as we were passing antelopes, gazelles, giraffes, and many other animals on the freeway. It was a pretty sweet moment for a long travel day to Dar. The ride to Morogoro was smooth sailing and we reached the taxi park successfully! About 15 minutes after we got into the taxi park, we got on another little bus to Dar and made the journey successfully. We arrived in the Dar taxi park that we set out of about a month ago to begin our Tanzanian journeys. We then walked to the hotel we stayed in a month ago and arranged safe taxi transport to where we would be staying in Dar until the 30th, the YWCA. After settling in we got to explore Dar a little for ourselves in small groups. As a group later on we all enjoyed an awesome dinner at a little Indian restaurant down the road from our hotel. The next day was Thanksgiving! On Turkey day we all enjoyed our morning in our individual ways (some of us got coffee, some of us slept in a bit, and some explored Dar a little). Becca and myself were on a mission to find the grave of my neighbor’s uncle, who passed in 1921 during his military service in East Africa. We eventually found the grave and high-fived an awesome, successful, and fulfilling mission. Then around noon we all went out to get lunch and explore the town some more. We then began our awesome Turkey Day adventure! Around 5:30 we set out on public transport to find an Ethiopian restaurant we heard awesome things about. So after packing in like sardines to a full public bus (literally the entire bus was full to the brim of people), which the conductor decided we can shove even more people into, we finally arrived at the road the restaurant was on. We all walked down the road and found the place! We walked up the stairs and immediately got sodas, then began ordering our Ethiopian feast. When the food came out, we all gawked at how awesome it looked and it tasted even better! We had prawns, beef, chicken, chick peas, pumpkin, and many other foods. We ate the food with bread that was rolled like a pancake and grabbed the food with it, to then shove it into our mouths. After our awesome meal, we then decided, might as well go see a Turkey Day movie like we would if we were home. We piled into another public bus, got help from some locals on how the heck to get to the shopping mall and when to get out, switched to another bus, then arrived at the shopping mall! We walked on in and one of our buddies that showed us the way to the movie theater waved goodbye. When we walked into the theater we already had our movie in mind and bought tickets immediately for Catching Fire, the second Hunger Games film. After an awesome movie, time with each other, and a fantastic Turkey Day, we ended the night with a bang. We piled into tuck tucks, the little three wheeled taxis with an engine and carriage-like-deal for the sitting section. We then motored our way through Dar in these little wonders and made it safe and sound back to the YWCA. Our last full day in Dar on the 29th would be another adventure too! So on Black Friday we all had an unusual late wake up compared to many others back in the states. All of us had our own morning time and did different little things before our get together at 12. After a bit of getting prepared, some of us decided to walk to the market and around Dar for the day. After about 20 minutes of walking we reached the outskirts of the market and began our Black Friday shopping! Everywhere you looked there were masses of things. One street was pretty much just shoes and shirts, another had fabrics and kangas, every block was loaded with items to buy. The colors were so vivid and you could literally find anything you could possibly need in the market area. Fred managed to find his white converse shoes he has been dying to get, I managed to get my Christmas gifts for family (sorry can’t give out the secret yet!), Dan got a pair of flip flops that were suitable to replace the bing-aling flip flops, and got some awesome coffee. Others in our group managed to get some shopping done too. After an awesome day of shopping and seeing the craziness of the market our little group walked back to the YWCA, picked up the rest of our group, and found some pretty awesome grilled chicken at an Indian style take out cafe in the Hindi section of Dar. We went to bed happy, full, and excited because the next day on the 30th we headed out to Zanzibar! I’ll let the Zanzibar crew update you on the adventures beginning very early per usual that day. (Sorry for no photos yet, I’ll try and add them ASAP)
Hope everyone had an awesome Turkey Day back home and we’ll be seeing you all very soon!
-Duncan