*After the UAACC and before the stay with Jenny and Geoff..
After a much needed retreat, we said goodbye to Mze Pete and Mama C. At 5:15am we departed the compound to go to the bus stop. We caught the Dar Express, which was luxurious in terms of Tanzanian transportation. After a few pit stops and ten hours later, we arrived in Dar es Salaam. To put it mildly, the Dar bus station was sketchy chaos. It took a while to escape the mayhem but we finally jumped on a little bus. This ride should have only taken 15 minutes but an hour later and high hopes of staying at the Holiday Inn we got to the Holiday Hotel located in the Indian district. Wandering and starving, we found the best Naan ever.
A mere four hours later, we packed up and ledt Dar to go to Iringa. We thought almost getting run over while putting our bags in the bottom of the bus would be the most stressful part of the day but then we had to argue our way out of a 100,000 shilling baggage fee that was a scam. It doesn’t end there though. Within the first hour, we made a few unplanned stops on the side of the rode. At around an hour and a half in, we stopped for good. Supposedly there were steering issues… Four hours, two bottles of soda, many packages of chocolate biscuits, friendship bracelet making, chapati, and a scary test drive down the rode with 2 of the 13 group members still IN the bus, we were on the road again. The rest of the ride was uneventful and we arrived in Iringa around 8pm. Cramming into three taxis, we drove to the university hostel. After cathcing up on some zzz’s we explored Iringa in the morning.
Yet again, we hopped on another bus to Mafinga and then yet another bus to take us down into the Mufindi Highlands. Three hours and one extremely bumpy ride later, we got to Igoda. However, we were able to brush up on local Tanzanian music that blasted throughout the bus.
So sorry for the delay, you know how internet can be.
xoxo Ellie and Kaitlyn