Just got back today from Zanzibar. The island is beautiful with spices and yummy food and tea galore. But it is very expensive! It wouldn't have bothered me so much if I was just vacationing in Zanzibar or relaxing after a safari like most people, but after spending time in Mbeya and Dar, I knew what things should cost and knew I was getting burned most of the time (and they only accept US dollars at the hotels so you have to take shillings out of an ATM and then pay a high exchange rate to change to dollars).There also seems to be quite a bit of government corruption. I was told that is because it was the low season and school fees were due soon. Watched drivers have to roll up money in their papers when handing them over at roadblocks and things like that. I also had the customs office (I am still unsure of why they have their own customs office, since they are part of Tanzania) pull me out of line and lock me in a room with two officers trying to get me to pay another $50. I was fed up with all this TIA crap and flat out refused. We argued for 20 minutes or so and I finally lost it and gave them my phone and told them to call the doctor in Arusha and let him know that I would not be able to volunteer with him since I wouldn't pay another $50. Of course, that changed their tune and they quickly said it was okay and let me through. As I was leaving, I saw another couple being pulled in with US passports. When I saw them later that evening, they had been locked in the room for three hours and had to pay $100 each and when they first reached the US Embassy, the Zanzibar people hung up on them.
Wait, I guess I should back up. It turns out I don't have Malaria. Most likely, I was just dehydrated from trying to not drink too much fluids on bus travel days (they often don't stop for women to go to the bathroom). Relaxed and ate several times at my favorite little restaurant across from the mosques. They had homemade feta cheese and fresh veggies in an amazing salad (it is hard to get fresh greens around here and I have been craving them). They also have hookahs, and I have spent many lovely evenings sipping mint tea, having great conversation, and enjoying a hookah. Also went on a wonderful day trip to Kipepo with some guys who are also staying at the YWCA. Just a short ferry trip (very chaotic and packed, unlike Seattle ferries) and dala dala trip away, the beaches are beautiful and you can pay $5 at a resort to crash their beach.
Anyhoo, once I left Dar, headed to Zanzibar on the slow ferry, and had the little altercation with customs, I spent several days in Stonetown walking around the old crumbly architecture. I loved the carved wooden doors and narrow winding streets. Went on a spice tour, visited a few museums and went to the slave cave. Then headed out to the east coast for some beach time in Paje. The beach was amazing with sand as soft and white as powdered sugar. Also had a nice breeze to cool things off. Got to do a day of diving and loved the reef. Saw huge stingrays, moray eel, large schools of fish, nudibranchs, and lionfish. The dive company wasn't the safest I have been on, but I will save that story for another email when my mom doesn't have to read it :) Met some awesome people and we hung out pretty much every night. It was nice to have a group of 11 people from all over that got along so well together. It was also nice to not have to be by myself all the time and to have people to eat meals with.
Thanksgiving Day was hard to be so far from home. And I am the only American staying at this hotel, so I had to explain to many what Thanksgiving even is. To cope, I decided to spend the day with monkeys. Because, really, who can be sad around monkeys? I hopped a dalladalla and headed to Jozani to see the red colobus monkeys. They are supposedly very rare and endemic to this area. So cute! There were lots of them and you could get really close (just had to watch that none peed on your head). And after a day of monkeys, I headed back to see what type of Thanksgiving meal I could scrounge up off the hotel bar menu. The closest I got was spicy coconut pumpkin soup with my meal of... yep, you guessed it... goat.
I was in Paje for the full moon (we had all been dragging each other on midnight swims for the few days before) and one of the locals invited me to a full moon party in Jambiani. I asked if I could bring "a few friends" to split the cab fare and wrangled up 9 others. We all shoved into a minibus and had a great time dancing on the beach under the full moon. Yes, I danced but only because this adorable seven year old, who was one of the best dancers I have ever seen, wanted us to dance with him so he could be with the adults instead of by the fence with the rest of the kids.Very relaxing but lots of very late nights. I am back in Dar for the night and am getting ready to head off to Arusha tomorrow morning on the bus. I am suppose to start at the hospital on Monday morning.
Signing off for now, as apparently running 20 computers off one line and charging us all an arm and a leg to use the world's slowest system is totally working for the post office, but my patience is running out :)
Love,
Betsy
Nkhata Bay was nice, but not what I was looking for. I really just wanted a peaceful place to relax, but it was quite the party village. The dorms were loud, people were drinking until four in the morning and then up again at eight to drink. Not that I am against it, but it wasn't what I needed at the time. Oh, and I was awoken every morning by a room full of CHICKENS (the door didn't close and the chickens and baby chicks seemed to like wandering around in all of our stuff). Met up with a woman who I had met in Livingstone who was traveling to Tanzania. We tried to make a plan to head out together.
I started not feeling well sometime Saturday. Not great by Sunday, but made the decision to try to get to Dar es Saalam in Tanzania (better medical clinics and I would have two travel partners to help me). Typical travel day across the border which included a hike from the hostel to the minibuses, a minibus from Nkhata Bay to Mzuzu. Another minibus from Mzuzu to Karonga, where I was squashed between two seats for three hours or so. Then a taxi from Karonga to Songwe, the Malawi border where we walked across, changed our money, and then walked through Kyela on the Tanzania side. Paid some kids 50,000 shillings (50 cents) to let us ride on the backs of their bikes uphill with our backpacks to the daladala stands. Caught a daladala to Tukuyu and then took another daladala to Mbeya. With a high fever, this was a huge accomplishment for me.
Found out the train from Mbeya to Dar did not leave for several days. It is strange... everyone tells you to take the train, but absolutely NO ONE knows when it runs. I must have asked 40 people, and each and every one of them had a different answer. It is kind of frustrating that no one will actually tell you when they don't know the answer to something. They will just make something up and tell you. But every single child in every single village that we passed seemed to know when the train comes, as they were all sitting there waiting to wave to everyone. So cute!
I enjoyed relaxing in Mbeya, waiting for the train. It was much cooler and after our horrible $2 a night hotel, we got a nice hotel room. I found a great food stand that made yummy grilled bananas served with salt and a spicy tomato salsa. Far less people speak English in Tanzania. I have learned early not to ask any yes or no questions because the answer will ALWAYS be yes. I guess what they really mean is "Yes, I do not understand a word you are saying". So instead of asking things like "Does the train run today?" I have to ask "What day does the train run"? to make sure they understand the question. I did see my first chameleon just sunning himself on a great big poinsettia bush on one of my many trips to the train station.
Finally, the train showed up and I got on board. Well worth the wait! The train chugs along through little villages. I also had a chance to practice my Swahili on the train with several people. They all were pretty entertained, and we all had fun. In fact, I may go meet the family of one the guys today or tomorrow. Oh, and I learned how to use a squatty potty on a moving, jerking train... no small feat! The train goes through several game parks so I saw all kinds of animals: antelopes, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, wildebeest and GIRAFFES! Unfortunately the train was moving too fast and I was too spastic to get any good pictures.
So I have left Zambia. I would not rank Zambia up as my favorite and things are somewhat expensive, but I did enjoy myself. In Livingstone, I took a sunset booze cruise down the Zambezi where I saw hippos and a big crocodile. I visited Victoria Falls. It is the dry season, so the Falls are not as raging as they sometimes are. But it was fun to be able to walk around on the rocks and look over the edge of the Falls (not possible during the wet season). Looking across to the Zimbabwe side, you can see Zimbabweans queuing up to leave the country. I have seen refugee camps set up in every country. One of the guys from the hostel wanted me to go kayaking under Vic Falls, but that didn't sound like the best idea ever -- even in the dry season. So I opted to go whitewater rafting down the Mighty Zambezi (I still have great bruises and a lump on my head to show for it).
The weekend was spent at Mombova Fishing Lodge. I had met these guys at a Halloween Party and turns out one of the guys named Richard owns a bush lodge in Kazangula. He and his parents moved from a farm in Zimbabwe and built it all themselves. His dad died of Malaria while building it an his mom has moved to Australia, so now he owns it with a guy named Gary. He invited me to come stay there for free and hang out and go fishing. The lodge was really rustic but nice. I got my own chalet right next to the Zambezi River where you could hear the hippos. Gary and Richard gave me the heads up to yell really loud if a hippo or elephant wandered into my open air chalet. They took me out on their boats (tried to teach me to drive the boat) and taught me to fish. I only caught a small tiger fish and a squeaker, so we threw them back. When it got hot, we would just hang out on the sand dunes, play in the water (trying to avoid hippos), and dig in the river bed for snails to use as bait. Had a BBQ (brai) each night around the fire. Very relaxing and fun (although very guy-like Crocodile Dundee-ish fun, as everyone was a fisher or hunter and had lived in the bush for long periods of time).
Richard was heading to Lusaka Sunday night to charter a flight to Luangwa Valley. One of his clients got her car stuck when there had been some rains, so he was going to go hire some cattle to try to pull it out. We took the night bus to Lusaka, which SURPRISE SURPRISE...left late. So that put us into the bus station at 4:30 AM. It was actually good that it left late because there was a "traffic jam" on the highway from Kazangula to Livingstone caused by a herd of elephants trying to cross the road. They ran into a fence, so turned back and just stood in the middle of the road. We were the first car, so I got some good photos (everyone else seemed way less enthused than me and they tried to get me to get out of the car since "once the smell a human, they will move along").