Tuesday, August 02, 2005
August 31
Well, the safari is underway. Most of the gang is now here in Arusha. Matt and Paola arrived on schedule with Roy and Alice, at 6:50pm via Hong Kong, Bangkok and Nairobi, and Diane and Ellen arrived at 8:00pm after a couple of days in Amsterdam. But all of us had a scare.
For my 21 hour bus ride from Mwanza, I chose the Luxury Bus leaving at 10:00am instead of the regular bus leaving at 11:00am yesterday, since it was the same price and I was glad to get to Arusha as soon as possible. Mistake. The 11:00 bus left before my 10:00 bus. At the suburban station, my bus then sat for two hours while they tried to fix its electrical system. We finally left, with new batteries, but it did seem strange that the A/C wasn’t working, and neither was the on-board TV, and when it got dark, there were no reading lights. About an hour later, we had no headlights either, so it became clear that the electric generator was not working. Having no choice, the bus stopped in the dinky town of Kisii where we spent the night behind the police station waiting for the next bus at 3:00am. It came at 5:00am, not all that bad for Tanzanian timing. So we did manage to get to Arusha before my family’s flights arrived, but it was a little tense, there. 30 Hours, Mwanza to Arusha!
Matt’s story was that with traffic and forgetting the anti-malaria medicine, they were late arriving at the airport in Beijing, so by the time they cleared customs and got to the in-transit holding area, there was no sign of where to go for Kenya Airlines. They got help from Cathay Pacific, but then found that they wouldn’t be allowed on the plane anyway because Matt’s passport expired in less than six months. It took top level intervention to clear that up, and by then they had 14 minutes to get to the gate 16 minutes away. They just made it.
Diane and Ellen had less excuse, but were enjoying the internet services in the Amsterdam airport so much, they almost missed their plane. By the time they got to the gate, it was already closed and locked. So they just made it, also.
But for all that, we had a great evening sharing tales over food and beer, talking family history, enjoying Roy and Alice, and previewing safari plans. Our food tonight, at the Meru House Inn, had nothing to do with African food. Maybe that was for the best. Save the chapati, the ugali and the chipsi miyai for later.
First impressions: Primarily, how wonderful to see my family again, and have us all together. We were really into being together with each other. But I was surprised, on coming back to Arusha after being away for two years, at how Western it is. It is full of white folk – backpackers and tourists and people involved in the UN Court here, as Arusha is the location for the everlasting Rwanda Genocide trials. Even the restaurant in our inexpensive hotel serves diner food, nothing remotely African. Diane commented on how dark the Kilimanjaro International Airport was, that even the runway looked like it was lit with candles.
Tomorrow is a “free day.” We’ll walk around, go to the market, and then pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra when they arrive from Washington at 8:00pm. Then, off and running!
August 1
We woke to a cold and dreary day, overcast and even drizzling a little. What happened to bright, sunny Africa?
We had a great breakfast at a place I remembered, Jambo’s, then walked around a lot. Went to the market, where we bought fruit for safari snacks, and Diane bought a khanga with the black, yellow, blue and green colors of the Tanzanian flag, to match the flag that is painted on her toenails (!). A young woman there said she could arrange a hat for Diane in the Tanzanian style. She spent about half an hour doing that on Diane’s head, with needle and thread to hold it in place. The monstrosity she created looked rather like Diane had a pillow sitting on her head, but at least it sure was attention grabbing. Don’t think that is the final use of the khanga.
Matt and Paola wanted to buy hiking boots for Roy. Another good project for the market. There are legions of shoe sellers in the market. Paola and Matt soon had all the vendors in the place scouring the entire market for suitable boots in the right size. They finally settled on a good pair, asking price $35. An absurd price in the market for used boots, but at least a starting point. Paola used her negotiating skills, honed in the Chinese marketplace, to bring the price down to $18 after long and hard bargaining with a large audience. She thought she had gotten a pretty good price, until they found the same boots in an adult size with an initial asking price of $15. Paola enjoys the haggling process, and chalked this up to a learning process. Who would have thought that these Africa market vendors could keep up with the notorious Chinese merchants in bargaining techniques?
Diane and I flew through the Shop Rite (a South African chain supermarket, here) and bought $125 of food for Thursday and Friday, when we will be in the Serengeti at the Taj Rest House, which can provide a cook but BYO Food. The store reluctantly agreed to put our four big boxes of supplies in the cooler for us, so we can do a quick pickup of it on Thursday morning after we complete the two days of camping in the Arusha National Park.
I am concerned about the expenses. I am paying the bills and we will settle later, but we are running over my promised budget already. In part, people came an extra day sooner, and I am paying for some meals that were not in the plan. I know we will all share the costs in the end, but I really don’t like to have this costing more than my family had planned. Well, so it goes.
The taxi service to the airport is $50, fixed price. But the shuttle driver from last night offered to give me a ride to pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra for $40. Then the hotel arranged the taxi for me at only $30. I figured that was the best we could get, and went to pick up the gang. So now we are all together, and ready to get underway tomorrow.
Well, the safari is underway. Most of the gang is now here in Arusha. Matt and Paola arrived on schedule with Roy and Alice, at 6:50pm via Hong Kong, Bangkok and Nairobi, and Diane and Ellen arrived at 8:00pm after a couple of days in Amsterdam. But all of us had a scare.
For my 21 hour bus ride from Mwanza, I chose the Luxury Bus leaving at 10:00am instead of the regular bus leaving at 11:00am yesterday, since it was the same price and I was glad to get to Arusha as soon as possible. Mistake. The 11:00 bus left before my 10:00 bus. At the suburban station, my bus then sat for two hours while they tried to fix its electrical system. We finally left, with new batteries, but it did seem strange that the A/C wasn’t working, and neither was the on-board TV, and when it got dark, there were no reading lights. About an hour later, we had no headlights either, so it became clear that the electric generator was not working. Having no choice, the bus stopped in the dinky town of Kisii where we spent the night behind the police station waiting for the next bus at 3:00am. It came at 5:00am, not all that bad for Tanzanian timing. So we did manage to get to Arusha before my family’s flights arrived, but it was a little tense, there. 30 Hours, Mwanza to Arusha!
Matt’s story was that with traffic and forgetting the anti-malaria medicine, they were late arriving at the airport in Beijing, so by the time they cleared customs and got to the in-transit holding area, there was no sign of where to go for Kenya Airlines. They got help from Cathay Pacific, but then found that they wouldn’t be allowed on the plane anyway because Matt’s passport expired in less than six months. It took top level intervention to clear that up, and by then they had 14 minutes to get to the gate 16 minutes away. They just made it.
Diane and Ellen had less excuse, but were enjoying the internet services in the Amsterdam airport so much, they almost missed their plane. By the time they got to the gate, it was already closed and locked. So they just made it, also.
But for all that, we had a great evening sharing tales over food and beer, talking family history, enjoying Roy and Alice, and previewing safari plans. Our food tonight, at the Meru House Inn, had nothing to do with African food. Maybe that was for the best. Save the chapati, the ugali and the chipsi miyai for later.
First impressions: Primarily, how wonderful to see my family again, and have us all together. We were really into being together with each other. But I was surprised, on coming back to Arusha after being away for two years, at how Western it is. It is full of white folk – backpackers and tourists and people involved in the UN Court here, as Arusha is the location for the everlasting Rwanda Genocide trials. Even the restaurant in our inexpensive hotel serves diner food, nothing remotely African. Diane commented on how dark the Kilimanjaro International Airport was, that even the runway looked like it was lit with candles.
Tomorrow is a “free day.” We’ll walk around, go to the market, and then pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra when they arrive from Washington at 8:00pm. Then, off and running!
August 1
We woke to a cold and dreary day, overcast and even drizzling a little. What happened to bright, sunny Africa?
We had a great breakfast at a place I remembered, Jambo’s, then walked around a lot. Went to the market, where we bought fruit for safari snacks, and Diane bought a khanga with the black, yellow, blue and green colors of the Tanzanian flag, to match the flag that is painted on her toenails (!). A young woman there said she could arrange a hat for Diane in the Tanzanian style. She spent about half an hour doing that on Diane’s head, with needle and thread to hold it in place. The monstrosity she created looked rather like Diane had a pillow sitting on her head, but at least it sure was attention grabbing. Don’t think that is the final use of the khanga.
Matt and Paola wanted to buy hiking boots for Roy. Another good project for the market. There are legions of shoe sellers in the market. Paola and Matt soon had all the vendors in the place scouring the entire market for suitable boots in the right size. They finally settled on a good pair, asking price $35. An absurd price in the market for used boots, but at least a starting point. Paola used her negotiating skills, honed in the Chinese marketplace, to bring the price down to $18 after long and hard bargaining with a large audience. She thought she had gotten a pretty good price, until they found the same boots in an adult size with an initial asking price of $15. Paola enjoys the haggling process, and chalked this up to a learning process. Who would have thought that these Africa market vendors could keep up with the notorious Chinese merchants in bargaining techniques?
Diane and I flew through the Shop Rite (a South African chain supermarket, here) and bought $125 of food for Thursday and Friday, when we will be in the Serengeti at the Taj Rest House, which can provide a cook but BYO Food. The store reluctantly agreed to put our four big boxes of supplies in the cooler for us, so we can do a quick pickup of it on Thursday morning after we complete the two days of camping in the Arusha National Park.
I am concerned about the expenses. I am paying the bills and we will settle later, but we are running over my promised budget already. In part, people came an extra day sooner, and I am paying for some meals that were not in the plan. I know we will all share the costs in the end, but I really don’t like to have this costing more than my family had planned. Well, so it goes.
The taxi service to the airport is $50, fixed price. But the shuttle driver from last night offered to give me a ride to pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra for $40. Then the hotel arranged the taxi for me at only $30. I figured that was the best we could get, and went to pick up the gang. So now we are all together, and ready to get underway tomorrow.
