Tanzania. - Arusha

Tanzania Day 1 - Arusha

We arrived at our lodge late last night, nearly 11 PM.  The main road from the airport was a paved two lane road so the drive was a bit slow getting to Arusha. Then the van turned off the main road and proceeded down the road to the lodge which is a dirt road, pockmarked and bumpy!  The locals refer to riding that road as having an African massage!  We were greeted at the lodge and shown to our hut, which is very nice.  We have a huge mosquito net in the room covering both beds completely.  Malaria is a problem here so everywhere you go there are nets in the rooms.  We had a lovely, very late dinner at the lodge, and at midnight they served champagne and everyone celebrated the New Year.  We heard fireworks going not too far away.  We were so tired by then that after the ritual toast we went to bed!  

We had an interesting day today seeing Arusha, one of the largest cities in Tanzania.  We started out visiting a local entrepreneurial family who make clay water filters.  We got a tour of the facility and learned how they make the filters out of clay and our group donated money to purchase three filters for one of the villages we are going to visit later this week. Water purification is a big issue here.  The water is very contaminated and both typhus and cholera are quite common especially in rural villages where access to bottled water is very limited.  These filters can save the rural poor a lot of money and provide much safer drinking water than they otherwise have access to.  After we left there we visited a non-profit organization called Shanga, which employs disabled people in making crafts out of recycled bottles, glass, aluminum and paper.  The products they make are gorgeous and very creative and imaginative.  We learned some Swahili words and learned how to sign them with the deaf workers.  We also had a very traditional African lunch which was delicious.    Then we went to the home of our guide, Boniface, where there was a neighborhood New Year's Day party going on.  All his neighbors gathered at his house with lots of food and many, many children, so we enjoyed meeting them and spending some time ringing in the New Year with them.  Unfortunately, although technically we should be beyond the rainy season here, the weather hasn't figured out the calendar yet, and we had torrential rain all afternoon.  The party at Boniface's home was supposed to be outside, but because of the heavy rain we all had to squeeze inside the house, which made for a very crowded scene!  We left there about 3:30 and headed back to the lodge.  We've got the rest of the day free.  The combination of the rain and the holiday/Sunday means there isn't much our guide can come up with for us to do.  Most of us are fine with a little downtime, especially those of us who just arrived and are still dealing with jet lag.  Tomorrow we will be leaving here quite early, so having this evening just to relax is fine with us.  Notwithstanding the rain, it is nice and warm here, the flowers are beautiful and I'm enjoying being in summer clothes!  The poverty of this country is similar to what we saw in India.  Many many people live in huts, and even the more modern homes are very rudimentary by first world standards.   And the city of Arusha is very much a developing world city, nothing like cities in more industrial societies.  The contrast between the standard of living to which we are accustomed in the US and what we see here is striking.

That's it for today.   Off to the lodge bar for cocktail hour pretty soon.   I'm looking forward to my G&T!  The app on my iPad for this blog is not working well at all and will not allow me to upload photos.  Check Facebook for pics!