Sleep is For The Weak

Well it's been a hell of a ride so far.

The entire trip took about 32 hours, including an eight hour layover in Vancouver, and a 9 and 8 hour flight, with only half an hour to get to my gate in between. Throughout this I only slept about 2 hours on one of the flights. Upon arriving in Arusha I was greeted by a gust of hot air and the view of palm trees waving in the wind and baobabs, gnarled and strong. Customs was luckily a breeze, although they did scan every single one of my fingerprints. I was excited to find my guitar intact at baggage claim and then was picked up by Chris, one of the support staff at the volunteer house. When we arrived at the car I attempted to get in the drivers side, a mistake that Chris was used to as every volunteer living here did it when they first arrived. The drive from Kilimanjaro to Arusha is about an hour so I had lots of time to take in the scenery, Tanzanians walking along the road, luxurious houses, and houses that were some of the most run down shacks I have seen in my life. Driving here is more of an art than anything, and seatbelts are not nessecary. Watching the flow of weaving, pothole dodging and signaling with high beams made me glad I was not in the drivers seat. There does not seem to be posted speed limits, but in more populated areas speed bumps are abundant. The day I arrived was the day of the Tanzanian election, and as the results were coming in, a massive citywide party was starting, for all those that were happy with the results. It takes much longer for everything to be counted up here, so the results are not all in as I write this but it looks as if Chadema has won, taking over from the CCM, who have been in power for over 50 years. Chadema is popular among younger Tanzanians, so many here in Arusha are in the midst of celebrations. The volunteer house is three stories, and contains around 11 volunteers currently. There are only two boys, me and my roomate Andreas from Denmark. The rest of the girls are mostly from Denmark as well but there are also some from Germany, Belgium and Latvia. Everyone here has been very kind and accepting so far. That night I fell asleep to the sound of loud music, cheering and roosters and dogs fighting in the streets.

Internet is very limited for me here, so I will be writing these posts offline, and posting a bunch of them when I get a chance!

Written on Oct. 26
About Oct. 24-25