Saturday, May 13, 2012

Finally I have arrived in Bagamoyo!  Thirteen hours to Addis Abba, then a two hour delay, plus an unexpected touch down in Zanzibar and finally to DarEsSalaam! Customs and getting my stamp, so I could volunteer, was an experience. Hectic and confusing does not quite describe it.  Erica, who also is staying in Bagamoyo and a young man I met at the airport in Abbas made things much more comfortable and after a three hour van ride from Dar to Bagamoyo, Erica and I arrived at the Cross Cultural Solutions home base. We were served a great dinner and then it was off to bed after almost 30 hours of no sleep.

For some reason I was given a room to myself, the largest room. The bed is super comfortable, but continuously wrapping myself in the mosquito netting is not always easy.  

Sunday, May 13, 2012

I had trouble sleeping and then finally slept…right through breakfast! But I hurried and made it in time to our first get together meeting. There are two groups volunteering-five women at the Main House and 20 plus ROTC students from various places in the United States. After orientation and lunch, we visited the ruins of Kaole. Kaole is one of the earliest settlements on the coast of East Africa during the 13^th century. It grew because of trade.

We saw a huge Baobob Tree; it took fourteen people to surround its base.

It poured rain all night and most of the day, so we returned early and chilled outside.

Later, I tried to help the young guard, Martin improve his English a little and spoke at length to our leader       about life and politics in Tanzania.

The food here is unbelievable; spinach, cabbage, curries and rice, avocadoes, spaghetti, beans…this vegetarian is in heaven!