Dar Es Salaam and the Kunduchi Beach Hotel

My alarm sounded at 4:45am, not that I was sleeping anyways. Knowing that I had to get up extremely early, I had crawled into bed by 8:30pm and had a relatively sleepless night. Excited and anxious for my upcoming travel to Dar Es Salaam, I spent most of the night tossing and turning in anticipation of the next day's journey. Normally such a night frustrates me, but last night I was just happy. So happy I guess that I didn't want to waste my time sleeping. After 4 weeks of living at the training camp, in a village, as part of a family, my body pulsed with the excitement and freedom of traveling again. Long bus rides. The quiet and luxury of retreating into my thoughts. Forging into new lands and unknown places. I couldn't wait! And so, when my alarm finally sounded, I popped out of bed, the wind whipping through the trees outside, the darkness of night surrounding me. After a warm cup of chai and under the glow of the moon, Patrick and Rehema walked with me across the school yard and through the village down to the main road, the wind a biting cold, reminiscent of an alpine winter. The bus was scheduled to arrive at 5:30am, but 5:30 came and went. We stood under the shelter of a bush, trying in vain to escape the wind blowing cold into our bones. At 6am, as the sun began to chase the moon from its throne, the welcomed glow of headlights raced towards us along the road. Buses, trucks, and dala dalas passed us by, honking as the approached, and slowing just slightly as the inquired at the muzungu standing on the side of the road before dawn. Wrapped in layers of clothing and fabric against the early morning cold, my hopes were raised and then smashed with each approaching beam of distant headlights, in a desperate bargaining with the bus gods to get me out of the wind. Finally after nearly an hour of enduring the lip chapping, ear aching cold, my bus arrived. Hugging my hosts goodbye, I climbed on board and squeezed my way through the overcrowded bus to my seat. Seated in a row of 3, I plopped down ungracefully next to a woman and young man. The woman was the epitome of large. Her mama African hips swelled onto all three seats, her bussom rested in her lap. The boy was pushed against the window and I wedged myself onto what remained of my seat. Only my right butt cheek fit, the rest of me hung off the side and into the aisle. I spent the next 12 hours trying to find a comfortable way to balance myself on half of a seat, my legs always in the way as people moved up and down the aisle of the bus. But after enduring a flat tire, a girl getting sick on my feet, eardrums pierced by the screaming blare of the radio, and a very sore butt, we arrived in Dar Es Salaam.

I was met by Cathy, the manager of a tour company here and colleague of a friend from Arusha. She drove me out to Kunduchi Beach Hotel and Resort where I met up with Lodz. Cathy is a young, ambitious, and worldly having lived in India for close to a year, and at just 25, is the managing director of a successful tour company. She's invited me to stay with her at her home, to show me her city, and to take me to Zanzibar! I think I'm going to have some fun here!

We pulled up to the resort and I was floored. The Tanzanian and Arabic grand architecture of the entry invited me into a world of a 5 star resort. The warm, tropical breeze flowed through the reception and the calm crashing of waves filled my senses. I love the beach. My reunion with Lodz plastered a smile on my face and a happiness that radiated from my heart. We hadn't seen each other since finishing grad school nearly 3 years ago, and finding each other in Tanzania was such a surprising coincidence. She is currently working in Haiti on an HIV/AIDS project through the University of Maryland, and is here in Dar Es Salaam for their annual training with their other country projects, including staff from Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. Lodz treated me to a buffet dinner and a few bottles of Kilimanjaro--fresh rolls, eggplant Parmesan, spaghetti, salad, and chocolate cake were just a few of the many different foods | piled high on my plate. What a night! There's nothing like a 5 star hotel, a great buffet, big bottles of beer, and a HOT shower to perk up your mood!