Leaving Zanzibar; Heading to Arusha

WORST. BOAT RIDE. EVER. We headed back to the mainland today and the ferry ride was horrible. It was bad on the way there but the way back was so much worse. We even sat outside and still got sick. After I filled up my puke bag I had to run on the rocking boat over to the side to finish getting sick. Even the locals were puking! The three worst hours of my life.

The day didn't start off so bad though. We woke up early and went to the Darajani market for awhile and I got some good pictures of the locals. It was interesting seeing hanging animal carcasses next to vegatable stands and tee shirt vendors. Very weird and something you definitely wouldn't see back home.

Once we got to Dar we hopped in a cab and went to the YMCA hostel. We wandered around town looking for something to eat - which was hard because everything is closed on Sundays but we managed to find one. But it was filled with a bunch of locals having some sort of party! They all looked at us funny (which is starting to become the norm) but the kids were so curious! They would look and peek around corners and then wave and run away; so cute.

The next morning we woke up at 6am to catch a bus to Arusha. We got to the bus station at 6:30 expecting to load at 7 and leave at 7:30. Nope nothing happened until 8 and we were on our way at 8:30. On the way we would stop like every half hour so that vendors could come up to the windows and sell us things like oranges, cashews, drinks and various other odd items. Meg and I got the cashews which were good but it was the most bizarre thing haggling for food out a window. And if you even looked at them they would swarm your window and chase the bus out of the stop trying to get you to buy something. Then the bus broke down. Not once, but twice. They had the engine taken apart on the side of the road and were blocking the whole north bound route of a major highway. Pretty crazy. In all the trip took 12 hours when it was supposed to take 8. Oh well I guess that's what happens in Africa.

When we got to the bus station finally we were overwhelmed by taxi drivers trying to get our business. Luckily, Dan (our manager) and Christina (team leader) were waiting to pick us up so that we didn't have to deal with them. They were so insistant that we couldn't even get off the bus! They were blocking the exit and finally the bus driver screamed at all of them to get out of the way. It was so crazy. Then when we headed off with Dan they yelled at him for taking their business.

We dropped our stuff off at the Centre house hostel and went to eat. I had chicken and rice which was yummy. Hopefully I'll finally find some Tanzanian food to eat! So far it's all be Indian or things I'd have at home.