Out of Africa

It was a once in a lifetime experience to be sure. And if it truly doesn' t happen again in my life, I can at least say, "I've been there, done that." I've spoken swahili (well, maybe a total of six words) to Africans in Tanzania, I've been on safari, and I've tasted freshly made sugar cane juice. I've ridden on a dala-dala and watched ostriches mate. I've purchased hand-made jewelry from the Masai people and spoken to a woman who birthed her child all alone in a hut. I've shared my binoculars with Tanzanian school children and watched women prepare chapatis. I've seen people who can't even imagine the wealth of America do back-breaking work and yet laugh and smile more than many of the people I know. I've hugged long and hard a son, daughter-in-law, and grand daughter whom I hadn't seen in over a year. These are bits and pieces of the recent trip Jim and I took to Africa. I hardly know where to begin in trying to blog about this amazing experience, so I guess I'll just try to do it in bits and pieces, a few memories at a time.

The Adventure Begins . . .

July 14 - We departed from Cedar Rapids airport to begin a more than 24 hour trek to Dar es Salaam, and then on to the island - Zanzibar, that is.

Here we are with our luggage at the airport in CR, ready to begin. Two of the four suitcases we brought (200 pounds of stuff altogether) were filled with food and other items that Jason and Roxanne are unable to get so far away.
Two continents and more than 24 hours later, we made it to Dar and had a happy reunion with Jason, who we hadn't seen in a year. We spent that first night in a guesthouse in Dar, and then boarded the ferry (dubbed puke boat by Roxanne) to head over to their home in Zanzibar. The ferry ports in Dar and Zanzibar are a nightmare - people running up to take your luggage or offer a taxi, sell bottled water or cashews, other people walking, riding bikes, pulling wooden carts full of goods, dashing back and forth in front of traffic, cars, mopeds, horns honking, etc. We were so grateful that Jason had made the trip to Dar to meet us and accompany us on the ferry and through the port. Crazy stuff!

We finally arrived at Jason and Roxanne's house and were happily reunited with Roxanne and Annikah. What a joyous time that was!

Roxanne presented us with Survivor buffs - as we had jokingly referred to this trip as our own "Survivor Experience." They were even personalized for Bibi and Babu, the names we were called throughout our stay - kiswahili for grandma and grandpa.

We ended our first day with dinner out at an "Italian" restaurant right on the water. Jason and Roxanne were treating us to celebrate the birthdays, Mother's Day, and Father's Day that were unable to celebrate together this year. What a wonderful introduction to life on the island. Eating al fresco at dusk (the sun is up from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM every night, since Zanzibar is right at the equator) gave a romantic feel to our first dinner on the island.

More to come ...