Jambo!!

Jambo from Dar!!!

We are now getting ready to leave the capital of Tanzania after chilling here for a week.

My parents arrived at the end of June and we had such a great visit with them!! They were much more hard core than we ever imagined, right off the bat we went for a walk in the downtown streets of Dar Es Salam and my mom and I drank tea with a street vendor. He even gave it to us for free! And everyone here called my mom "Mama" and Dad "Papa''. It was great! They were treated with much respect and kindness everywhere we went (well most places!). We also went to a real African market and Dad got to practice his bargaining skills African style! Unfortunately Dad kept referring to the Tanzanian Schillings as "play money" and seemed to think that any price asked for was reasonable. So Darl and I had to suck it up and give up on our fine-tuned skills of getting a deal.

After Dar we took a 10 hour bus ride to Arusha in search of a safari tour in the Serengeti. We lucked out and found a great company quickly and were off the next day for three nights, four days of camping in the jungle! We even had an elephant wander onto our campsite one night and every night we could hear scary sounds from wort hogs, hyenas, and other mysterious creatures. Darl was frightened but I held him closely!

Our tour guide was great and he helped us to spot cheetas, lions, baby lions, millions of wildebeests migrating, millions of zebras running to a water hole, hippos galore, giraffes, amazing birds, monkeys and the list could go on forever!

After my mom finished hugging our guide and cook a million times, we carried on with our adventure and travelled to exotic Zanzibar island for some R and R. Here we stayed in a peaceful village on the beach called Jambiani and spent our days by the pool, walking on the beach, and eating seafood. Wine was difficult to find, but we did get creative, we even snuck booze in a water bottle into one strictly no alcohol allowed restaurant! Dad and Darl had some good bonding time over gin and juice and Darl almost had my Dad hugging him (but not quite). hehe. We also went snorkelling and Dad tried fishing using a string and stick on a home-made sail boat made from rice sacks and mango trees. Good times enjoyed by all as we watched mom try to get back on the sail boat after snorkelling! She resembled humpty dumpty!

Now since my parents left, we have been trying to get used to life without them again. We have been chilling in the city, organizing our next trek up Kiliminjaro, and finding interesting street food once again. We have been staying at a great Indian run guesthouse downtown and enjoyed the final world cup match with tonnes of people from around the world. Although we were cheering for Netherlands, we still enjoyed ourselves!!