Pages

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Let’s get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance

Easter Break-4/5-4/9


Hello there! So I had a great Easter Break this year, even though it was obviously sad not to be with family during the holiday. As a side note, my aunt is going to have surgery on Friday (4/28), so if everyone who is reading this could say a quick prayer or just send out some good vibes I would really appreciate it.

Well, we had planned to climb Mt. Hanag which sounded really exciting, except we realized the night before that we hadn’t planned it out thoroughly enough and that we didn’t have enough time to do it. So a friend of ours had gone to Tanga and Pangani, so the next day we hopped onto the first bus to Tanga with a guidebook in hand. Tanga is on the Northeast corner and is not too far from Kenya. I absolutely fell in the love with the town, which although it is the third largest city in Tanzania in terms of population, it still managed to keep a small town feel. There were so many more parks and trees and hedges, the most green I have been in a city since arriving here. So we got to the city around 4 or 5 because we had grabbed an early bus, but we had a little trouble finding a place that had availability that wasn’t super expensive. Luckily, our taxi driver helped us find a great place that wasn’t too pricey. And for the first time since I arrived, I had my own room. After Gabe and Emily left I took advantage of the opportunity by jumping on the bed and laughing, only to be greeted a few seconds later by a very confused hotel worker with the sodas Gabe had ordered. But that night we stayed at the hotel and ate and got to know the manager, who was a rotund fellow who very much enjoyed his drinks but he was a nice guy all around.

On Friday me and Gabe went for a run and got to explore the town even more. Interestingly enough I have been running a fairly good amount while here, even if I can’t last for a long distance because of the heat but its become my favorite way to get familiar with a new area. Once we got back we rented bicycles because Tanga is a biking town, which apparently is staunchly upheld by the townspeople, and we were told that if a car hit a bike a mob would instantly form. But so many people rode bikes, which is  an anomaly in Dar since the traffic is so bad. So we rode around and explored the city a bit, finally ending at the Yacht Club. Although the beach was rocky, there was a platform in the water we could jump off of and the food was really good. I had a prawns pita, and it was great to have fresh salad as well. That night we ate at a great pizza place….and then got to ride out bikes home which was entertaining and luckily the hotel was not too far from where we were. On Saturday we left for Pangani, to a place called Mkoma Bay which we found in the guidebook. After a long and bumpy taxi ride from Tanga, we arrived to one of the most beautiful places we have stayed yet. Although it was a expensive, it was completely worth it. We were in a luxury tent, with running hot water and a bathroom. There was a pool, a really cool restaurant area made out of wood, and we were on a cliff overlooking the ocean with easy access to the beach and use of kayaks whenever we wanted. It was an almost perfect vacation spot, and I actually had a very active stay. I ran every day on the beach, we kayaked, and one day we rented bikes. However, the best part was that there was a couple there who was on a program called workstay, in which you get free room and board if you work for free. It is a pretty sweet deal, and they had been traveling together on this program for years. They had originally restored an old VW van and traveled all around America and Europe in it, it even had a toilet. But we were really lucky because the husband was a chef, and the food was absolutely amazing. And we had real coffee for the first time.

After we arrived on Saturday we just hung out and enjoyed the beach and the beautiful weather. That night we had a delicious dinner, and it was the first time I had a true ‘Western’ meal in a long time. Another nice thing about Mkomo Bay was that it was a small establishment so all the guests had a chance to get to know each other and we had a really good time with two women who worked in Tanzania. On Easter Sunday we had the best brunch, with quiche, potatoes, fruit, scones, croissants, and best of all REAL pancakes. It was a wonderful way to start off Easter! Later on that day we walked on the beach to Pangani, which was a tiny but quaint town. Some of the houses were nice, my favorite being the one that was bright pink with a gorgeous flowering tree outside. We decided to rent bikes again, only to find out how bumpy and long the ride on the main road was. Once we finally got back to Mkomo we spent more time in the sun, and eventually rented kayaks. It was cool because during high tide there was a mangrove grove that you could kayak through. That night, we had Easter dinner. They pulled all the tables together so that all the guests were eating next to each other, which was nice to be able to talk with everyone. We had garlic prawns, which were superb, and it was for sure the first time I ate that on Easter.

We had planned to leave on Monday, but since we don’t really have classes on Tuesday we decided to stay an extra night. On Monday we returned the bikes, but we thought it might be easier to ride them on the beach. Which was a completely false assumption, seeing as the bikes sank in the sand. So part of the way I had to walk, but that was alright because I could better see the fishermen that pulled their nets in on the shore. Once we ran back we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sun. That night we again had an amazing meal, this time it was lamb with a mint spread and scalloped potatoes. Everything was just so good. Alas, it had to all come to an end and on Tuesday morning we had to take a bus back to Tanga and then catch another one to Dar. I want to say in total it was around 9 hours of traveling, although our bus did break down for fifteenish minutes. We were sitting in the front and then all of a sudden the bus got filled with smoke so there was a mad dash to rush out of the bus, and yes there were chickens involved (yup, someone brought a live chicken on a six hour bus ride). But no worries they fixed it, or at least stopped it from smoking so we arrived without too much delay. All in all it was a great vacation and a wonderful way to spend Easter. 

Much love,
Beebs