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
