Hey guys! So I am in touch with a few of you, but some of you I am WAY out of touch with! I just wanted to put out an update about the trip with everyone here. So Tiff, Amy, and Marcelle arrived in Tanzania on the 13th of July, excited, a little sleep deprived, but looking forward to the adventure ahead. That night we went out to some delicious Indian food. Full, a little exhausted, but high on seeing each other we went back to the hotel room and promptly started giving out haircuts and chatting on the balcony at our hotel. The next day we woke up early and jumped on the ferry to Zanzibar, but not before I got SUPER sick, which put a little cramp in our trip. We still are not sure where it came from, but I woke up feeling nauseous and threw up before we even left the room, then in the ferry bathroom before we even left the dock, then all throughout the ferry ride. When we got to Zanzibar we jumped in to a cab and made it through the notoriously windy, one way, swamped streets of Stonetown to our hotel, Jambo Inn. As soon as we checked in I was not feeling well again. So I sent Amy, Skillz and Tiff out on there own. They successfully found some yummy street food and did some shopping! When they returned I still was not feeling well so we decided it would be best if they went out with my friend Eric and his girlfriend who was visiting as well. Then later we all went out for some yummy seafood!

The next day we woke up early to go on the Spice Tour, since Zanzibar is famous for its spices. And in previous centuries it was the 2nd biggest export of Zanzibar, after the slave trade. The spice tour was great, we learned a lot about where spices come from and then in the afternoon we went swimming in the Indian Ocean. Then we wound up our day sitting at a bar on the beach drinking delicious mojitos! Yum! It was really fun! For dinner we went to this open fish market where people cook somewhat fresh fish over open grills. It was a fun experience, however either due to the salty ocean or the way they preserve the fish it was REALLY SALTY. And we all felt like bouillon cubes by the end of the night. The next day we shopped around Zanzibar, which was really fun. We bought earrings, bracelets, ornaments, paintings, and other fun things!

Then we jumped on our ferry.....or what we thought was our ferry. It turned out to be an earlier ferry that was not as nice, we assumed it was ours since when we showed our tickets no one said anything or corrected us. We realized that we were on the wrong one just as the ferry was pulling out from the docks. Feeling jolly, we all thought it was no big deal and we pulled out books and computers to pass the time.....a few minutes later....one of the guys working on the ferry starts passing out throw up bags. We took a few thinking they would just be good plastic bags to use later for toiletries or other such things....a few minutes later.....we are starting to go over some pretty intense waves, and everything is getting pretty rocky. Marcelle and I decide to move outside and just get some fresh air. As we stood up it became apparent that we really needed to get outside since we were both feeling like we were going to throw up.....a few minutes later....Marcelle is throwing up over the back of the boat, Amy and I are heaving in to plastic bags and Tiff is stumbling out of the indoor compartment, needing air immediately. What we thought would be a pleasant ride, a time to get some reading done, and reflect on Zanzibar, quickly turned in to a war zone, between all the passengers and the sea. In just a few minutes chaos ensued. Babies were screaming, women were collapsing on the deck, people stopped trying to be discreet about throwing up, it was happening everywhere and everyone was doing it. Inside and outside, no one was left untouched by the forces of the Indian ocean. I stood on one corner of the stern that was getting completely slammed with waves and I was soaked to the bone, but I did not care, the force of the waves on my face was distracting from my sickness. At one point I looked around and there was not one unoccupied part of the stern deck. The crew was running around throwing out plastic bags of throw up and passing out new ones, rolling people to the sides of the walkways instead of in the middle so other people could stumble by. We witnessed a white man get thrown up on by a young, embarrassed Tanzanian girl, mothers nursing children while throwing up in to bags, and people sharing throw up bags, for the shear reason of not being able to hold it in to get another bag. I apologize for the details of this story but I am just telling it as it was. Finally we started to see land and we urged the ferry on, desperately dreaming of our first steps on solid ground. We made it, we survived, we bonded with our fellow passengers, feeling as though we had been through a battle together. Relieved, but worn out, we made our way to Econo Lodge for some serious resting time.

The next day we woke up early to jump on a bus to Mikumi National Park. We were happy to start the next leg of our journey and make our way south. We arrived in Mikumi in the late morning, excited for the safari ahead of us. As we were getting off the bus, which we had to do rather quickly since the buses do not like to slow down, we all shuffled off grabbing our bags and making sure we had everything, while giving the proper greetings to the conductors on the bus. Tiff was the last to disembark and fell face down on her bag. We all broke out in to laughter, as the bus started to drive away the conductor yelled "ohhh, pole (sorry)" out of the window as the other passengers just looked on. It was pretty funny and luckily Tiff landed straight on to her bag, which was full of clothes and other soft things to lessen the fall. We made it to our lodge, grabbed some rice and beans, and jumped in to our safari car to start our safari! Immediately we started seeing elephants, giraffes and zebras. Only an hour in to the safari we saw lions! Two females, resting from a feed on a zebra the previous day, the zebra carcass was just sitting in the river, even though they were full they were still preventing other animals from getting close to the body. It was really cool! We went on to see wildebeests, water buffalo, a warthog, 2 crocodiles out of the water, lots of hippo heads popping out of the water for air, and lots of birds. We were only there for 5 hours but we saw so much! It was really great.

The next day we had a lazy morning and enjoyed the all you can eat breakfast and the free espresso machine at the lodge. We then jumped on another bus to make our way to Mbeya. We arrived in Mbeya somewhat late and stayed at my friend Devon's house in town. The next day we ran errands, had some pizza at our only-for-special-occasions pizza place, and made it back to Devons for a late afternoon party with some other Peace Corps Volunteers. The next day we got in to the back of one of the lorries that goes to Ilembo from town. Luckily, my driver John, was able to safe a seat up front for Amy (she tore her ACL a few weeks before so she had to take it easy on the travel). Tiffany, Marcelle and I sat in the back, which was pretty packed. So we just sat on our bags and held on to each other so we would not fall. There, all of them were given kimalila (my tribal language) names, Marcelle was given Mbozyo, which everyone got a kick out of, the technical translation is medicine. Amy was given Mwaji, which means queen. And Tiff was given Mwinga, which either is just a name, or means good woman, we could not really get a straight answer. But everyone just loved that they got kimalila names! It was a hit in the vill!

When we arrived in the village children greeted us at the lorry and carried our bags to my house. Then we rested for a little while. Later, Amy was not feeling well so we left her behind, while Tiff, Marcelle and I went to Nahasibu's village, Iyunga, for a msiba (funeral). Nahasibu's grandfather passed away, he was a very old man, and had not been able to walk for a while, and was also in a lot of pain. There were tons of people over at Nahasibu's house and at his grandmother's house. Mostly elders, and many of them had been drinking all day. I guess a funeral here is reason to drink the local brew here all day long. The local brew is an alcohol made out of wheat, I believe, and it smells like yeast. It bubbles at the top and people drink it with long wooden straws out of buckets. It is a popular daytime activity here in Ilembo, particularly for older people. Then we went to visit the grave and we prayed together with some other family members. There was a lot of greeting, a lot of translating (most older people do not speak Swahili so they would speak in the tribal language, someone would translate in to Swahili and then I would translate in to English for Tiff and Marcelle). All, in all, it was an interesting experience. And a good cross-cultural one as well. Then we came back to finish up dinner and relax. The next day we woke up early and headed towards the clinic for Baby Weighing Day (a day once a month when the mamas bring their babies to get weighed). Before we started the weighing we taught a lesson about diarrhea and sang a song about diarrhea, which another PCV wrote. We explained why diarrhea is a problem, where it comes from, what people can do to prevent it, and what people should do if they have it, then we taught everyone how to make the oral re-hydration drink, when someone is really dehydrated. All in all it was a good lesson, with a large audience!

The next day was market day, which is always a little chaotic here, since there are just so many people, trying to sell a lot of things. However, Mwaji, Mwinga, and Mbozyo tirelessly shake everyones hand and kept smiles one their faces the whole time! We did some shopping, did some greeting, stopped by the Mary Ryan Foundation offices, stopped by the schools and the health center! It was a full day. On Saturday we headed back over to Iyunga for a party with my orphans group. We all met at Richard's house and watched while a few men killed a rooster, it was really more of an anatomy lesson than anything, then we tried to help cook in the kitchen, however it was so smoky none of us could really stand in there for a long period of time. We talked, we ate, we drank a lot of soda, and we had a great time! It was slightly overwhelming since there were so many people! But it was really fun.

On Sunday we went over to Elisha's and helped his wife and one of my good friends in the village, Mama Deborah, to cook. There were only a few of us and the kitchen was much less smoky so we were able to help and everyone learned how to cook ugali! Which was really fun! We told stories, talked about the differences between Cameroon and Tanzania (currently Mbozyo is a PCV in Cameroon), which everyone really loved. There are a lot of similarities in the cultures and I think we were all excited to hear that they eat a type of ugali there too! (Tanzanians still do not understand how Americans feel full without eating ugali, they are shocked every time I tell them we do not eat ugali in America). I always tell them, not to worry I will teach people how to make ugali when I get home, and this relieves them of a little distress.

Monday we had a party with my Widows Group where everyone bought aprons and we ate even more ugali! Afterwards we walked around the village a little and said our goodbyes to some people. The next day we woke up bright and early, around 3:30AM to jump on my bus. Besides the early rise it was a relatively smooth ride! Once we arrived in Mbalizi (my junction town, about 30 minutes outside of Mbeya) we went to Utengule, a coffee plantation here in the Mbeya area. There we drank way too much delicious coffee and then a yummy breakfast. Afterwards we all felt a little sick from being sleep deprived, over caffinated, and over greased from the eggs and sausage. Needless to say, it was a relatively nauseous ride from Utengule in to town. Soon some of us felt better, others did not. We ran a few errands in town and then met up with some of the Mbeya PCVs for some more Indian food and a great last night with Mwinga and Mbozyo, who hopped on a bus to Dar the next morning and eventually safely made it back to their various stomping grounds. Mwaji stayed behind for a few days. That morning the head of the District Office was going to Ilembo so we hitched a ride in a nice District car back to my village and made it back in no time! Mwaji and I had a wonderful couple of days in the village, with more cooking, hanging out with villagers, and a nice hike through some of the hills of Umalila (my mountain). On Saturday we headed back in to town because she was getting on the bus the next morning to Dar. The ride in to town was starkly different from our ride in the nice district office car. We were squeezed in to the back of a pick-up truck and because there were so many bags of potatoes, rice, and dry beans on the bed of the truck, we were forced to sit on the bars on the top. It ended up being a beautiful ride and relatively safe since we were all so squeezed in together! Amy had her first try at eating sugar cane, with a relatively large, jolly audience, enjoying witnessing her trying to peel of the sides with her teeth (eating sugar cane is a loud, sticky, somewhat painful process that I try and steer clear of). And then, Amy successfully made it back to Dar on her own, which was very impressive!

It was such an amazing trip and so nice to see more people from home! I feel so lucky that I have such wonderful friends to come here and visit. We really had a fantastic time. Now I am headed back to the village to continue working on some of my projects and get some teaching in before our Mid-Service Conference in Dar es Salaam! Talk to you all soon!