Easing into Africa

Our first full day in Tanzania went very well.  We had a very low-key day overall.  Even with the full day of travel yesterday, we did not sleep too much last night since our bodies were thinking it was the middle of the day.  It seemed we all took our turns laying awake and whispering to each other.  We woke up to "Wake up, Mom and Dad, we're bored!" at around 5AM.  The boys were wide awake and ready to check out the grounds and the nearby village.  Christopher, the accommodations supervisor, prepared a fabulous breakfast for us of potato and onion pancakes, homemade bread and fabulous fresh fruit.  We took a few walks to town and saw many Tanzanians harvesting corn and other crops and transporting them with their bicycles (it's amazing the amount of stalks they can put on their bike and still be able to ride it~a bundle the size of a small car), motorcycles, and in large containers on their heads.  They are SO friendly and warm.  We have not seen many other tourists here at all and the locals seem eager to greet us.  It's been fun practicing some of our conversational Swahili.  When we were strolling to town later in the day after school was out, the kids seemed eager to practice their English that they must be learning in class.  Lots of giggles and smiles and they were not shy at all.  When we walked by the school during recess, we watched them play soccer with the most unlikely items~old plastic jugs and buckets.  Tanzania's economy is ranked as one of the world's poorest but from what we can see, they are not poor in spirit or happiness.

For lunch, the volunteers here recommended a restaurant called Tanz-Hands just down the main road that is part of something called "Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Center."  It is an organization that helps physically disabled Tanzanians with physical and occupational therapy.  It also provides training in the areas of welding and sewing to the individuals.  It was nice to find a place where the food was not only safe for us to eat, but delicious too!  They also sell items that are made by the disabled artisans to help them have a source of income and better standard of living.  We found the most adorable figures made out of welded scrap metal~elephants, hippos, giraffes...  Perfect souvenirs to remind us of Tanzania.  

Because of our early arrival, we also took some time to figure out some additions to our itinerary before the big boys head up the mountain.  We decided to leave one day early (Monday) for our safari and add Tarangire National Park to our list of places to experience.  The boys have done some research into what animals we may see and we are interested in seeing the differences between the parks.  We will be staying at Bougainvilla Safari Lodge after our game drive to be closer to Ngorongoro Crater the next morning.  Tomorrow we have a guide that will take us to Arusha National Park.  It is close to our cottage (about a 45- minute drive) so it will be a nice day trip from here.  Arriving a few days early will also allow Christopher and Allan to have some time to spend at the orphanage before they leave on Thursday.  So on Sunday, we will all be able to spend time there together which we are looking forward to.  We had a tour of the facility today and our hearts melted when we met the babies!  The youngest of them were sleeping but we were able to spend some time with the older ones (around age two)  They are absolutely precious and absolutely ADORABLE!  A few kept calling Christopher "baba" which means dad in Swahili.  If you click on the link to Cradle of Love at the bottom of the page and then click on "meet the children," you can actually see pictures of the cuties that are there.

Even though we took some time to just rest and relax today, we are all pretty tired tonight and are hoping for a FULL night sleep this time.  Sending our love...