Arusha

First things first: Vlogs of my grand-pop and me will be put up too. It's easier for my grandfather to keep his travels documented (and for my dad and his sis and everyone else to know how HIS travels are going)

For me, I've never vlogged before so I thought I'd try it with the "old fashion" typing method.

Since I left of in my last post SO much has happened. I have since left Amsterdam and have landed in Mount Kili Airport.

We left Amsterdam on a 10:00 AM flight- security frighteningly sparse- and landed at around 7-8:00 PM in Arusha, Tanzania, where customs consisted of a glance at our passports and scanning our fingerprints.

Outside for a quick moment we met Rob, our handsome tour guide- a Masai (Kenyan) before hoping into a taxi and zipping off to the hotel. At such high elevation bugs are nearly non-existent here (especially mosquitoes) so our windows were wide open (as well as our hotel room windows). We made good time at the front desk, asking them to not tell my sister that we arrived, no I was going to surprise her.

Mahala and I chatted for a bit before nearly keeling over in hunger (but not before she showed me her amazingness- she got the Nikon D3100 body- I lover her). The food here is great! A typical meal for the locals consists of: Ugali, which is a tasteless mix of water and flour, topped with a bit of meat (rarely port but mostly beef and mutton) and bunch of sauce. Of course at our hotel we have nicer options, I was glad and enjoyed the more authentic food we can't get on the streets (not unless you want to be violently sick). We had Mt. Kilimanjaro beer, wine and incredible ginger ale that is so spicy you smell it through your nose and it burns a bit. We went to bed around 12:00AM.

After being woken up by a crazy sister at around 7:00AM we went back downstairs and had breakfast (cereal with fresh goats milk and some pastries). We officially met Rob as well as one of the other families we are to be traveling with. My grand-father's impression so far is "Dull" but considering they were supposed to be on our flight but had to take another and arrive that very morning I won't post any judgements on them yet ;p

After meeting Rob and having lunch we went into town- not something you want to do without someone knowledgeable. It was definitely a culture shock, or maybe not shock but a exhilarating/exhausting experience.

Word of the day: Habana: No

We went to the market so it was no surprise everyone begins descending on top of you.

After my sister bought *haggled* an avocado, onions, garlic and a lemon (guess what she wants to make) we stopped by a little shop where we got Chai- a staple drink in everyone's diet. Its not the Chai you think of in the U.S. Its very different, stronger in terms of the milk taste. Its difficult to describe but delicious smooth, rich and sweet.

Afternoon was rather quiet. Spent packing for the adventure tomorrow. Dinner with passion fruit mouse and awesome curry chicken. We then tapped Grandpa's first vlog of the trip. And now bed. It is 1:03AM here and I have to be up by 6:30.


Kwaheri kwa kuonana- Until next time.