Arusha

On Saturday, I travled with several other volunteer friends to the near by city of Arusha. It was about an hour and a half bus ride away, and quite an adventure. The people in Arusha were very eager to have English conversations with Americans, especially because George W. Bush is currently visiting Tanzania. My favorite converstion was with a man who told us his name was Happana Asante, he was surprised to learn we all know enough Swahili to know Happana Asante means No Thank You. While in town we visited a market place of arts and crafts made by the Messi, the native people of Kilimanjaro.
The best part of the trip came on the way home though. We took the last bus of the day from Arusha to Moshi, and it was a bus made for about 50 people, they was packed with more than 100 people!! As we drove down the road in between the two towns, the door to the bus stayed open and people jumped on and off the bus without it ever stopping! To put the cherry on top of the experience, because Bush is in the country right now, the radio played the Star Spangled Banner most of the way home! It was quite a funny scene as we made our way along the bumpy trail, all with tanzanian men sitting in our laps.
When we finally arrived back in Moshi, we still had a long walk back to our home. We learned quickly that it had rained all day in Moshi, because the road to our home was nothing but mud! By the time we finally reached the door I had lost a shoe in the mud, and had mud all the way up to my knees!! It sounds bad, but it was a great time, and we all laughed the whole way.