theboonedoggle

Hey guys! So, it took a few more days to get to an internet connection than we hoped, so I'll back up a bit and round out our travels through Tanzania (we're now in Malawi). Kilimanjaro was a success... seven days, some hard work, and a ton of fun, and we made it to the top. Hakuna Matata! -which actually DOES mean "no problem" in Swahili. The view was amazing from the top, but as always (and I think like everyone else) we only spent ten minutes on top to enjoy it. I don't know why we do that -spend seven days hiking up a mountain, only to spend a brief moment enjoying our success. Maybe it was because our water had frozen and we were tired and just plain ready to sleep a little. The night of our return to Arusha, one of our guides, Arnold (mambo vipi, kaka?!) had us over to his home for a traditional meal of ugali, kuku (chicken) and pumpkin leaf.... very good! We spent another day in Arusha setting up tickets to Mbeya, and having dinner one last time and Khan...

Greetings from Zanzibar... After a rough start in Dar Es Salaam we made our escape to Zanzibar, an island about 2 hrs away by boat, where we found a quaint little beach (Paje beach) on the east coast with white sand and deep green water. Paje is a small fishing village and we spent our days swimming in the Indian Ocean and our afternoons lounging with cold drinks as we watched families help the fisherman unload their boats. This was a perfect way to shake the last few years of work. Life here in Tanzania, is much slower than back home and we were both quick to adopt the phrase "hakuna matata" , meaning no problem or its ok. After Paje we made our way back to Stone town (the main town/port of Zanzibar) on the daladala - a bus or more like a truck with a roof over its bed. We thought we were getting great seats when we climbed to the little bench parallel to the cabin, but little did we know that in Tanzania there is room in the daladala for everyone. Within about 10 minut...