Monday October 27

Monday October 27

we arrived in Amsterdam at 5:40 am - just too early. So we both slept a couple hours at the gate.

Our next flight left at 10:10 am NL time (5:10 am VT time) and was a direct flight to Kilimanjaro. Over 8.5 hours. We slept a lot for the first 4 hours, then watched a movie, dozed some more and woke up for food.

Since we left Burlington, the only non airline food we have had was a bagel, a banana and a bag of smart food. The rest has all been served on a tray at out seat. And I think we have also missed a couple meals along the way (todayís breakfast and dinner).

We sat next to a young German woman, Stephanie, who was on her way to do a 6 day trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro, then a 7 day safari and then 10 days on Zanzibar. Sounded just amazing. As we got talking turns out sheís actually leaving on the very same flight as we are. So we made a deal to meet at the airport and learn of each others trips.

We got off the plane, down the stairs, the old fashioned way to warm breezy Tanzanian air. As we walked down the stairs, we passed the jets under the wings - they were HUGE! It was an enormous plane!

While standing in line at immigration, the electricity went off twice. The airport was pitch black - all but the computer screens the immigration officers had in front of them. So there was this blue glow on their faces.

Once through immigration, we went to collect our bagsÖwhich took a whileÖjust long enough for me to ponder, what would we do if our bags didnít come!

All four arrived safely.

Then we walked out through customs to about 30 men all holding up signs of the names of the parties they were picking up. At first glance, neither one of us saw our names. So I parked Jack on the side and then just walked in front of them all. Nothing. Then I saw Stephanie who was having the same problem. I went back over to Jack to get out the number that I could call, when I think she saw our name.

And over came Machek from Leopard Tours.

We got into the van and off we drove into the night for the hour drive.

The road was fairly straight - I think itís called the Northern Route and as we drove along you could see people here and there walking along the side of the road. 

Jack was just exhausted so was fairly quiet, while Machek and I chatted away. We drove through one town - he said is was called USA. At first I thought he meant something else so I repeated it. He corrected me and said it was USA as in United State of Arusha!

He was also quite fascinated with our election. We talked a lot of politics. And thatís something that didnít surprise me. No matter where you go in the world, people pay close attention to and have their own ideas and opinions to American politics. We also talked about their economy.

It was dark, he drove fairly fast and we passed a lot of other tour operators! But we both felt safe. Machek assured us that Tanzania is very safe!

We finally arrived in Arusha, checked into the hotel and made a plan with Machek that he would pick us up at 9:30 tomorrow morning.

I want to go to change some money, buy some drinks to take up to the village with us and he thought I should see the mineral Tanzanium (?) that is mined here. Itís a blue gem, he tells me.