Hi guys,
Finally got to add some pictures in. I will try the video another time, but I have a few doozies. I know the files are enormous, so if you're finding you can't load them and it's damaging your enjoyment of the blog, I'll take them down again. I can't wait to get my computer back up so I can use my photo editor, then I'll have nice small files to give you and we'll start cranking out the photos more.
Some of them go back to Cape Coast, so make sure you backtrack (just click on the first week of September)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Last post for a week
Hi guys,
This will be my last email for a while since I will be climbing my way up Kilimanjaro starting tomorrow morning. I can't believe it's really happening! I hope that in a week's time, I'll be able to tell you that I bested the mountain. And this computer has a usb connection so hopefully I can even share pictures (the cable is in my room buried in a bag, so maybe I can get some put on here tonight if there's time).
I took the bus to get here, and I'm so glad I did. I got to see a lot of the Tanzanian countryside, which is beautiful. The dirt is red, and there are all kinds of crazy trees. Oddly enough, I haven't managed to spot Kili yet, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of that tomorrow. The only thing I haven't liked so far about Tanzania is how pushy everyone is. The vendors at the bus stations literally banged on our windows to try to get us to buy drinks and snacks from them, and I've already had to tell several follow-you-down-the-street variety touts to "please leave me alone." But this is not to say I have felt the need to take out Dad's emergency whistle.
Wish me luck! I love you guys!
This will be my last email for a while since I will be climbing my way up Kilimanjaro starting tomorrow morning. I can't believe it's really happening! I hope that in a week's time, I'll be able to tell you that I bested the mountain. And this computer has a usb connection so hopefully I can even share pictures (the cable is in my room buried in a bag, so maybe I can get some put on here tonight if there's time).
I took the bus to get here, and I'm so glad I did. I got to see a lot of the Tanzanian countryside, which is beautiful. The dirt is red, and there are all kinds of crazy trees. Oddly enough, I haven't managed to spot Kili yet, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of that tomorrow. The only thing I haven't liked so far about Tanzania is how pushy everyone is. The vendors at the bus stations literally banged on our windows to try to get us to buy drinks and snacks from them, and I've already had to tell several follow-you-down-the-street variety touts to "please leave me alone." But this is not to say I have felt the need to take out Dad's emergency whistle.
Wish me luck! I love you guys!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Start of a new chapter
I've arrived without incident in Tanzania - chapter 2 of my worldwide adventure. The Ghana-Johannesburg leg was a nightmare (more on that later), but after that it's been remarkably easy.
Note to future travelers: don't ever ever ever fly through Jo-burg. Their airport is horrible. For people just passing through, you can't get both boarding passes at your starting point and jump from one plane to the other. The procedure is you arrive, you wait in line for an hour to get your second boarding pass, then you wait in a "line" - more like a surging mass of cattle - to get to the one x-ray machine and security screener. People will shove you, jostle you, and cut you in line, all while smelling strongly of B.O., (but I was used to that having flown from Accra, where they literally sprayed the plane with Lysol before takeoff because the population of the aircraft was so rank). After that no worries, but to someone who hates a mob scene, it was a mess. They'd better get moving before the World Cup comes to town or they're going to have a 6-week passenger backlog at the airport.
Anyway, back to Tanzania. I really enjoyed the flight over the plains of Africa from Jo-burg, since I was able to look out on the Great Rift Valley and think about my adventure to come. TZ may be poor, but it has nothing on Ghana, so in my eyes it looks pretty organized. For the most part I saw people living and working in buildings rather than sheds and shipping containers, which is a vast improvement. One downside is apparently their crime rate is higher than Ghana's so the man at my hotel's desk told me it was best not to walk outside since the sun was setting. Really cramps my style since it's only 5:30 and I was hoping to get a stroll 'round the hood to stretch my legs.
I'm staying at the Jambo Inn, which isn't much to look at but I don't have to share a bathroom with anybody, so I'm happy. Had a nice laugh with the cabbies outside, one of whom claimed I had "found his backpack" for him. I told him he had excellent taste in pink luggage tags, especially since it has my name in it, which is a great name for a man. He replied that he had forgotten his own name so he wrote mine instead. :)
Against all advice, I've decided to bus it from here to Moshi tomorrow. It's an 8 hour ride, but between not feeling like dropping $200 more bucks on transportation right now and the idea of getting to see the countryside roll by, I figured I'd risk it. *Supposedly* my bus has A/C, so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm told the company is reliable when it comes to getting you there in a reasonable time frame, which is all I care about, really. Famous last words: how bad can it be?
Note to future travelers: don't ever ever ever fly through Jo-burg. Their airport is horrible. For people just passing through, you can't get both boarding passes at your starting point and jump from one plane to the other. The procedure is you arrive, you wait in line for an hour to get your second boarding pass, then you wait in a "line" - more like a surging mass of cattle - to get to the one x-ray machine and security screener. People will shove you, jostle you, and cut you in line, all while smelling strongly of B.O., (but I was used to that having flown from Accra, where they literally sprayed the plane with Lysol before takeoff because the population of the aircraft was so rank). After that no worries, but to someone who hates a mob scene, it was a mess. They'd better get moving before the World Cup comes to town or they're going to have a 6-week passenger backlog at the airport.
Anyway, back to Tanzania. I really enjoyed the flight over the plains of Africa from Jo-burg, since I was able to look out on the Great Rift Valley and think about my adventure to come. TZ may be poor, but it has nothing on Ghana, so in my eyes it looks pretty organized. For the most part I saw people living and working in buildings rather than sheds and shipping containers, which is a vast improvement. One downside is apparently their crime rate is higher than Ghana's so the man at my hotel's desk told me it was best not to walk outside since the sun was setting. Really cramps my style since it's only 5:30 and I was hoping to get a stroll 'round the hood to stretch my legs.
I'm staying at the Jambo Inn, which isn't much to look at but I don't have to share a bathroom with anybody, so I'm happy. Had a nice laugh with the cabbies outside, one of whom claimed I had "found his backpack" for him. I told him he had excellent taste in pink luggage tags, especially since it has my name in it, which is a great name for a man. He replied that he had forgotten his own name so he wrote mine instead. :)
Against all advice, I've decided to bus it from here to Moshi tomorrow. It's an 8 hour ride, but between not feeling like dropping $200 more bucks on transportation right now and the idea of getting to see the countryside roll by, I figured I'd risk it. *Supposedly* my bus has A/C, so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm told the company is reliable when it comes to getting you there in a reasonable time frame, which is all I care about, really. Famous last words: how bad can it be?
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