Arusha

Hello everyone,

I have arrived in Arusha from Zanzibar. We went to the beach, and we went on a spice tour. I learned all about the process involved in growing cloves, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, ect. Zanzibar is a beautiful island which I recommend to anyone traveling to the region.

Yesterday we took the ferry to Dar Es Salaam, and a bus from Dar to Arusha. The bus ride and process involved in gathering bus tickets was quite entertaining. We decided to book our tickets for the bus before we left for Zanzibar on the 10th. A couple of guys I am traveling with went to a ticket office and booked "guaranteed" tickets on an "express" bus that would take eight hours to get from Dar to Arusha. Our first mistake is we payed about twice as much as we should have for a typical bus ticket; however, the money did include a taxi ride to the bus park on the other side 0f town. Once we got the the bus park though, we discovered we, in fact, did not have guaranteed tickets. What's more, it was not an express bus. We eventually got four seats together on a pretty run-down bus that ended up taking about eleven hours. (I made some changes to this... I apparently embellished the story a little bit initially, but it was still pretty entertaining though).

We definitely got conned by people taking advantage of amateur American tourists. Nonetheless, it is a good story and the bus ride was a fun experience. Since tone is hard to convey through text, I should explicitly say I found the whole ordeal pretty humorous and enjoyed the bus ride. In the end we ended up to our desired destination safely so it was not a big deal. This story also comes with a disclaimer: the people who scam tourists around this region are the exception to the rule. They are basically like a sleazy used car salesmen who is always out looking for the suckers (which turned out to be us). Almost everyone has been very generous, helpful, and kind.

Once we settle in Arusha we are planning to take a two day safari and possibly climb Mt. Meru. We hope to figure out specifics tonight or tomorrow morning. I will keep you all posted as the trip progresses. I hope everyone is doing well!

Eric