WEDNESDAY
The five of us woke up (Meg, Sana, Mara, Peery, and I) and went to grab breakfast at this place called Chocolate Temptations in the Western-style strip mall of little restaurants by ShopRite. We had little pieces of tea cake and either coffee or tea. We had woken up late and just relaxed in the morning. Then we went back to the hostel in order to get our stuff together and to allow Mara to check for a package from her parents she's been waiting on for awhile.
At about 12:30, we got a bus to Moshi. The central bus stand in Arusha is CRAZY. We tried to gather ourselves and then we just dove in. Everything we read in the guide book happened. People were hassling us left and right to use their travel company to get on this bus to buy this pack of biscuits. It was insane. We got to the middle and turned around to find the first guy that told us he was going to Moshi. We paid about 2US$ to get the bus. We got seats in the last row, I took one by the window in the second to last row.
The ride was really nice. The scenery was beautiful. I kept the window open, even though it was super windy, because it began to smell like BO in the bus. But my hair was getting tangled, so I wrapped my head in my scarf. I felt like I looked really cool. Definitely like a traveler. :)
After we got to Moshi, we headed for the Coffee Shop. This is supposed to be one of the best places for coffee in the country. It was way to hot to have coffee, so I got some iced tea with lemon (which turned out to be lime with dirt on it) and some people got iced coffee (which comes with ice cream--how wonderful!). Grace and Frank met up with us briefly, but we had things we wanted to do so we didn't hang out too much.
We got a room in the Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hotel (the equivalent of the Arusha Backpackers Hotel). The set-up with the 4 beds was much nicer than Arusha. I was feeling a little ill so I took a nap and the others walked around for about half an hour. At 1730, we went to the rooftop restaurant of the Kindoroko Hotel. We were told this was a good place to see Kili. The clouds mostly clear out around 1800 so we could actually see the top. We got some pictures; not fantastic since it was pretty hazy, but still awesome. We sat up there and watched the sunset and had some beers.
I had been feeling pretty ill all day and hadn't eaten much of anything. But on the way into the Kindoroko, we had noticed an Indian restaurant next door that was cooking the most delicious looking and smelling things on grills outside. We checked it out on the way out. They were cooking things called Zanzibar Pizzas and we were told we had to try them. We all ordered one. They are cooked with something that looks like won-ton (however that's spelled) dough. There is a mixture of beef, peppers, onions and who knows that other delicious substances that is put in the middle of the flattened dough. Then an egg is cracked over it and the dough is folded over and placed on the flat grill. When it's done, you have the most amazing food you will ever eat. The outside is crispy, the inside amazing. The egg has been fried. It was the best thing we've had since being in Tanzania, no lie. Outside the restaurant, they were also cooking beef kabobs and chickens, so I decided to order a plate of all of it. Best decision I've ever made. The chicken was tender and delicious and had a hint of cinammon--not what I was expecting it to taste like, but I was definitely not disappointed. Meg tried some and we decided that this was not the "walking chicken" we see everywhere. The walking chicken is the chicken that just hangs out on the street and forages for food--most chickens in TZ are walking chickens. The chicken at this restaurant (called the Taj Mahal, by the way) was definitely raised to be eaten. It was amazing. The beef kabobs were also fantastic. The beef was super tender and had been spiced amazingly. I loved it all so much, I ordered a second plate. We got pictures.
After I finished eating, and everyone else finished watching me eat, we headed to the restaurant at Kili Backpackers. We got some drinks and ordered more food (of course). All we do is eat and drink when we have some free time. It's amazing. We had a nice relaxing night, which we don't have often.
We finished our evening and then headed to bed, where we proceeded to journal and read. Apparently, I finished journaling, turned over, and passed out. I didn't remember doing that in the morning, but it happened.
For breakfast, we headed up the restaurant at Kili Backpackers, since it's free. But at Arusha Backpackers, we got free eggs. At Kili Backpackers, we only got free bread. Lame. So we headed up to the Coffee Shop. Most people just got coffee. Sana and I ordered a cheese and tomato omellette and a cappuccino each. The most delicious omellette ever. It helped that salt was available (we are quite salt deprived in our homestays). Then we hung out and read and journaled until about 10, when we went to the bus station.
We got a bus right away. It was empty. Bad idea. They drove around looking for people to fill up the bus. We started helping them out by yelling "Arusha!" out the window. I think we made it worse. Finally we left Moshi, but we stopped about every 10 minutes to pick up people. A 1 hour bus ride turned into 3 hours. We were not happy. At one point, they put 6 people in my row for 5. I was so pissed. Some guy was practically sitting on top of me for an hour. When we finally reached the bus station in Arusha, we just all got off the bus and took off in a straight, angry line for our hostel.
Everyone was back from rafting earlier in the week, but we didn't feel like dealing with them. It was a bad day because we were so frustrated with our bus ride. But we relaxed for awhile and then met up with people for dinner at our hostel (though almost everyone from rafting was staying at Arusha Backpackers). It ended up being a decent night. We wanted to get to bed early because we had to prepare for safari-ing the next day.
Now, to explain the "Pour one out for Etta." Mara purchased a shirt at the second hand market that is a family reunion shirt for two families: one on the front, one on the back. Both reunions are in memory of some dead person. Etta is the dead person on the front. She was 101 years old. So, somehow, we now always say "Pour one out for Etta" when we drink. Don't remember how it started, but it did. So we poured one out for Etta during our week in Arusha.
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