Update from my daughter in Tanzania - Arusha nights and spider bites

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Hi all~hamjambo?

Another student (Sarah) and I are waiting for the Ndarakwai Ranch office to open so we can tell them in person that we're doing our study projects there (gotta love bureaucracy) and hope for a car to take us there (gotta love not lugging hundreds of pounds on dalla dallas and piki pikis).

Right. I haven't explained the dalla dalla yet. It's the most adventurous form of public transport I've seen, and strangely one of the most reliable (though I haven't yet experienced a breakdown or accident).

A dalla dalla is basically a 15-seater van, and they run up and down most major streets. Routes are designated by the color of a stripe on the van. Now the best part is that the unofficial rule on the dalla dalla is that there's always room for one more. I think there was only one ride I've taken on which there weren't people standing up, leaning over, and sitting on each other's laps. And the drivers blaze along, trying to race each other because any extra trips they get in for the day beyond their quota are pocket money. It's nuts. And about 250 shillings to get into town, which is about 25 cents.

The value for the dollar is decreasing depressingly overseas. I think the exchange rate is about 1200 Tsh (Tanzanian shillings) to the dollar. That's for cash: the traveler's check rate is 1000 exactly. We still have somewhat of an advantage: we stayed in a hotel the past two nights that had comfortable beds complete with mosquito nets, electricity, and a shower (with pressure and warm water) and a flushing toilet that's not a hole in the ground that are shared by a few rooms. These last two are absolute luxuries, believe you me. This place is 4000 Tsh/person for a double room, about $4.

We returned yesterday from Mazumbai Forest Reserve. No one wanted to leave. The rainforest, as most of you may guess and a lucky few may know, is unfathomably complex. It's nearly impossible to do extensive research or exploration. For those who like statistics, the whole of the Appalachian Mountains contains about as many species as a single acre of rainforest.

We were sent out our first morning on our own after a Thoreau-esque existential reading. Our instructions were to take the main trail into the forest and leave it, with no camera, no compass, and no watch. We were to watch the sun and be back in time for lunch.

It was my best experience yet, after being charged by the ostrich. I wound up sometimes crawling, sometimes walking, sometimes sliding, and once or twice rappelling. I tried swinging on a woody vine like Tarzan. It broke, and I crashed to the ground, hitting my head on a buttress (tall roots that prop up some of the trees there). I was torn up by thorns, stinging nettles, and insects. I found my way to the waterfall in the middle of the reserve, stood under the cold pouring water and was able to drink since it comes straight out of the mountain and there's no schistosomiasis. I followed the stream back down the mountain, got leeches, was bitten by a spider about the size of a 50-cent piece, finally found a trail, followed it to a village, and asked for help in the best Kiswahili I could muster.

I arrived back to find lunch gone, but exhilarated by my experience. And the cooks gave me extra food, along with pineapple, which no one else got. Ha.

I've got about a minute left. Time to leave soon.

Love to all,
J

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