I apologies for the lack of posting and the length of this message, a lot has happened my first week in Cape Town.
After a very difficult goodbye to Arusha I hoped on a plane to begin my journey to the South. I arrived in Cape Town at 6 pm and found Nolo and Jess waiting for me outside the baggage pick up. The drive from the airport had my mind spinning; flat roads with multiple lanes, street lights and signs, cars that were not manufactured by Toyota, and lights all over the city. I knew the culture shock was beginning. After dropping my bags at our very nice bed and breakfast we went out for an amazing sushi dinner. The restaurant we ate at was just opposite a shopping center, the whole area was alive and bustling, I had forgotten what western cities were like. Dinner was amazing; I had forgotten how much I missed sushi. I also drank water from the tap, paid for my meal with a Visa card, and the food took just minutes to arrive, I had a hard time believing that I was still in Africa. After dinner we went out to a party hosted by one of Nolo’s friends, the bar scene was nothing like what I was used but I pushed past the culture shock and had a good time.
The next morning we went for a delicious breakfast at a café down the street from the bed and breakfast and took a public taxi (cape town’s equivalent of a dalla dalla) to a shopping center. The shopping did not last long, as none of us had anything we wanted to buy and were not in the mood. We were soon on our way to see Nolo’s residence before lunch. We had lunch in a section of Cape Town called Observatory, which seemed quite funky and artsy, it was a very neat environment. The rest of the afternoon we rested at the bed and breakfast reading, playing cards and planning out the coming weeks.
On Sunday we headed down to the area called Waterfront. As soon as we stepped out of the public taxi I was reminded of Granville Island; the whole place was alive, there were shops and street performers and delicious smelling food. We ate our fish and chips and wandered around before hopping on a boat for a tour of the harbour… oh I forgot to mention, Sunday was the day that Cape Town decided to show us how windy it can get. The boat was caught in very choppy waters and the wind made it a rather cold and wet harbour cruise, but we laughed and had a good time. We took a public taxi back into town and ate dinner on Long Street. Long street is where all of the action happens in downtown Cape Town, during the day it is a street for shopping and dining, and at night the restaurants apparently turn into night clubs, it was a Sunday though so we did not see this happen.
Monday morning we lounged by the pool at our bed and breakfast while Nolo studied for her exams, we met up with her and a couple of her friends at lunch and all decided to go on an adventure to Simonstown. Simonstown is about a 45 min drive away from Cape Town and is one of the Navy Bases of South Africa; it is also home to a large colony of South African Penguins (yup, penguins!!). After visiting the penguins we had dinner and drinks at a restaurant on the water. The entire town was so beautiful and quaint perched on the rocks next to huge crashing waves of the ocean.
Tuesday was a rather dreary day so we decided to check out some of the museums in town. We started with the District Six Museum. District Six was a busy and lively section of Cape Town that housed people from all different racial and religious backgrounds. The people of District Six lived harmoniously together until the apartheid regime forcibly removed the 60 000 residence from their homes and divided them among different townships in the Cape Flats. The entire district was then bulldozed; two religious building were the only structures spared. The area is still an undeveloped piece of land. The museum was amazing, it told the stories of a lot of the old residence of District Six and showed pictures of what the area used to look like. After spending some time at the museum we made our way to The Castle of Good Hope. This is the oldest building in Cape Town and used to be the Castle that defended the city. We had an interesting tour of the Castle and made our way to a delicious lunch near green market square (the large craft market in the center of town). After lunch we caught a taxi and met up with Nolo for the evening.
Wednesday we made our way back to the Waterfront to explore a little bit more. We wandered around the shops and made our way to the Two Ocean’s Aquarium. We decided to spend a few hours at the Aquarium and it was time well spent. Soon after we arrived we watched the penguins being fed and learned about the Aquarium’s program to increase the penguin population in the wild. The population of South African Penguin’s rapidly decreased before their habitat became protected, so the aquarium started a program in which they have been successfully introducing the penguin pups that are born in captivity back into the wild. After the penguins were fed we made our way to the predator tank to check out the sharks and dangerous fish. It turned out it was lunch time in their tank as well… scuba divers entered the tank to selectively feed the rays and turtle; due to different feeding schedules divers go in to ensure the slower and less aggressive animals are fed, most of the others are fed once a week by having their food dropped into the tank. We spent a while looking at the sharks and then toured the rest of the aquarium. Nolo met up with us at Waterfront for dinner and then we continued on to a going away party for one of her friends (it is the end of year for Universities here so a lot of her friends are graduating and leaving).
We enjoyed our rest on Thursday morning and went to the Kirstenboch Botanical Gardens for a picnic in the afternoon. The gardens were absolutely amazing; they contained hundreds of flowers and trees as well as herbs and plants used in natural medicine. We chose a nice spot of grass to eat our picnic while looking out at Table Mountain, the only disturbance we had was a gimped pheasant who decided to continuously hobble up to us and try to steal our food… Jess chased him away at one point and he continued to come back.
I have finally reached the past two days. Yesterday and today we went on city bus tours that took us all over the city and the surrounding area, it was a great way to get from one place to the next, and had some interesting commentary, haha. Yesterday we got off the bus at Table Mountain and took the cableway to the top for lunch. The top of the mountain had the most amazing views of the city and the Cape; it was definitely worth the trip up. Today we got off the bus at a bird and monkey sanctuary and Camps Bay. The bird and monkey sanctuary housed over 3500 animals from all over, people used to bring injured birds to the man who started the place and he would nurse them back to health at his veterinary practice. We were able to walk through some of the aviaries with the birds flying freely around us… slightly nerve wracking at times, as the large birds can be startling when they take off. After the sanctuary we hopped off the bus at Camps Bay, one of the wealthiest parts of Cape Town and home of some of the most beautiful beaches. We had a late lunch/early dinner on the main drag and people watched while we sipped our cocktails, it was a lovely end to the day. We got back to the bed and breakfast about an hour agao and are contemplating what to do on this Halloween evening.
Cape Town is a very beautiful and diverse place, I still cannot believe that it is a part of Africa, but I have accepted that and moved on. I am excited to continue to explore over the next few days before heading back to Canada.
xoxo
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Uganda - The Trip of a Lifetime
I just returned from the best weekend of my life.
The seven of us adventurous enough to travel to Uganda headed off to the bus stop at 2 pm to catch the Kampala Coach to Jinja. Due to the fact that everyone and everything is on Africa time here we departed at around 4:30 from Arusha. The bus ride was quite the experience… 18 hours on the way there and 20 on the way back, but it was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be, we actually had a pretty great time. The bus took us from Arusha to Nirobi and then on to Jinja. As soon as the sun came up in Uganda we were blown away, everywhere we looked was lush and green; it was one of the most beautiful places I have seen. We arrived in Jinja at 11 am and were taken to the backpackers hostel where we had a delicious lunch and settled into our room.
2 pm rolled around and we anxiously waited for the bus to take us to the source of the Nile for our bungee experience. We rode in an open back truck through some of the local areas to the Adrift bungee site. It was interesting to see the differences between Jinja and Arusha in terms of the local atmosphere. After arriving at the site and signing our lives away we climbed the stairs to the platform 145 feet above the Nile. Andrea and I jumped first holding on to each other for dear lives. It was so much fun we both got out of the raft at the bottom and ran up to do it again. Everyone had a blast jumping, I was the only person who had ever jumped before so it was fun to see everyone’s reactions after their first bungee. After jumping and a quick drink we walked back to the hostel and hung out for the evening, played a few games of ‘lasti kardi’ and talked about our amazing day.
The next morning we woke up, packed and got ready for rafting. After a delicious breakfast and quick brief on the day we found life jackets and helmets and hopped on the bus. There were 7 rafts on our trip; our group filled one. As we passed over a bridge just before our starting point we saw a huge crocodile hanging out on a rock… luckily there was a rapid between him and where we were getting into the water. We arrived at the starting point, chose our guide and got into the raft. Our guide, Alex, was awesome, he started off by briefing us and training us in the calm water; we jumping into the water and practiced getting back in, went through all of the commands he would be yelling at us through the rapids and covered all of the safety stuff. Our first rapid was a class 5 and really kicked the excitement up for the day. Throughout the day we went through 8 sets of rapids ranging from class 3 to 5. We had a light lunch in the middle of the day (consisting of half a pineapple each and some cookies), and took a short swim in the water. The rafting trip was way better then anything I could have hoped for, it was by far one of the best things I have done in my life. We went through crazy rapids, flipped the raft, swam in the Nile, it was a blast. At the end of the day we were taken to the company’s campground for an awesome barbeque before going to Kampala for the night. We took the shuttle to Kampala and stayed at a hostel for the night, in the evening we played cards and hung out chatting about the day.
The next morning half of us decided that we would go back to Arusha that afternoon so we headed to the bus station to buy our tickets. The bus back was fine, I did not get as much sleep as on the way there, but the hours seemed to pass quite quickly. We were all so excited to get back into Tanzania, it definitely has become home for me. As soon as we crossed the border and I realized how happy I was I became sad to think that I had to leave again in a few days. It was the best weekend I have had on this trip and possibly the best and most adventurous weekend of my life.
I have now come to my last day in Arusha and am very sad and slightly scared to leave. It does not seem real that I am leaving tonight; it is going to be a difficult adjustment. Arusha has become my home; I cannot believe that I do not know when I will be returning. Despite my leaving anxiety I am very excited to go to South Africa now and spend some time in Cape Town, and I am excited to get home and see everyone, I have missed you all so much. I will write again from Cape Town, assuming I have internet access.
Kwaheri! xoxo from Africa
The seven of us adventurous enough to travel to Uganda headed off to the bus stop at 2 pm to catch the Kampala Coach to Jinja. Due to the fact that everyone and everything is on Africa time here we departed at around 4:30 from Arusha. The bus ride was quite the experience… 18 hours on the way there and 20 on the way back, but it was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be, we actually had a pretty great time. The bus took us from Arusha to Nirobi and then on to Jinja. As soon as the sun came up in Uganda we were blown away, everywhere we looked was lush and green; it was one of the most beautiful places I have seen. We arrived in Jinja at 11 am and were taken to the backpackers hostel where we had a delicious lunch and settled into our room.
2 pm rolled around and we anxiously waited for the bus to take us to the source of the Nile for our bungee experience. We rode in an open back truck through some of the local areas to the Adrift bungee site. It was interesting to see the differences between Jinja and Arusha in terms of the local atmosphere. After arriving at the site and signing our lives away we climbed the stairs to the platform 145 feet above the Nile. Andrea and I jumped first holding on to each other for dear lives. It was so much fun we both got out of the raft at the bottom and ran up to do it again. Everyone had a blast jumping, I was the only person who had ever jumped before so it was fun to see everyone’s reactions after their first bungee. After jumping and a quick drink we walked back to the hostel and hung out for the evening, played a few games of ‘lasti kardi’ and talked about our amazing day.
The next morning we woke up, packed and got ready for rafting. After a delicious breakfast and quick brief on the day we found life jackets and helmets and hopped on the bus. There were 7 rafts on our trip; our group filled one. As we passed over a bridge just before our starting point we saw a huge crocodile hanging out on a rock… luckily there was a rapid between him and where we were getting into the water. We arrived at the starting point, chose our guide and got into the raft. Our guide, Alex, was awesome, he started off by briefing us and training us in the calm water; we jumping into the water and practiced getting back in, went through all of the commands he would be yelling at us through the rapids and covered all of the safety stuff. Our first rapid was a class 5 and really kicked the excitement up for the day. Throughout the day we went through 8 sets of rapids ranging from class 3 to 5. We had a light lunch in the middle of the day (consisting of half a pineapple each and some cookies), and took a short swim in the water. The rafting trip was way better then anything I could have hoped for, it was by far one of the best things I have done in my life. We went through crazy rapids, flipped the raft, swam in the Nile, it was a blast. At the end of the day we were taken to the company’s campground for an awesome barbeque before going to Kampala for the night. We took the shuttle to Kampala and stayed at a hostel for the night, in the evening we played cards and hung out chatting about the day.
The next morning half of us decided that we would go back to Arusha that afternoon so we headed to the bus station to buy our tickets. The bus back was fine, I did not get as much sleep as on the way there, but the hours seemed to pass quite quickly. We were all so excited to get back into Tanzania, it definitely has become home for me. As soon as we crossed the border and I realized how happy I was I became sad to think that I had to leave again in a few days. It was the best weekend I have had on this trip and possibly the best and most adventurous weekend of my life.
I have now come to my last day in Arusha and am very sad and slightly scared to leave. It does not seem real that I am leaving tonight; it is going to be a difficult adjustment. Arusha has become my home; I cannot believe that I do not know when I will be returning. Despite my leaving anxiety I am very excited to go to South Africa now and spend some time in Cape Town, and I am excited to get home and see everyone, I have missed you all so much. I will write again from Cape Town, assuming I have internet access.
Kwaheri! xoxo from Africa
Thursday, October 15, 2009
One Week
I have reached my final week here in Tanzania; I can not believe my trip is coming to an end. I leave for Uganda tomorrow and will be finishing my trip off by rafting down the Nile, bungee jumping, exploring Kampala and hopefully a stop at Lake Victoria.
This past week has been a good wrap up to my time in Arusha. Last weekend we returned to Magi Moto for an amazing day of swimming in the springs. Sunday a couple of the volunteers and I went shopping for supplies for our makeshift Thanksgiving that happened on Monday night, we all over the city and stopped at some of my favorite places – Central Market (the most amazing fruit and veggie market) for veggies, walked up Soqoine, and took a dala dala to Ngiro for groceries. Sunday night we went to one of my favorite restaurants L’Oasis… I have been trying to fit in meals at all of my favorite places this week.
Monday we left placement early because our doctor’s brother passed away so he was not at work, it ended up working out well for us because it gave us more time to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and surprisingly not too stressful… the oven ended up turning off for about 30 min before we realized so dinner was a little late but delicious. We ate 4 chickens, my home made mac and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, rice casserole, carrots and green beans, and ice cream cake for dessert… a little different but amazing. After dinner we all pilled onto the couches and watched movies, it was an awesome night.
Tuesday night a few of us went to see Mama Afrika, a circus that is in Arusha for the month, it was awesome… Africa’s version on Cirque du Soleil. Halfway through the show during the clown act I was called up on stage with four other members to perform an air band… slightly embarrassing, but fun at the same time. It was a great thing to do on a Tuesday night.
The rest of the week has been pretty low key. The doctor has been off all week so work has been very quite, most of the staff have been away at the funeral (which last 3 days) so Andrea, Nancy (the other two girls at my placement) and I have been filling in where we can and spending more time in the laboratory. Andrea and I have been going into town a lot after work getting last minute things done before leaving for Uganda. We leave tomorrow and get back next Wednesday, the day before I depart for South Africa. I now have a mere 3 weeks before arriving back in Canada
Kwaheri Rafikis!
This past week has been a good wrap up to my time in Arusha. Last weekend we returned to Magi Moto for an amazing day of swimming in the springs. Sunday a couple of the volunteers and I went shopping for supplies for our makeshift Thanksgiving that happened on Monday night, we all over the city and stopped at some of my favorite places – Central Market (the most amazing fruit and veggie market) for veggies, walked up Soqoine, and took a dala dala to Ngiro for groceries. Sunday night we went to one of my favorite restaurants L’Oasis… I have been trying to fit in meals at all of my favorite places this week.
Monday we left placement early because our doctor’s brother passed away so he was not at work, it ended up working out well for us because it gave us more time to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and surprisingly not too stressful… the oven ended up turning off for about 30 min before we realized so dinner was a little late but delicious. We ate 4 chickens, my home made mac and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, rice casserole, carrots and green beans, and ice cream cake for dessert… a little different but amazing. After dinner we all pilled onto the couches and watched movies, it was an awesome night.
Tuesday night a few of us went to see Mama Afrika, a circus that is in Arusha for the month, it was awesome… Africa’s version on Cirque du Soleil. Halfway through the show during the clown act I was called up on stage with four other members to perform an air band… slightly embarrassing, but fun at the same time. It was a great thing to do on a Tuesday night.
The rest of the week has been pretty low key. The doctor has been off all week so work has been very quite, most of the staff have been away at the funeral (which last 3 days) so Andrea, Nancy (the other two girls at my placement) and I have been filling in where we can and spending more time in the laboratory. Andrea and I have been going into town a lot after work getting last minute things done before leaving for Uganda. We leave tomorrow and get back next Wednesday, the day before I depart for South Africa. I now have a mere 3 weeks before arriving back in Canada
Kwaheri Rafikis!
Friday, October 9, 2009
The other side of Arusha
Mambo Vipi Rafiki’s
My trip may be narrowing down but the new experiences and adventures continue. This past week I have been exposed to a new side of Arusha. We met a local mzungu (white person) named Lupo who introduced us to the whole community of local white people… as strange as that sounds it has been really cool. The first night we went to a restaurant where one of his friends was playing with a band. The whole place was a hidden paradise that, although seemed somewhat out of place in Arusha, was amazing. The music was fantastic and the company was interesting. The next night he invited us to an open mic night at his friend’s music school, there was once again awesome music and we met some great people with interesting stories. It has been crazy to be exposed to such a different side of Arusha especially after being here for so long, it has really shown me what life would be like if I were to live here for a longer period of time. There is quite a mix of interesting people that have gathered together from all corners of the world. I met one girl, Liza, who is 26, grew up in the United States and moved here when she was 22. She is a professional violinist who opened up ones of Arusha’s only music schools and teaches underprivileged children to play a variety of instruments. She goes back to the states each summer to tour for a couple of months and make money for herself and her school; it was amazing to see what she has done here, and neat to hear her story… I can almost guarantee that every local white person has a pretty interesting story about what brought them to live in Arusha, it takes a certain person to be able to pick up and move to Tanzania and it has been cool getting to meet some of them.
In other news… another new group of volunteers have arrived and are going through orientation, they of course seem great and look like they will fit in well. It is always fun to see a new group arrive and watch them adjust and fall in love with the city… it doesn’t take long to love this place. I have a mere 2 weeks left until I fly down to Cape Town and am trying to pack them as full as possible. This weekend we are heading back to Magi Moto hot springs, next weekend is Uganda, and I am trying to fill my afternoons with whatever I can.
Can't wait to catch up with everyone in person!
xoxo love from Arusha
My trip may be narrowing down but the new experiences and adventures continue. This past week I have been exposed to a new side of Arusha. We met a local mzungu (white person) named Lupo who introduced us to the whole community of local white people… as strange as that sounds it has been really cool. The first night we went to a restaurant where one of his friends was playing with a band. The whole place was a hidden paradise that, although seemed somewhat out of place in Arusha, was amazing. The music was fantastic and the company was interesting. The next night he invited us to an open mic night at his friend’s music school, there was once again awesome music and we met some great people with interesting stories. It has been crazy to be exposed to such a different side of Arusha especially after being here for so long, it has really shown me what life would be like if I were to live here for a longer period of time. There is quite a mix of interesting people that have gathered together from all corners of the world. I met one girl, Liza, who is 26, grew up in the United States and moved here when she was 22. She is a professional violinist who opened up ones of Arusha’s only music schools and teaches underprivileged children to play a variety of instruments. She goes back to the states each summer to tour for a couple of months and make money for herself and her school; it was amazing to see what she has done here, and neat to hear her story… I can almost guarantee that every local white person has a pretty interesting story about what brought them to live in Arusha, it takes a certain person to be able to pick up and move to Tanzania and it has been cool getting to meet some of them.
In other news… another new group of volunteers have arrived and are going through orientation, they of course seem great and look like they will fit in well. It is always fun to see a new group arrive and watch them adjust and fall in love with the city… it doesn’t take long to love this place. I have a mere 2 weeks left until I fly down to Cape Town and am trying to pack them as full as possible. This weekend we are heading back to Magi Moto hot springs, next weekend is Uganda, and I am trying to fill my afternoons with whatever I can.
Can't wait to catch up with everyone in person!
xoxo love from Arusha
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