So, So Close!

After 30 hours of non-stop bus travel from Lilongwe to Dar Salaam we are finally on vacation! The last 12 hours were particularly eventful/awful (even though the bus was a "nice" bus). Everything in Tanzania seems to move much more quickly, which is a welcome change from a country who's unofficial motto is "pangono-pangono," meaning slowly-slowly. There was almost no wait time between buses, a new phenomenon to us, but the drive from West to East Tanzania was filled with a lot of anxiety and almost no rest (although Katie seems to manage to sleep anytime, anywhere). The driver drove extremely fast (which we liked) but but would pass slower vehicles around blind turns, hairpin curves and on very narrow roads filled with oil tankers (which we didn't like). Tanzania's solution to speeding is to put randomw speed bumps in the middle of highways, which our driver completely ignored, and since we were sitting in the very last row our heads were repeatedly slammed against the ceiling for the last 5 hours of the trip. The same helpful local we met at the border offered us even more assistance on getting to Dar and made several hotel recommendations, and we were very grateful! Unfortunately, the taxi driver we hired convinced us our new friend was actually a dangerous criminal who was plotting to come to our hotel room with a gang and a machine gun and rob us if we stayed with him. So, we parted ways (amicably). Of course it was the cabbie who was crooked in the end, but he didn't screw us out of more than a few dollars extra fare. Really, really looking forward to beaches and seafood!! -Jake