Adventures in Africa...or so it seems

Hello hello. So it has been a while but we have been on vacation for 3 weeks and writing blogs just hasn't been a priority! So, we're going to write at least 4 about our 3 weeks and then post pictures at a later date since we can't do that from here. Oh my, where to start...

Our journey began with a 30 hour bus ride from Kigali, Rwanda to Dar-Es-Salam, Tanzania. It was a pretty decent bus ride. We were fairly comfortable. As we crossed the tanzania border however, the bus stopped and loaded about 30 passengers past the limit that all stood in the isles. It became very hot and stuffy but mostly I simply felt bad for the people who were standing for upwards of 15 hours on this trip. We arrived in Dar and proceeded to find our hotel. It was naturally full and we had to find another, it was an ok hostel that had 2 tiny beds in the room and the semi warm showers down the hall...no big deal because we were heading to Zanzibar the next day and were soooo excited!! We caught a ferry (about an hour and a half to zanzibar) and were greeted with the first of many many troubles on our trip. As we got off the ferry, the "immigration" officials grabbed every single white person and pulled them aside to ask for their "WHO" cards. These are the World Health Order cards that every person is supposed to carry with them upon traveling. We were told, by Peace Corps that we would not need a WHO card therefore did not have ours with us. We, and by we I mean me, kind of freaked out because I didn't know what they would do if we didn't actually have a WHO card showing we had our yellow fever shots. Thankfully, another PCV was also going to Zanzibar and had an extra with a yellow fever stamp on it. So, we snuck into the line and I flashed the card and then handed it behind my back to Jarod who then also flashed the same card. I of course, being the goody goody was freaking out and by the time we actually walked through customs was shaking like a leaf and feeling like I was going to throw up! I am a terrible liar and not good with authority because my father put the fear of Jesus and the law in me! As we walked through customs, this little tiny 5'0 ish man is holding a sign (in the pouring rain) that says Rings and its all washed out and we could barely read it but well he was adorable and caught our attention. He walked us to his "taxi" which would take us to the hotel we were staying in. We hopped in and he reversed, as he is straightening the car he slams into the side of another car. We were fine since we were traveling 1.1 miles per hour. It was funny because we got out of the vehicle and waited for them to straighten it out, then we hopped in and he literally drove us less than 15 seconds away. We could see the hotel from where we got off the ferry. It was hilarious!

Once we arrived, we checked in and since we were the only guest at the hotel we were upgraded to the terrace suit that was much nicer than the one we had booked. Thank you Jesus! They had free amazing wireless internet and we skyped with friends and family the whole entire night. I didn't even go to sleep it was so amazing. Thank you everyone who got online and chatted with me!!

After that, we got a "Dhala Dhala"(a local open bed with a tiny roofish thing truck) to our hotel on the other side of the island. It was amazing. They had our suit all set up for our anniversary and catered to us for 4 days!! Lobster, crab, fresh fish, etc etc. It was wonderful. The 2nd day we went snorkeling and decided to apply the sunblock outside in the "windy conditions" it warns against on the spray bottles. Point well taken mr sunblock company because we had streaks across our backs where the sunscreen grazed before being blown away by the wind and leaving us with what only felt like 1st degree burns. Thank you Zanzibar for being so beautiful...thank you Sarah and Jarod for being so dumb....we enjoyed Zanzibar through the windows as we lounged on the beds (on our stomachs) and moaned!! We unfortunately had already booked beach side massages that were none other than the best torture of my entire life. I was crying with pain and screaming with excitement as I had my aching back massaged and listened to the waves crash. Haha. But, it started clearing up before we left and we were off to the next part of our journey!

We rode the train from Dar-Es-Salam, Tanzania to Kapiri Mphoshi, Zambia. The train was wonderful. We met a couple of awesome scottish dudes who were traveling to the same place we were as well as an awesome Belarus man also traveling to the same hostel we were. Woo hoo! They were hilarious and had us laughing our butts off for 48 hours. It was great.  Sleeping in an actual bed while traveling makes all the difference in the whole world and it was nice. Beds, food, a shower...it was good!!

So far so good....but wait it's coming...

Jarod is going to pick up from here!