Free day!

Y'all. How is it already June? I cannot believe how quickly time is going by. I mean, I expected it to go quickly, but dang, it is absolutely flying. We only have 15 more days until our flight out of Tanzania! Crazy talk. But anyways, today was our free day! It was so nice to have an entire day to do whatever we wanted. And for about 6 of us plus Dr. Prichard, that meant heading into Arusha to go to a spa for the morning. Honestly, a spa was one of the last places I would have expected to end up before coming to Tanzania, but it was so nice to have a whole morning just hanging out and relaxing! 

Guys, life is rough.

After we all finished with our treatments at the spa (plus a few baked goods from the restaurant next door), we headed to a lunch spot via dala dala. The dala dala is basically a minivan that is the main form of public transit around here. It's made to seat 15 people, but this number is very low compared to how many people are typically on board. We divided up into a couple of groups and squeezed aboard for our ride to lunch. Lunch was also an interesting experience, as the food court we went to has employees from every surrounding restaurant bring menus to the table in hopes that you will choose to order from their restaurant. It was a very odd experience that I have definitely not experienced anything like before. 

So many menus.

We've all been complaining about how much our host families force us to eat every day, but that didn't stop us from ordering everything from milkshakes to pizza to cheeseburgers to chips and guacamole and absolutely pigging out. It was really kind of insane how much food 6 small girls were able to put down. It was all pretty delicious, though, so no regrets!

So. Much. Food.

Lunchin' ladies!

After lunch, we got back on a dala dala to go into town to meet up with some others from our group. This ride was quite a special one. They managed to pack 27 people into this 15 seat van for the ride into town. 27!! Not counting any chickens, who are also common passengers onboard. We were in each other's laps and holding onto each other for dear life. We eventually just started cracking up about the whole situation, as they kept squeezing one more person, then one more, then one more. The drivers asked Dr. Prichard in Kiswahili why we were crying from laughing, which only made us laugh more. In these kinds of situations, that's about all you can do.

Holding onto each other for dear life.

After this crazy ride, we made a quick stop at Tengero market to pick up some fabrics. I've already gotten two skirts made by a seamstress who lives a couple doors down from me, and many people are doing the same thing, so fabric is a must! I picked up even more that I am going to bring back and work on myself with my mom. There is never a shortage of beautiful fabric, and I always find myself wanting more!

Today's fabric of choice: seahorses.

So that was about it for our relaxing, then somewhat hectic, free day! It wasn't the adventurous day of hiking around the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro that we had originally thought we would spend our free day doing, but it was perfect nonetheless! Every day is a blessing and an adventure!

Tomorrow, we leave bright and early for Dar es Salaam! We'll have about a 12 hour drive ahead of us, so that's not too much to look forward to, but getting to Dar is something we're all exited about! After a couple of days in Dar, we'll head over to Zanzibar island for some beach time, so needless to say, this week is one we are all ready to take on. I've got no idea about the internet situation down there, so I will update here when I can! Worst case scenario, we'll be back at TCDC next Monday night and I'll check in then. 

So, until then (whenever "then" is)!