INTO AFRICA

HI All,

Sorry for the long delay, unfortuntely internet is hard to come by. We made it to Africa and had arranged to head directly to Tanzania from Nairobi to start climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, unfortunately we showed up but our bus did not, so we hung out until the next bus. Now for any of you who have been to Africa before you will know there are two golden rules, One - everything is on African time, so do NOT plan your life to be regimented like back home and Two - driving is an adventure activitiy in a league all it's own!!!

The traffic rules do not seem to apply or be consistent, run for your life if you a pedestrian or you may get run over, do not be surprised if someone passes on the either side of the vehicle and most importantly it is very common place for vehicles to drive into oncoming traffic - close your eyes and hold your breath! We headed to Tanzania with prime seating - right up front, the best place to watch the chaos unfold. Many times I would grab Greg's knee and hold my breath as we rattled at break neck speeds over dusty potholed roads (although to call them potholes is definately an understatement - road craters????) and an equally sizeable vehicle rushed at the same speed in our lane only to swerve back into their lane at the last possible second! whew! I tell you it is definately for the adventure seeker. The road we were travelling was under construction, but that just means you drive along an even more uneven road literally gaining air as you hit the bumps and sometimes I swear balancing on 2 wheels. Our 5 hour bus ride ended 9 and 1/2 hours later, but we did get to see some of the landscape and experience the African road system. We stayed at a great little place with character gallore and great food - portion sizes that would put our rather large portion sizes to shame, we ate the equivalent of two meals, but oh so tasty! Bright and early ready to start the climb the next day.