Safari Stays

As we've talked to people about our time in Tanzania, it has been difficult to describe the country overall. I mean, it's a third world country. The big cities are Arusha (which we experienced a bit) and Dar es Salaam (which we just flew through). By "big cities" I mean that the roads are paved, there are businesses, and most people who live there have houses and cars.

That was not the Tanzania that we experienced. As I've said before, we drove around a lot of the country and only encountered tribes people, villages on the side of the road, and large swaths of empty landscapes in between the amazing parks.

All this to say that there are no Marriotts or Holiday Inns. There are no hostels or air b&b's. There are either high-end resorts or tent camps. We stayed in both and really enjoyed them. Here's some info about our safari accommodations.

Most of the pictures I've posted have been of the plains in the height of dry season, but we experienced tropical areas, too. In fact, the only two resorts we stayed in were located in lush settings. Mosquito nets were a given everywhere (and we still got many bites), but especially in the wet locations.

Our accommodations were as beautiful, ornate, and luxurious as they could be, considering the locations and the fact that food, drinks, water, and amenities have to be brought long distances. We were very comfortable, the staff spoke excellent English and were genuinely friendly and interested in us (i.e. even fun for the introverts to talk to! Really!), the food was gourmet and delicious, the drinks overflowed, and occasionally there were gift shops.

Both of the resorts included manicured grounds to walk around on, pools, hot tubs, and various other amenities such as massages, manicures, pedicures, and tours. The only place I saw any of these at all was these two resorts. There was nothing like that in any other place we drove through in the country.

The food, like the places to stay, was either at one end of the spectrum or the other. It was either gourmet, 4-5 star quality, or it was a boxed lunch. We had a lot of boxed lunches :) because we were in the truck during lunch hours. But for breakfast and dinner we enjoyed freshly-prepared meals of all kinds.

In South Africa we had very creative, unique dishes (like ostrich casserole, game meats served with a variety of vegetables, etc.), but not in Tanzania. Most of the food consisted of cooked vegetables such as potatoes, onions, carrots, and spinach, with some meat. My favorite part of every meal was the fresh soup: pumpkin, potato and leek, vegetable. They were flavorful and amazing. I also had local beer almost every day. I'm sure they also served had great wines from South Africa but after a hot day outside, I was in the mood for something cool and refreshing that I could guzzle.

G ate bread and CLIF bars.

Safari Lager was my favorite African beer. Also, that napkin? Yeah, that's how the waiters would put them on us for every meal. I just left it like that? I dunno.

This is a look into the boxed lunches: a bottle of water, a juice box, a hard boiled egg (we didn't eat those), an apple (didn't eat those either), cooked chicken in that foil packet, fresh bread and cheese, and a chocolate bar. We gave Nas the food we couldn't eat and he donated it to the people who clean the bathrooms at the picnic sites. I would give G my bread/cheese and he would give me his chicken.

Here are some of the higher-end restaurant pics:

For the majority of our stay, we were in tent camps. These first pics are of the only camp that wasn't mobile; it was built into the side of a hill. Isn't it gorgeous? It was a phenomenal place to stay.

Here are some pics of a mobile camp. Notice the water buckets hanging up in the back. These were for our toilets and showers. We saved most of it for the toilets and instead of showering, we just wiped down. This was an easier way to keep water from getting into our eyes or mouths.

The walls of the tent were durable but mainly served as mosquito nets. See how nice the inside was? But we could hear the guards walking around, not to mention the animals milling around at night. Zebras would rub against the sides and snort (they sound like horses), and hyenas woke us up just about every night, often right on the other side of the tent from where we were sleeping.

A lot of people have asked us if it was scary. Not really. It was mostly cool!

If we needed to summon help, or there was an emergency, we were supposed to use the whistle.

At the end of our stay, we flew back to Arusha to catch the plane to Amsterdam. And by "flew" I mean on a toy plane that took off from a dirt air strip. Help me, Jesus. G was so excited that I basically couldn't deal with it. I was like, go take some pictures while I don a loin cloth and ashes and pray for salvation. It was...something.

See how large I look? That's because the plane was so small. I was three rows back from the pilot and could see all of his controls.

He was on cloud 9. I was not. But it was quick and then we were on a massively large jumbo jet to Amsterdam, fully stocked with movies and liquid courage, thank you Lord.

Now I'd like a Safari lager and some fresh potato and leek soup. In Tanzania again. Thanks.

Pumpkin Spice Bunnay

We explained to her that it's a hand-me-down from her sister, Loo Loo, but I don't think she cares.

Roo tends to quickly take ownership of things.

For what it's worth, she has also befriended the Roomba. She follows it around the house. I'm considering giving her a dusting cloth...

TGIF, people!

Aye, Robot!

This. Changes. Everything.

We got a Roomba!

Here's the thing. These puppies cost about as much as a used car, so we did not buy the latest and greatest model. Not even close. I researched the least fancy model that is widely-available, and it got good reviews on both carpet and hardwood floors. Short of getting the servant quarters of Downton Abbey to move in with us, this was the next best thing.

G says it's only a matter of time until the cylons take over and make us do their vacuuming, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can. If I've learned one thing from Sci Fi tropes, it's to get while the gettin's good. The robots or aliens or zombies win in the end.

It arrived fully-charged (thank you, Amazon, who will actually take over the world), so as I write this, it's zooming around the living room floor and Roo is scowling at it from up in the kitchen.

Thoughts in the first 10 minutes: It makes a bit of noise. Nothing crazy, but this version (the 650) isn't silent or anything. If you have a house full of kids, you'll never even notice it. :) Also, I have it running on the carpet and it's pretty thorough. We use a lint roller to pick up clumps of rabbit hair so that none of the vacuum cleaners will get clogged up, so I can't report on how it does with lots of pet hair. Also, I can see that we have a lot of nooks and crannies formed by the way our furniture is arranged, so we'll have to watch to make sure that our robot (!) doesn't get stuck going in little circles.

Let me tell you. The thought of sitting here typing while someone - well, something - else is CLEANING THE FLOOR? Yeah. Life is good.

P.S. Roo is now downstairs, giving it a wide berth. She is not a fan. As soon as she starts vacuuming the floor, I'll happily put the Roomba away. She can be my lil ROOmba. :)

TGIF, people!

More Dam Stuff

I don't want Amsterdam to be completely overshadowed by all the Tanzanian pics and adventures. Although the safari was definitely the highlight - and the point - of our vacation, we were glad to get to see another beautiful European city.

Granted, there's much more to see in the Netherlands than we took advantage of. There are the endless fields of tulips, of course, and the windmills, and Delft (pottery!). But even in Amsterdam itself there are so many incredible museums and so much art. I think that if art or art history is your thing, you should visit for sure!

But for us, the city was a book-end to an African adventure, and a great one at that!

It was either overcast, misty, or raining all the days we were there, which was just as well. Africa was mostly hot and dry, and there were days when we were sweltering. So, the humidity and water were fine with us.

My one pseudo regret is that we didn't get to tour the Anne Frank house. Did you know it was in Amsterdam? Why have I been thinking this whole time that she had lived in Poland? Probably because I don't know my history as well as I should. Anyways, the tours book up months in advance, and yours truly wasn't on top of things, so alas, we saw the outside but not the inside. This is the actual building of her house; I'm not sure what has been remodeled on the inside, but this is it from the outside.

Even getting to see and touch the building was surreal. I'm not quite sure what I would have felt going inside. I've visited the Dachau concentration camp and I've visited Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. If those are any indicators, the tour would have been heart-breaking and overwhelming, yet totally worth it. If I ever go back, this is on my list.

A statue honors her just around the corner from her house.

On a lighter note, one day we toured the city by boat instead of by foot. They have hop on/hop off canal boats that take you all over the city. It's a good way to cover a lot of ground without getting run over by a cyclist. It's also a good way to nap through your jet lag on the first day. (guilty)

Take a look at this last picture for a minute. I took it with G's phone, which doesn't do it justice, but if you look through this arch, see the next one? Further in the background? There are actually seven arches that are viewable from this spot! They are viewable like Russian nesting dolls - one "inside" the next.

Hope you are enjoying the Labor Day weekend! Hope you are off tomorrow!

The Best Kind of Saturday

You guys.

I slept in til after 7:00 this morning and woke up with the biggest Snooze craving ever. My body was like, wait, we don't have to bike anywhere? Then give us real food, woman!

Twist my arm.

Turns out if you get there before 8:00, you don't have to wait (<---that rhymes). Well, we had to wait for almost 5 whole minutes, but that doesn't count at Snooze and in fact totally isn't even worth mentioning when the usual wait is upwards of 45 minutes.

G and I have very different reactions to the glorious and delicious and trendy breakfast joint:

Coffee AND a mimosa.

Pretending not to enjoy this spectacular culinary experience.

 We started with the required pancake appetizer: Pineapple Upside Down Pancake.

And I ordered my usual: Spuds Deluxe. A plateful of seasoned-to-perfection hash browns, topped with pulled pork, cheeses, tomatoes, avocados, eggs, and half a bottle of roasted hot sauce. Half for breakfast, half for dinner, Saturday is covered. Check.

After breakfast, I dragged G kicking and screaming into Trader Joe's next door because I wanted to load up on their dark chocolate covered marshmallows. As I was perusing their candy and cookie supply, he wandered off with my phone. He took a picture that he thinks represents Trader Joe's:

Gluten free cheese pizza with a cauliflower crust

I would eat that with no issue or problem. Readily, even. But G rolled his eyes so much that I grabbed an additional box of shortbread cookies and high-tailed it out of there, completely forgetting to buy more roasted plantain chips. Sigh.

But all in all it was such a nice Saturday morning! And then I read all day for my History of the

Novel class, and vacuumed, and did laundry. And took a nap. And slept so hard that I woke up and didn't know where I was. It's gettin' cray cray up in here, peeps. 

I'll have you know it's the second day of September and I haven't decorated for fall yet. 

That is all.