Kyle B – Today was interesting to say the least…We left the hotel and got haggled in Arusha while we exchanged money, Mr Professor bought some phones, and purchased our first few cases of bottled water. Our lunch consisted of a buffet of pretty authentic Tanzanian cuisine. Little did we know we were eating without the knowledge that we weren’t going to be on paved road for nearly five hours after. We made it out through the “shortcut” and arrived in Dodoma. Despite the many wrong turns and bumpy ride we had the opportunity to drive through a lot of remote communities where everyone was excited to see us. I’m definitely happy we experienced this as it will be something I will never forget.
John C. – In expanding to what KB wrote down, the food was pretty good. Although, it seems some of the guys are still skeptical about the food. I feel it’s just a matter of time they will definitely get over the hump. Now what I thought was going to be an eight hour ride to Dodoma didn’t quite go as scheduled. As KB elaborated, the unpaved road was no joke. The first couple of hours were okay, but as we got to the unpaved road that’s when things got all bad in a good way. Luckily our driver was quite alert on keeping me up personally riding as “co-pilot” by pointing out some important settings in the regions we passed by on this “massage” like feel ride. We finally got to Dodoma and overall I feel somewhat settled.
Andrew G – After waking up and finally getting a good look at what the African landscape and environment looked like it finally hit me what it’s like to be out of the states. Going up to the fifth floor viewpoint of our first hotel I was amazed at our proximity to a enormous mountain and a small, but bustling city center. From there my excitement and interest only grew as we traveled through rural stretches to Arusha, our first taste of a city in Tanzania. It was amazing. After we had spent some time exchanging cash, getting hussled,a nd purchasing water we started our 8 hour journey to Dodoma on what our Driver joseph called the “free massage road. He wasn’t kidding. Even though the road was rough and bumpy I had a blast riding along sight seeing the heart of rural Africa. The faces of people as we drove by was cool enough, but paired with some obsevational learning of their lifestyle it only increased the value. I’ve gotten my first taste of what our two weeks is going to be like and I couldn’t be more excited
