Jambo

Greetings from Africa. We arrived safe and sound. The flights were good, albeit a little long. Inno (our guide) met us at the airport and brought us to our Hotel, which is quite nice. We got unpacked and setteled into our rooms and had a quick meeting with Inno. After that we headed to the hotel bar to sample some African beer.

It is very humid and tropical here. It has been raining a lot here in Arusha which is unusual. It sounds like a few of the days on the hike will be wet. Kind of a bummer, but I guess it just adds to the experience.

Today we spent some time wandering around Arusha absorbing the culture. We went to the open air market which was quite different from our "farmers markets" in the states. Most of the fruits and veggies are the same, but the meat carcasses hanging out in the open, kind of disgusted me. We had lunch at a nice restuarant our guide had recommened (Milk & Honey). I had Veggie Curry with Chapis (a flour tortilla like food). The rest of the afternoon will be spent relaxing and then going through all of our gear as we leave tomorrow for the Mountain.

I hope this posting finds everyone sleeping well as I realize it is about 5:00am CST time back home. It is currently 2:00pm here.

Chandra