July 8

This weekend was probably one of the best weekends of the best summer of my life. On Friday, Sonny and I managed to fix two oxygen concentrators at Mt. Meru Hospital.  It only required cleaning and replacing a few filters, but the nurses were so grateful for our work! Best of all-- we showed the staff how to clean and replace the filters once every two weeks. When they have trouble in the future, now they have somewhere to start looking. Hopefully the O₂ concentrators in the children’s ward will operate smoothly from here on out.

Early Saturday morning the gang met at TCDC to make our way to Tanga, a city on the Tanzanian coast. The large van/small bus we rented only set the group back 1.45 million Tanzanian shillings. For a moment, no matter how brief, Simona and I were millionaires.

The TCDC transportation director estimated the drive to Tanga would take about 4 to 5 hours. By an unfortunate turn of events (which could only be explained by a temporary alteration of space-time), this turned into a 9 hour drive. Please don’t ask me how or why. “It’s just Tanzania” is the only explanation we could come up with. We managed to stuff 24 people into a 25 person bus. This figure includes three incredibly uncomfortable and lop-sided fold-down aisle seats. Mountain views were a nice distraction from my scoliotic (not a real word) spine.

Regardless, the trip was surprisingly pleasant because of the company. Luckily we manage to entertain ourselves quite easily. Example: Simona groomed the ladies’ eyebrows and Jakob did sit ups in the aisle while we all sang the tune of the Rocky theme song.

Actually arriving at Peponi Beach Resort made the drive completely worth it. We felt like we were literally in paradise. If you ever find yourself on the Northern Tanzanian coast, you have to look this place up. It is completely picturesque.

 

The complex, owned by the British couple Denys and Gilly, has everything you need to stay for an entire week without stepping foot off the grounds. The bandas we stayed in were quaint, comfortable, and like something you see advertised on a tropical honeymoon getaway. There was a bar, toilets (yes this is becoming a motif) and showers that actually delivered the warm water that their little red knobs promised! We definitely appreciated these amenities so much more because we have been without them for the past three weeks.

We immediately ran out to the beach with all of the childish enthusiasm we could contain (and then some). I was just excited to spend some time in the Indian Ocean. Typical beach activity ensued.

Dinner was fantastic. I had fish with avocado butter, coconut rice, and two giant prawns. We talked, played darts, and were merry. After dinner we walked down to the beach and took advantage of the low tide. We walked out 100+ yards – all the way to an unmanned boat we had seen anchored earlier that day. This boat took two of our crew on a snorkel excursion the next morning.

Saw a lot of sea life on our night walk and the next morning. Mostly crabs and shrimp, a lonely shark fin, and once especially ornery octopus that grabbing hold of our fingers with its little suckers and spraying water at anyone who touched it.

   

We stayed up late and listened to the ocean. The palm tree silhouettes against the purple night sky were second only to the incredible amount of stars we could see, as we were at least an hour from the nearest small city.

We spent all of the following afternoon at the beach. Luckily, Niels dislikes being still as much as I do and we managed to dig a fairly good sized hole on the beach. We are really cool kids. This brought back childhood memories of trips to Playa Del Carmen (which is almost a little pathetic, looking back. Haha. I must have been a lonely child). Overall, super successful day.

 

I had my first Tanzanian hamburger for lunch! I’ve been missing my Texas-sized portions of protein.

We had less than 24 hours in paradise, but all of our spirits we lifted by the time we left. The bus ride home was a different story. (Mom, stop reading now). We journeyed mostly on bumpy dirt roads in aforementioned small bus/large van. It’s never encouraging to drive by Greyhound-sized buses that are flipped on their sides on the shoulder. The unanimous “Whooooa what the…”, followed by an uncomfortable silence and everyone goes back to distracting themselves with Candy Crush.

Finally, to further my motif… it is funny how much a group can bond over a simple community pee in the African bush. Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and senses of liberation and camaraderie accompanied the ladies during all of our pit stops. If it’s been a while since you used nature for what is only natural, I highly recommend you give it a try.  Plus, this is just another situation that makes great use of my head lamp (an item that is slowly becoming my favorite travel accessory).

Kwaheri!