So! I am now at Glenn's house in Kongei, which is fairly close to Lushoto. We took a "koaster" (van form of a bus or taxi) and I accidentally lost my phone on it. Fortunately Hannah, Sam, and Ezra got Glenn's "save the phone from the bus" call before the koaster pulled away. They got off around 10 minutes after us, so I'm glad they got my phone back for me! VERY CLOSE CALL. And makes me realize how attached I have become to my little brick of a phone.
We had a nice walk to Glenn's village. It was around 5 km, which would have been much nicer if I didn't have a bag of books to carry. Not just a duffel bag full of books, but a bag with broken straps. I bought it last weekend but it's too heavy and the straps broke. It was very awkward to carry.
Lushoto is very pretty! The air is so nice, too. Has that cool mountain feel. Apparently my village is a little further out and warmer, which is nice. I got kinda chilled while we were staying in Lushoto yesterday. Glenn has electricity and a pit latrine that's outside the house--I hope to have a similar set-up, but I won't find out until Wednesday. I have a feeling I will be without electricity, but I'm actually not too bothered by that. I just hope it feels cozy and homelike. All I know for now is that it's a duplex with a pit-latrine and room for a garden. Gonna grow some vegetables! (Also, apparently my town is full of limes and avocados. GUACAMOLE FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS!)
So, about my trip yesterday:
I met up with Sam at 7:15 and we took a dala to the bus stand. We were there over an hour early, but the bus didn't come until 9:45. (It was supposed to depart at 9:00). There was a good group of us all going on the same bus because it kept going all the way to Moshi. I bought some fried rice balls and cashews for the road, and PJ showed up and got me some water, too. Such a good LCF. The medicine that I'm taking to kill my parasite has been making me dehydrated among other things. I feel super sick to my stomach and have the worst headache every time I take them.
My favorite thing about taking travel buses is that vendors come running up to your window and shove things in your face whenever you come to a rest area/stop. I'm used to seeing gum, cashews, and drinks being sold, but yesterday there were also people selling bags of oranges, boxed up chips, and corn. Basically, they bag the oranges next to the road, and come swarm your bus when you're driving by in the hopes of selling you them. They were pretty cheap, but I had no use for that many oranges personally.
We missed our bus stop so we had to back track about 20 minutes on foot to take a koaster or "koasta" to Loshoto. The curvy, winding road leading to Loshoto is set along a ridge of the mountain, and there were several times it felt like we were going to drive off the edge and fall to our deaths. I'm still not used to being on the wrong side of the road, and because the road isn't quite big enough for two cars to fit, it was really scary every time we passed another car or bus. Counter-intuitive and also just frightening. It reminded me of being in Italy since those cliff-like areas are fairly common there, too. We were also crammed in there, and I was feeling sick from the medicine I'm taking, so I think I had turned green by the time we were at the top. Amy told me I lost all the color in my lips, so I guess I wasn't looking too hot for a while there.
Lushoto is a really cool banking town. We got some AWESOME chipsi mayai (potatoes fried with eggs--kind of like a potato omelette of sorts) with fresh vegetables on top. It was a huge plate for 1500 shillings (Like 90 cents in US money), so Amy and I split one. I also tried a yummy plantain, potato, and beef stew. It was rich and delicious! We also got to watch some of the Olympics/stay at this really sweet guesti (hostel/motel of sorts). We got a discount rate as PCVs, but it was still very pricey.
I also had a hot shower for the first time since I left Philadelphia. It only lasted about 1 1/2 minutes, but it was seriously glorious. My body has never felt so warm and clean. My feet are also far less dirty here somehow. Only mildly tanned by dirt rather than filthy.
Our hosts are Brittany, Glenn, and Ezra. Brittany also can't have gluten, and Ezra can't have dairy, so I bonded with them about food problems. Glenn is really cool. He's currently sitting here playing some guitar. I'm jealous! I wish I had brought a guitar with me. Today they all helped us set up bank accounts since the bank the PC uses does not have any branches in Tanga. Really convenient, right? It was a long, boring process. I felt sick most of the time...it wasn't fun. For lunch I got chicken cacciatore...it was okay. I'm glad I mentioned my allergies because the lemon chicken dish I originally ordered had butter, flour, and peanuts in it.
In any case, I'm very pumped about who will be in my area for the next two years. (Or for part of the next two years, anyway!!) Fun group!
Tomorrow we are going to a monastery to get wine in the afternoon. I am also excited about dinner: stir-fried veggies with rice and SALAD! We also had some dates which were delicious. The produce here is great!
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