Karibu Tanzania!

We're here! We'll half of us are. Three days in Dar Es Salaam getting legal and gear packed on the train for the long haul to Kigoma. We were able to exchange our American money to Tsh and hobbled around town in search of bottled water, grilled chicken and rice dinners and a general sense of belonging. Learning some basic communication terms was vital to surviving the day-to-day outings. Hujambo and Habari both mean versions of How are you? Which everyone asks. Sijambo and Nizuri are appropriate responses. Asante san is thank you which goes a long way! Ni bei gani? How much? and Ghali sana - too much! are common too. Half the crew took the dreaded train across country while the other half flew to Mwanza and then to Kigoma in a days time. The passenger train was stalled because a cargo train came off the tracks in front of it. Our crew on the train has been stranded since Friday (now 4 days on the train.) We in Kigoma (paradise!) have gotten to work, pulling all the gear from last summer's storage, cleaning the lab and putting the boats together. We've been fortunate to take a jaunt into town each day (about a mile walk) to eat a good lunch of beans (maharage), rice (wali) and chicken (kuku). I'm going to post some photos to help catch people up. More to come...what a time!

View from my hotel window in Dar

View from my hotel window in Dar

Lobby posting

Lobby posting

Lake Victoria in Mwanza. Took a taxi ride here while waiting for our flight to Kigoma

LV

LV

Mwanza airport

Airport cafeteria

Big lizard at airport. It looks small, but is about 10 inches

Where I sat for flight from Mwanza to Kigoma

The long road to Kigoma. Glad I didn't take the bus!

Flying into Kigoma

Landing in Kigoma
Tangawizi is ginger soda...very ginger