Sorry for the cliff-hanger!

Both Bill and Maria here.  We arrived on Wednesday in Tanzania safely and comfortably after a harrowing hell-venture through the torturous system  that  is getting to Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport in London.  Having missed our direct train to the airport due to an extended "goodbye" session with our hosts in London, Martin and Sharon (who were great), we navigated our way (with the help of many a local) through four night buses over the course of 4 1/2 hours in freezing January-in-London-at-midnight temperatures with too many bags.  We were both pushed to the edges of our respective sanities, but in  the end, made it to the airport safely and not even frostbitten. 

Tanzania is beautiful and everyone here has been  so kind,  welcoming, and helpful.  On our way into Arusha from the Kilimanjaro Airport, the smellscape was striking as we traveled in the packed van with other new arrivals.  Sweetgrass, livestock, barbecue (smoke & spices), flowers; all of these cycled through our nostrils as we spied what we could  of the landscape in under the near full moon, the slightest shadow of Kilimanjaro in the distance.  There are a lot of cultural,  architectural, and ecological similarities to Trinidad, I'm noticing.  Bill,  though he hasn't admitted it yet, is probably tired of my hourly comparisons to T&T.

We spent the first two nights in a small  town  adjacent to Arusha called Sakina and left because it  was too far away from the city for our liking.  The hostel itself was nice enough, and  we had the enriching  experiences of riding a duladula (USA: taxi-van, Trinidad: maxi-taxi) into town to attempt to purchase a cell phone and some other necessities.  The mere act of finding  and purchasing a cellphone in  Arusha taught us more Swahili than a weeks of studying our book at home and labeling items in the house (sorry, Mom,  for all those stickers everywhere).

We now live  at the Ujamaa Hostel in Arusha, just a 10-minute walk from the city center.  The locals are kind to us and the hostel is bursting at the seams with Aussie visitors.  I never expected to meet so many people from AUS here, nor did most of them.  We've already made some great friends. Most everyone staying at the hostel has an interesting story both behind and ahead of them. It's good to be around like-minded people who share the spirit of charity and savour the adventure of  travel; individuals the profiles of whom will be described in  more detail as we return to a more regular blogging schedule (Nakupenda, Serena!  Ciao!)

For now, our internet access is limited to how much time we want to spend hanging out in local cafes, but we do have posts saved up from our time in Europe/UK that we need to upload.  Plus, we've got quite a bit of video from the nifty little Flip camera that my mother donated to our cause (love you, Mom! It has come in handy as Bill's baby, his Canon digital SLR, began to malfunction to the point of being unusable just hours before our flight to Africa.  Please hope, pray, advise, or whatever you do that we get it fixed.   The imagery we have been unable to capture  in just these few days has been fantastic, but fleeting, unlike some of our memories, we hope.  The important thing,  we keep reminding ourselves, is the experience of something beautiful, not necessarily capturing  it.... but still...F#@&!!).  All of these things will be patched in later.  Pinky swears.

For those of you who despise your money, you are welcome to call us on our cell phone, on which we receive calls/texts for free.  Our number is 0682501009 and the country  code for Tanzania is 255, so,  do with that what you will.

Again, sorry, sort of, for not being in touch. While blogging isn't naturally our first  priority, we do realize that some  of you back home might be worrying.  We, as usual, appreciate your support and hope you don't  lose interest in  us too easily.  We do miss you.  Also,  the first crop of postcards should be arriving, erm, shortly?   Not quite sure how long it takes to ship from Amsterdam or  London.

On Monday, we travel via speed-taxi to Karatu, and  then even  farther west to Oldeani  Village to start work.