Day 11: Tanzania (Usa River, Nkaoranga, Arusha, Kilimanjaro)
Well, today's our last day in Tanzania! For our last breakfast, we has hard boiled eggs, toast, and hot dogs.....it was a little strange, but tasted good nonetheless.
We left around 9ish with the medical crew to head over to the hospital where Pastor Kleopa would later pick us up to take us to the Cultural Heritage Center. After checking the progress on our painting team, we spent the majority of the next couple hours waiting in the O.R. dining area chatting.
When 11:00 rolled around, we left with Kleopa for Arusha. On the way to the Heritage Center, we stopped at an Arushan market to pick up some more baskets. Kleopa made us wait in the car at first so he could negotiate the price without it being driven up due to our mzungu-ness :P I ended up getting two long, flat baskets for around $6 each!! It's so crazy how the lady at the Farmer's Market charges SO MUCH for her hand-woven, African baskets and they're SO CHEAP here!
It took us about another half an hour before we got to the Heritage Center where we immediately had lunch. I had garlic/ginger chicken with French fries...it was pretty darn good. Lunch was followed by a lot of shopping within the Heritage Center, which I just realized I haven't yet explained.
The Cultural Heritage Center is a huge museum/art gallery/shops/flea market/restaurant where everything is for sale. It's very neat and *very* mzungu. Pretty much only white people there surrounded by lots of white people prices. Doris and I thought it looked like Adventureland from Disneyland.
Luckily for us, Dr. Rob knows the manager of the place pretty well, so we got a "missionary discount". I ended up spending around $70 for a beautiful, long wooden bowl, a carved wooden nativity, some chopsticks, a set of wooden spoons, a frame, and a bracelet. Not too shabby! And the perfect way to end our Tanzanian trip: shopping :)
I think I've spent somewhere around $200 for all of the souvenirs I've bought since I've been here, which really isn't bad at all considering *all* of the stuff I've bought.
*UPDATE*
We said our goodbyes to our team, made it to the airport safely, and then said our farewells to Pastor Kleopa and co. who dropped us off. Things went pretty smoothly as far as filling out customs forms and checking our bags, except there was a bit of a hold up when one of the airport workers thought my passport picture looked just like Angelina Jolie (...what?).
Airport Worker: *gestures me to come over to the counter where Michael is upgrading our seats/checking our bags*
Me: "Yes?"
Airport Worker: "Do you know Angelina Jolie?"
Me: "No...oh, do I know *who* she is? Yes...sorry. I'm tired."
Airport Worker: *points at my passport* "You look exactly like her."
Michael and I: *good hearty laugh*
Airport Worker: "No. Not a joke. She is an actress. You look just like her." *proceeds to show my picture to all the other workers*
Soooo, yeah. That was interesting. I'm fairly certain that if he had to see Angelina Jolie's mug plastered all over magazines as often as we do, he would know that I look nothing like her, but whatever. I'll take it as a compliment, I guess.
After my celebrity sighting, we ate chicken burgers with avocado (yum!) in the airport terminal and then boarded our flight for Amsterdam! Well...technically Dar es Salaam and then Amsterdam, but you get the idea.
This has been such a wonderful adventure, and I'm so grateful to God that He's allowed me the opportunity to do this!
See ya in America!
mjl.
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