Arrival - Day One

Day One of my Adventure involved landing in Amsterdam, Netherlands and exploring the city during my 10 hr layover. The weather was hot and sunny - perfect for being outdoors. Despite getting a bit lost in the airport and downtown, I did manage to take the train back and forth to my destination and enjoyed both the canal tour by boat and the city tour by double-decker bus. I, unfortunately, did not have time to visit any of the museums or coffee shops. The Anne Frank house was open after 3:30 for visitors who had not previously booked a specific timeslot (me). I chose to go back to the airport instead and take a much needed shower before my next flight. What a wonderful amenity! I have many pictures of the beautiful canals, some wonderful architecture, and some interesting houseboats. I will try to post these later on 'Flickr'.  

I have to admit, the traveling has become a blur. I flew to Nairobi, Kenya where I was issued a new boarding pass to continue on to Mwanza, Tanzania. I believe this is where the mix-up occurred and my luggage was lost. (Don't worry - it ends well, with my luggage arriving intact, a day later.) In Nairobi, I got on a bus at the airport to drive to a much smaller plane to fly to Kilimanjaro. In Kilimanjaro, all passengers exited the plane and went through two security checks before getting back on what was likely the same plane - to continue on to Mwanza. I am glad my carry-on was a back-pack because climbing the airplane steps could be hazardous.

Once in Mwanza, besides finding out my luggage did not follow me, I was called back into the Visa office to be told my $20 American bill was unacceptable because it was torn. Luckily I had brought an extra $20, so I just exchanged them. I surprised myself by finding my baggage claim since I don't usually remember to keep track of these things. I finally made it outside to discover no one was waiting for me, as promised. I had phone numbers of my contacts so an airport personnel phoned the contacts and we had Moses returning for me in minutes. (He had been there but did not realize I was being detained for the Visa and luggage issues.)

We then drove to Agape Lodge, on the outskirts of Mwanza. There was much for me to take in. I think I was over-tired and slow to react because I didn't once scream when I saw us repeatedly careening towards incoming traffic. I thought driving in Ireland and even in parts of Costa Rica was bad, but this was a whole new level of 'BAD'.  The roads were lined with makeshift shops that sold anything you could think of - but I did notice a lot of couches. There were chickens, goats, and cows grazing about. People rode bicycles and motorcycles usually piled high with objects and/or people. I admired their ability to balance - sometimes while talking on a cell phone. The 'road' to the lodge made the sidestreets our GPS had us travel in Ireland look like beautifully manicured roadways. This gave new meaning to 'potholes'. 

Despite all that, the lodge is quite lovely with a beautiful garden/sitting area. It is gated and quite secure. I have a large room with a large bed, table, chair, small tv, small fridge and armoire. The bathroom has a toilet (yeah!), sink, mirror and a shower head. I learned that I shower in the middle of the room and then 'squeegee' the water down the drain. I'm not sure if there is hot water (there certainly wasn't any when I tried this morning!). I also have air conditioning - which I ended up turning off because I was a bit chilled. 

Moses is a wonderful host and introduced me to two ladies: Nuru and Happy, who will be looking after me. Nuru gave me a lesson on hand washing clothes so I would have something clean to wear the next day. Happy agreed to repeat anything she says to me in English, in Swahili so I will hopefully pick up some of the language. 

The sun rises later here - after 7 am and sets by about 6:30 pm. I slept for about 3 hours in the afternoon and was in bed by 10 pm, totally exhausted. 

I could not post this blog on my first day, unfortunately, because the Internet was down. I plan to get into a routine of blogging at the end of each day-when it isn't wise to be outside due to the mosquitoes. Although my blogs may seem long, I am actually leaving quite a few things out. If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them. I will try to address them as I go along.