Daladala all day long

It is amazing what a comfortable bed and a fancy mosquito net can do for you. Upon waking I felt great in general and thousands of times better than being immediately post 35 hours of travel. My surroundings did nothing but help this. Our hotel is as beautiful as I had imagined it was last night in the dark. 

We got up and our Kilimanjaro trekking company arrived promptly at 8. We met our guide and went over insurance, the route, food and other logistics. After that we had omelettes, crepes, bacon and toast. While eating breakfast the rainy season arrived. I feel like I may have brought El Niño with me. We momentarily considered hiring a taxi because of the rain to go into town but it was decided that I should experience the daladala. 

Daladalas are the public bus system here. They are Toyota minivans that can be rented for 40k Tanzanian shillings and then the driver and the filler upper (the guy who drags you in) get to keep whatever they make after that. Because of this personal space is not a thing. At one point we had 20 people plus a baby in our daladala. Off towards town jamming out to some really great African music. Organized chaos at its best, I am told there are routes and stops. 

Upon arrival in town we went to a food market first. If you know me, you know I love markets, their people, the smells, the food, all of it. 

We then went to the grocery store (because I also love grocery stores) and bought local snacks (chili lemon cashews and beef jerky). 

 We again hopped on a daladala and this time went in the wrong direction. After disembarking we decided to walk to the Masai market and met some very nice guys on the way who taught us to day "Si hitaji" (I don't need that), which is incredibly useful. They took us to a relatives store and then showed us their own wares. 

At the Masai market people try to pull you into their stalls. I terrorized everyone when I bought something. I didn't realize purchasing in this market is akin to drawing first blood. It stirs all of the other vendors in their stalls up and they become that much more aggressive. After this our exit was swift. 

We wandered some more and then headed back to our hotel where we met one of the owners. She recommended a local restaurant, triple K, for lunch. We decided to walk the two miles there and on the way bought street food that was grilled corn but tasted like popcorn. For lunch we had some O thing (basically grits that you ball up and eat with your hands), a green veggie, local chicken that came with a ridiculous spice paste (The thai people have nothing on the Tanzanians), and a soup that had bananas a green tomato thing, potatoes, and beef. 

Because being out after to dark in Arusha is dangerous we daladala-ed ourselves back to the hotel and hung out by the pool. Our hotel is a popular spot for locals on the weekends to swim and go to the bar. 

Dinner was at our hotel and delicious: pumpkin soup, veggies, a local bread called chipate and a weird potato thing that I have no idea how it was flavored.