Holiday break

In spite of my rather reclusive tendencies over the past month and a half, last week was a pretty social week. Over the weekend, we had a couple of Americans come stay at our house (we're listed on AirBNB, so tell your friends!) They were really friendly and seemed to really enjoy their time in Arusha. Jodie put in a lot of effort to make sure the house looked beautiful for them and I made sure that they were well fed while they were here (yep, chapati burritos).

After they left, we piled into the car and drove to the beach. We stayed at a gorgeous campsite right on the water for four days. We bought mangoes and a jackfruit on the way and just spent 3 days soaking it all in. The ocean floor was covered with rocks, so it was nice to walk along the beach, but it wasn't great for swimming in the ocean. Instead, they had a nice little pool and we spent our time swimming there and playing with the kids of the other families spending the holidays there. The kids really liked having us throw them in the water (that definitely covered my daily workout) or help them with dives or give them dolphin rides (basically sitting on my back as I swam laps) and even played a game of king of the mountain where they let me be the mountain. Jodie and her friend Steff went out snorkeling and also spent the day on a fishing boat with our friend Jana and some local fishermen bringing back with some pretty impressive catches. I also had plenty of time to read (after seeing how much sun and seasickness they had on the boat rides, I was glad that had passed on it) and they had delicious meals for rather reasonable prices and we even brought Travel Scrabble.

We had to leave at 4:45 AM on Christmas Eve (my deepest apologies to all the neighboring tents for us packing up our tent at that hour) to catch a bus back to Arusha. My housemate Mic had driven us to the campsite, but he only stayed for a day and a half since he had to go back to Arusha for work. The bus ride was a bit uncomfortable since we were in the very back row (where there's no suspension as you travel along the bumpy roads), but we made really good time for the first 80% of the journey. It was really nice to get away from the coast before we had to deal with the sticky, sweaty afternoon weather. Unfortunately, making such good time during that stretch meant that the bus was really struggling the last 20%. We made it back to Arusha and were all relieved to grab a shower as soon as we were home.

The next day was Christmas, and even though we didn't have any festivities in mind, Jodie, Mic and I decided to cook a feast. Jodie baked a chocolate cake and a carrot cake while Mic grilled steak and steamed vegetables for lunch. I made some guacamole to go with lunch and cooked up some falafel for dinner. We also drank sangria all through the day.

All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing holiday and much needed for all of us.