Russ's Adventures in Tanzania

Hi all! Well, we had a great time on safari and other trips with John, Chris, Catherine, Hannah, and Alison, but they had to go so we sent them off from Dar last week. The following day we got on a bus and headed back to site. We arrived just fine to find the house in great condition (thanks Mzee Mariatabu and Mw. Sajigwa!). Then we proceeded to do laundry and catch up on sleep for the next several days!

On going into town, I was shocked to see that the local govt. had knocked down most of our "market". Some explanation - our market consists of a food section and a clothes/knick-knacks section. Well, only the food part of the market is designated to be there - the rest had grown up from squatters over the years (since everyone goes to the market every day for food, makes sense to put up your stall right next to that). Well, the Prime Minister was coming to town and it was a decree from higher up that all these squatters would be chased away, so... the govt. came in a burned/drove over all of the illegal sellers' booths. Which was just about everyone in the area. So, our town lost a big part of its charm and personality - all in the name of making things "cleaner". Fortunately for the sellers that I knew who had been chased away, they simply moved to another part of the area or got together to rent a permanent space in a building. So everyone is still around there, but scattered - and the area looks hideous. Viva la socialism and bureaucratic missals from up high - they know better than you!

Anyways, working on vacation blog posts - I'll get those up this week. In the meantime, here's a collection of photo galleries from the others:
John
Catherine
Hannah
Allison - http://homepage.mac.com/allie412/PhotoAlbum11.html
Chris - Bado
Russ and Lisa - Tunaamini kumalizia hivi karibuni