I promise I won't complain about MegaBus anymore!

After facing the daunting task of cleaning off the mud after the waterfall hike, I faced the equally imposing challenge of packing to leave. It didn't really kick in that I was leaving until I actually put my backpack in the van the next morning. Probably because I had been living out if it for the past few weeks so it didn't actually feel like packing.

Next came the even worse part of saying goodbye. Yes some people were traveling with me and yes some people had already left, but I can honestly say that I was as close with the people I met there as any of my friends who I've known for years at home. Unfortunately, that just makes goodbyes even harder. I had leaned from camp that going through tough and challenging times makes you closer, and it turns out, the tougher, more unique and weirder the experiences are the closer you get. So to everyone there, I didn't say I hope to see you again, because I know we'll make the effort to definitely see each other again.

Ok, sappy part over. I promise. Wednesday morning rolls around and we begrudgingly pull ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn to catch our 7 a.m. bus to Dar Es Salaam. Four of us had chosen to take the bus to Dar and then a ferry to Zanzibar since it was significantly cheaper than flying. We were leaving a day before the people flying were scheduled to come since the bus ride is a wonderfully long one clocking in at 9 hours. Rather inconveniently, the last ferry of the day leaves at 5 p.m. So since we didn't want to risk missing it if our bus was late for some reason, we decided to book a hotel for the night, and take the ferry bright an early (again) at 7 the next morning.

Turns out it was a good idea since the bus ride actually was 11 1/2 hours. To add to the fun, the AC was broken in the bus. At first, it didn't matter much to us since Arusha is at a high elevation and is generally cooler than other areas of Tanzania. It was also early morning and we were still huddled in our sweatshirts so we brushed off the bus attendant when she seemed concerned about it. We should have been concerned as well since about halfway there it started getting really hot. What made it worse was that the windows opened awkwardly so you either got no breeze or your cheeks were billowing out from the force.  The bus was actually fairly nice and what surprised me was that they had a bus attendant just like airplanes do. We even got complimentary soda, water, and mints. How exciting.

Upon arriving in Dar, where it was still sweltering at 7 p.m., we got a cab and gave him the name of the hotel. As we start to get closer and eventually pull up, we start to get kind of nervous. It doesn't really seem like the best area to be in. After we go in and find out it's the wrong hotel, we are relieved as we head off to the correct hotel. Too bad the actual hotel isn't in a much better area. It's definitely better since there's no creepy market right outside in the middle of the street like the other place, but we made sure (as always) to not be along outside.

Dar Es Salaam is a much larger city than Arusha so it was kind of intimidating but after nearly 4 weeks of getting used to the busy life, it wasn't that bad. If TVE were based there and my first impression was of Dar and not Arusha, I think I would be much more intimidated. The one thing I was completely jealous of was that their dala dalas were minibuses so you could actually stand up straight inside instead of breaking your back and breathing (literally) on top of some other poor passengers like this:

A typical ride in a dala dala in Arusha. Our butts are also currently
 in peoples' faces.You just can't see since it's so cramped.

When we get to our hotel (the correct one) we lug our luggage (haha see what I did there?) up to our rooms. They're clean and fairly decent with mosquito nets which, now that we're in an area where malaria actually is present, is a good sign. The only disconcerting things were that they printed the name of the hotel on all of the linens (probably to prevent reselling) but it looks like the print they use in prisons. There also was a mysterious moldy stick in a cup of water in the bathroom and Jo and I decided neither of us wanted to touch it so we kind of just left it:

p.s. sorry the picture is sideways....

Now, we don't actually know the cause but for some reason all of our feet swelled up during the bus journey. Not like "oh maybe my feet are a little puffy" more like "OH MY GOD my toes are sausages, my ankles are friggin' tree trunks, and I actually can't take my flip flops off!" Maybe it had something to do with the altitude change or just the fact that we were on a bus for 11+ hours with only 1 or 2 breaks. Once at the hotel, I proceeded to lie like this:

sorry this one is sideways too. womp womp.

for the next hour or so until my feet returned to a somewhat more normal size (that didn't actually happen until the next morning).

One other thing we had noticed about Dar was that there were significantly more Muslims than in Arusha. We decided to wait a bit to get dinner not only so we could shower, but also because no place was likely to be open since it was still light out when we first arrived. We didn't need to wait long but once it was dark it was like the city became more alive if it was possible. We went to a place around the corner and I'd never seen a place so packed in Tanzania yet. The food was very good and the people watching was even better.

The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn (again) so that we could get to the port in time to get our tickets printed and get good seats. We had planned on getting outside seats near the edge since the recent ferry disaster was still uncomfortably fresh in our minds (for those who didn't hear there a ferry sank off the coast on its way to Zanzibar). The boat ended up being really nice and we realized that it was a different company's boat that had been in the accident so we plopped ourselves in the nice first class area hoping no staff kicked us out since technically we didn't have tickets for it. Thankfully, there were loads of extra seats since it was so early and no one bugged it. We thought it was hilarious that they handed out "sick bags" to everybody:

My face is a little less convincing than Aimee's is....

After a very comfortable 2 hour ride we stepped off into Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar. FUN FACT: Zanzibar is actually a separate country from mainland Tanzania (which is actually called Tanganyika) with it's own president and everything. That's important because that means we needed to go through customs. Luckily for us, the work permit that we had to get in order to volunteer legally gave us resident status and we breezed right through without filling out any paperwork. Now we in Zanzibar and our adventures could begin!