Joburg and Tanzania

I'm writing this (hurriedly) from the lounge of the Arusha Hotel in northern Tanzania. I haven't had time to post in a few days, but I may do some back stories when I have a chance. Allen, Catharine, and I had a couple days in Johannesburg (alias Joburg or Jozi) before we all split up again. Joburg is a strange city. As in Cape Town, you see such a divide between the lives of people living in their fortresses behind concrete walls topped with electrified barbed wire and the people crammed together in the shanty towns on the skirts of town. We stayed in another lovely B&B; unfortunately, we were there during the middle of the "Big Chill" (while the Northeast US is boiling, South Africa is experiencing unseasonably freezing weather) and the B&B was not insulated. However, we were in what Allen said was a trendy area with lots of artists - which meant we were within walking distance of dozens of wonderful restaurants and coffeeshops. Did I mention that in Asia I was addicted to Drumsticks (those ice cream cones with chocolate and nuts)? Different companies make different versions, so I felt it my duty to sample them. Well, in South Africa I'm into Milo, which is a sort of Ovaltine drink. I know, it's a little weird. Anyway, I should speed this up, because we need to go soon.

We went to the Apartheid Museum but unfortunately were misinformed about the time it would take to go through it. I was in the middle of the 1960s when we had to leave for the US Consulate to add passport pages for all the visas and stamps we're accumulating. (I know, tacky, right? To be fair, I didn't really need extra passport pages just yet, but I thought it would be cool to get them).

After SA, Catharine went to a horseback safari near Kilimanjaro, I flew to Dar Es-Salaam, also in Tanzania, and Allen flew back to Hong Kong to get ready for work. I spent a night in Dar and then took an 8 hour bus to Arusha, where my friend Brittan from school is working for the International Criminal Court. We went on a safari with her friends to Tarangire National Park today. There were zebras everywhere - literally hundreds of them just hanging out by the river, crossing the road, tossing their manes, etc. We also sort of got charged by an elephant. I mean, I don't think she (he?) was really angry, but she definitely walked all the way up to us at a speed somewhere between ok and alarming.

Oh, and Toto was lying. (you guys remember Africa, the song by Toto?) You can't see Kilimanjaro from the Serengeti. It's so dusty you can't see the mountains until you're a lot closer to them.

OK, we're off to dinner. Much love to everyone.