And Here We Go…

Our trip started with an overnight in Madrid, Spain, one of our favorite European cities to visit. We stayed near the airport as we had the flight to Tanzania the following afternoon. However, we were able to take public transportation into the central part of the city and visit some of our favorite places – Parque de El Retiro, La Gran Vía, and Plaza Mayor.

El Retiro is a gorgeous city park that is approximately 350 acres in size. It contains several statues of past kings, gorgeous old buildings which are now museums or being restored to become museums, over 15,000 trees, a pond and an amazing rose garden. The park was alive with music, mimes, and people strolling and enjoying all it has to offer.

The following day we headed to the airport to board our flight to Tanzania. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by two hours making for the proverbial run at the airport at our stopover in Hamas Airport in Doha, Qatar to catch our final flight to Tanzania. Nothing like a good run at 1:30 AM to get your adrenaline going! Good news, we made it on time.

Upon our arrival into Kilimanjaro Airport, we were able to get through passport control very easily as we already had our approved visas with us rather than purchasing them at the airport. The lines for purchasing were VERY long and my guess is that most people would have to wait quite a while to get out. Our Tanzania Specialist driver was waiting for us outside and within minutes we were on our way to our accommodations.

The ride to the lodge gave us a good look at the landscape outside the big city of Arusha. Newly or newish constructed homes scattered throughout the area shows signs of people moving up to land ownership rather than renting. We also noticed lots of motorcycles and what looked like Tuk Tuks, three wheeled vehicles, on the road. And speaking of the road, there were parts where you got the African massage as our driver humorously called those sections that were not paved. In the 50 minute drive to our lodge, we got about 3 or 4 massages. Meanwhile, all of this activity being watched over by Mt. Kilimanjaro with its’ snowcapped top made for an eventful introduction to this beautiful land.

Our first night’s accommodation was in Moshi where we stayed at Weru Weru River Lodge. The lodge opened on September, 2011 and has a good sized property which includes the lobby building with a bar and restaurant, eight two story buildings with four rooms in each, a pool and a spa. The restaurant has an open kitchen to the dining area and the food is well prepared. At dinner, we had a delicious carrot puree soup with grated ginger as a starter. I plan to replicate this one back home.

Tomorrow, we will be picked up for our one day hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Until then, usiku mwema (good night in Swahili) from us to all of you.