Iringaaaaa

Hey hey short update from the beautiful southern highlands. On Friday Katie and I headed from Zanzibar to Dar. That evening we "unofficially" visited the new education class trainees that arrived in Tanzania on the 15th. Getting new volunteers is quite exciting for all of us PCVs in-country, and I can't wait to see who ends up near us in Mtwara. Then we took a pleasant 8 hour bus ride to Iringa, arriving Saturday evening. We met our friend and fellow PCV, Glenn, and went out from some Chinese food and a couple of beers before heading to bed early. Glenn left early the next morning on a bus and Katie and I slept in and explored the city a bit. We went and had a wonderful brunch of vegetable and cheese omelettes, french toast, and homeade yogurt at a local restaurat here that is an absolute favorite among volunteers. Then we walked a bit out of town and climbed a big rock to get a nice view of the city. After a long afternoon nap at the hostel, we ordered delivery pizza (say what?!) for dinner. On Monday two other PCV friends, TJ and Carly, came into town and we all went for a wonderful lunch of avocado bacon paninis! We spent the afternoon shopping, had some Tanzanian food for dinner, then headed back to our hostel to watch a movie. This morning we had another tasty breakfast and then went in search of the used clothing market (where all the clothes that don't sell at Goodwill end up). Now we're hanging out at a lovely cafe...it's run by a local mission that hires only Tanzanians with disibilities - all the wait staff are deaf and others are employed in making clothes and crafts for sale. What else...Iringa is cold! I do not have appropriate clothes so I'm freezing my but off once the sun goes down, but the hostel provides warm blankets so I'm sleeping well. I suppose it's a nice change from the hot south, but I'm still a Texan and I'll always prefer sweatin' to shiverin'.

Poop update: Thanks for the concern for my health, but I'm doing fine! My fever and headache lasted for just 2 days or so and I've been getting plenty of sleep since. The diarrhea lasted for 5 days; it seemed to be clearing up yesterday but I've had to run to the bathroom twice while trying to type this post so I guess its back. Of all places to get diarrhea I suppose its not so bad because I've had access to western toilets the whole time which is a nice treat and would not be the case at home down south. But we haven't been letting my pooping damper our vacation too much and we've still been eating well..lots of dairy which is probably stupid but when's the next time I'll get ice cream and yogurt? Tomorrow I'll take some immodium to clog up my intestinal track before embarking on a long bus ride, and hopefully I'll be back to pooping solidly in no time.

Added some more pictures of food and such. Tomorrow Katie and I will hop on a bus from Iringa to Moshi, which should take about 12 hours. Can't wait to spend a week in the wonderful north, with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

As always, much love from Tanzania!