Week 40 at Peponi

We are now back at school after a nice break down at Peponi.

There are only 4 of us in campus so it is extremely quite although the school busses are coming and going - not sure why.


I'm sitting here typing the blog and listening to The Ashes being played live in Melbourne.  Another wicket!

The trip down was broken to Peponi is about 8hrs driving so on the way down we stopped at Same (Sah may) and stayed overnight to break the trip up.  Yesterday we did the trip back in one hit and it took approx. 9 hrs with stops.  Some of the stops were quite interesting.

I was disappointed not to be driving, but very glad we had our own driver, Hassan, courtesy of the safari company who we hired the 4WD from at no additional cost.  It made looking for and buying things quite easy and as for directions, well all Hassan did was pull over and ask.

As for our stops, the first stop was for prawns in Tanga, but after some looking, no prawns.  Next stop was fuel and fix something (minor repair).

Next stop was for oranges.  This one was exciting because as soon as we slowed down people picked up bags of oranges and ran towards us.  It was Hassan's job to get the best deal so up went the windows and try to ignore the hordes around the car.  While there a few busses pulled up as well - same thing, people running from everywhere, but as they were only dropping off the stop was brief.  As the bus drove away, people who had bought fruit threw money out the window onto the road.  This was picked up without fuss, I assume by the successful sellers.  After getting 2 bags of oranges, 3 pineapples and a bucket of mangoes, off we went again.  Hassan was shopping for his family as well.

After a few toilet breaks and quick bit to eat we stopped again for mangoes, and once again they came from everywhere.  This time we bought a bucket of mangoes and one of plums.

The final shopping stop was 1.5hrs from Arusha for tomatoes.  We stopped beside a stand, so no swamping from sellers.  We bought a bucket of tomatoes and some carrots.

The trip down involved three police stops with 1 "fine" while the trip back we made it through without being pulled over.

While in Peponi, we were all sick at some stage and with our skills in self diagnosis I had malaria, Denise had typhoid and Clare, who was with us, was sick - she refused to self diagnose.  No fun in that.

We also caught up with several other volunteers in the area while down the coast.

The resorts in the area cater for the travellers/backpackers market with good camping facilities and bandas (huts) for those without tents.  At Peponi, the camping sites are under cover and the dining room has a sand floor.  Shorts and thongs are dressed up, while a shirt/top is formal attire for meals.

The beach part is white sand, but like where we were in Zanzibar, the beach slope is gentle to non-existent so when you have a 2 mtr tide apart from high tide, you have a trek to get wet.

This week we meet up with Megan and Carlene, and then we are off on our separate ways, Denise to Mwanza, on Lake Victoria, and me to climb a little hill.

No more wickets, so it must be time to go and do some "work".


Until next time.