Having had a decent sleep, but not a complete sleep, we are relieved that we had the foresight to start the Safari on Sunday and not today. We are getting smarter every time we plan a trip! Buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant was great, service was over the top and we were happy to have such a great start to our day. We feel energized and confident that we won’t end up with an unwanted guide today. We shall stay strong!

It took all of three steps outside our hotel before we were swarmed with helpful people. We knew the museum we were going to was a whole 5 minute walk away. They were persistent – friendly, but persistent. Never rude, persistent. We made it halfway to the museum before we were able to convince them we were fine.

And then, the museum guides started in on us. Oh boy. Stay strong.

Even as we were paying for our admission, the clerk was wondering why we wouldn’t hire this guide and were we sure? Really sure? Yes, yes we are sure. But thanks, we just want to be on our own for a little while. And that was the honest truth. Usually we like to have guided tours through museums, but today we just wanted some quiet and some time to ourselves to reflect and go at our own pace. Even after he agreed, the guide stayed near us and kept trying to guide us, throwing in some interesting tidbits once in awhile. We made the mistake once of responding to him positively, he was then glued to us until I felt I had to be rude and tell him outright that we really want to be left alone – please and thank you. I hate doing that, but he was very gracious and understanding and kind. He said no problem, have a great day and left us with a smile and a wave. Made me feel a bit worse if I’m honest. ☹

The museum was great. It was all about the evolution of man and how it all started in Africa. There were footprints, fossils, skeletons, images, explanations, LUCY! And more. It was very interesting. There was also a taxidermy section, a big animal section, a garden and turtles. Many, many, many turtles. The most notable being Grampa Tom a 160 year old (or 200, no one knows for sure) turtle that walks the grounds and begs for bananas. And he is enormous. Almost hip high on me!! We really enjoyed it – it was small, quick, well explained and relevant to what we are interested in. I am really glad we decided (and were able to!) do it on our own.

As we are leaving the museum, our wanna be guide was waiting for us, hoping to be able to lead us to the Tanzanite store/museum. We really weren’t interested in that, ugh, we crushed his hopes again. In fact, we had to turn down many of these offers as we ran the gauntlet between the museum and the main road.

We decided to go and see a couple of markets, one we hadn’t seen yet, and the other one, we don’t think we’ve seen? But we don’t know for sure where we went to yesterday. The first one on our way is the Massai Arts and Crafts market. Rows and rows and rows of stalls (and stalls and stalls) of the same souvenir items.  Beaded baskets, bracelets, earings, etc, carved animals, t-shirts and the like. In each stall. We walked through 2 of the 8-ish rows and couldn’t take anymore. Each stall owner was very nicely asking us how we were and saying hello and saying, “Come on in – it’s free! To look!” LOL. We, unfortunately, didn’t have the mental strength to be able to actually enter a stall and look at everything. That’s the blessing and the curse of being jet-lagged, I guess.

I should also mention that at this time, we had no idea what Massai was, what it meant, or why it was important. We just assumed it was just the name of the market. Spoiler alert – we end up finding out exactly what/who it is and we feel a bit dumb for not having done some more research before getting here. Oh well, we learn as we travel.

Still ready to keep exploring, we walk along the road, busy as it is, with no sidewalk in sight, to find the next market. We know that this one will be more of a locals’ market, we are excited to see it. Watching the traffic navigate the roads – wow – the buses stop, doors fly open, person #1 jumps off to help person #2 with their market purchases (which often means enormous bags of potatoes), purchases thrown on the bus, the owners of said produce quickly jump back on as the bus is moving and finally, they all take off with minimal interruption to the traffic. A very well choreographed ballet of people, cars, buses, animals and timing. Absolutely impressive and like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

At this particular market, it is obvious that we are not the type of customer they are hoping to get so we are able to walk through the whole market on our own, without being hassled. Although, that has also made us uber-aware that we probably shouldn’t take any pictures. This is real life, this is not a tourist destination. No problem, we get it. But I would have liked at least one picture of the chaos that is this market.

Locals clamouring over the price of tomatoes at each stall, people feeling each vegetable they think they might buy, vendors yelling their prices out, trolley boys running boxes of produce here and there, women peeling back the layers of onions or shucking corn stalks. It was busy. It was colourful. It was vibrant. It was lively. It was real. It was not for the tourists, it did not warrant a picture. Luckily, that image will live forever in my mind.

Feeling the effects of jet-lag set in, we walk back towards our hotel. Along the way, we think that maybe if we stop for a Coke and a sit down, we’ll get more energy. Sound assumption, right? We find a little restaurant and pop in. The tables are mismatched and on uneven ground. It is more of an outdoor picnic site that is posing as a restaurant; it is covered in a corrugated metal roof with walls that are tarps, at best. While we were sitting there having our Coke we watched the staff there clean and clean and clean again. We had no worries that the quality of the food would be impeccable and safe. Alas, we were not hungry so opted instead to watch all the locals around us completely enjoy their meals. Next time!

Feeling a bit more human, we continue to walk towards our hotel. We are hoping that it brings us to the ice cream shop we passed by yesterday because, well, ice cream.

As luck would have it, we just happen to be on the proper roundabout spoke leading to our hotel. The ice cream shop is on our right. Drooling begins. Not because we are hungry, but because we are looking forward to a familiar treat. We are so tired and unsure of where we are, we need a bit of familiar to get us through. Of course we walk in! Death by Chocolate Sundae? How did you know? Of course we want that.

It gave us the push we needed. We were able to go the 6 minutes to our hotel. (sheesh, how tired must we have been???) Hey don’t judge, we even talked about having a swim in their very nice looking pool. It is only 3:00pm. But, well, it was only 23*C. (LOL) And we’re tired. So very tired. We should instead be very responsible and go get packed for our Safari departure tomorrow. Yes, that’s it, let’s be very good at adulting.

We head back to the room. And fall asleep. Hard.

Oops.

Oh well, we didn’t have any actual plans in Arusha so we don’t feel too guilty. Except that we must be getting older. Ugh.

Our dinner is at the hotel again, but this time we are able to order off of a set menu. Do we want wine with dinner? Well, yes!! Jason gets up to take a picture of the wines offered. Then promptly discovers that his phone is out of storage space and has decided to die. Jason is as even keeled as they come but this was an upset. This caused some panic. This was serious. This was NOT going to ruin vacation. NOT! But, this was going to take some significant brain space and time and effort to diagnose and fix. Because we leave for Safari in 15 hours. Where service is going to be even less reliable. Jet lag is no longer a consideration.

After a delicious dinner and some wine, Jason ran to the business center to test out all the theories he’d thought of during dinner. Let’s just say…it wasn’t going to be that easy.