January 31: Arrival.

We arrived in  Dar es Salaam late in the evening. By the time we cleared immigration, got our luggage and changed money, it was already after 11 pm (and more than 24 hours since most of us arrived at the airport in Minneapolis).

And while most of us were feeling some degree of travel fatigue, that sense was more then tempered by an exhilaration to be in Tanzania. For three of us, it was the reality of arriving for the first time after all the preparations, including hearing stories from the more seasoned travelers. For others, it was the thrill of being back in a place that has meant so much to them, full of people who have had an impact on these return CtK travelers' lives. For me, it was a return after near 23 years to the first place my feet ever stood on African soil.

Much had changed, of course, since the last time I was here. There was a jetway, for starters, no hot, humid descent from the airplane on an open staircase. The immigration and customs process seemed better organized, as was the luggage claim and money exchange. But the covered terrace just outside the arrival lounge seemed very familiar--and I had a rush of nostalgia like for my first arrival in Dar in 1985 as I stepped out onto that patio space.

We were met not only by the bus driver, Kulwah, who will be with us for the week in Iringa,  but also by two young people who had been scholarship students sponsored by the Chapmans. Our luggage loaded in the back, we headed out towards our hotel for the night, as I struggled to see any familiar sites on the dark highway. Beyond the general "look" of Dar by night, there weren't that many; of course my fondest memories of Tanzania are not usually found in the industrial zone near the airport!

Early takeaways:
Appropriate technology: while the electronic key cards at our hotel were slick, we weary travelers may have appreciated an old-fashioned skeleton key to get us to our beds a half hour or so earlier.

My Swahili is rusty, dormant, and buried under a few other languages. But it is fun to test that muscle memory and see to what degree it might return.

I am mostly ready to be in Iringa and with our ELCT companions.  I might have even put up with a long bus ride through the night to be there already today.

The Tanzanian Schilling has changed incredibly in value since my first trip. The official exchange rate in 1985 was 17 Schillings to 1 US Dollar. Tonight we got more than 2100.

Azam bread, whose bakery we passed last night, no longer has the motto "fortified with extra fat and sugar."

These ten days a going to fly by...

Neema na Amani (grace and peace)
Peter