Wake Up Knock!

So I landed in Tanzania & met up with Julie Ita, one of my old roommates from FSU! What a riot to be here in Africa with her! We've had a great trip thus far, but have been in remote areas of Tanzania -- no Internet access. In fact, most of our hotels, while plush & comfortable, haven't even had phones in the rooms -- no wires run to the Serengeti! :) And given neither of us brought an alarm clock, we got into the habit of registreing our rooms for early morning "wake up knocks!" That, right -- hotel staff will come and knock on our door to wake us for the day!

Another fun adventure in the remote hotels is leaving the main area for the night, and seeing whether or not an armed security guard jumps out to escort us to our room. Not to ward off hooligans, but rather wild game! Last night, on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, we asked our guard if it was baboon (we'd seen many on the hotel property). He replied No, and walked us over a few feet to show us the incredibly large African Buffalo who'd decided to sleep on the lawn for the night (we tried to take photos, but it was too dark!). Always an adventure here in Tanzania!

Right now we're in lovely Zanzibar! Can't wait for the three days of beach activity ahead! Also, tomorrow we take a spice tour -- Allie & Bella -- I'll be thinking of you gals when I see the Cardamom growing!!!

Mere & Julie

PS -- Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all! And, rats about the FSU v. UF score, but thanks to Charley Barley for texting the final numbers through -- it was wild to have the immediate updates coming to us in Ngorongoro Crater!