As I sat down for a dinner of chipsi mayai at a typical Tanzanian restaurant in Mtwara, and spent the entire time swatting the countless flies away I realized my 2.5 week break from reality was definitely over.  I got to spend the better part of July with my Mom, Dad and sister on the most amazing vacation we’ve ever been on.  After months and months of anticipation I was thrilled to see them, fanny packs and all, when they arrived in Arusha!  The only thing that could have made them look more like tourists would have been if they were wearing khaki safari vests with a million pockets.  We had a day in Arusha before we left for our safari so we headed into town to check things out but were immediately bombarded by Tanzanians who were so in-your-face with the souvenirs they were selling, it got to be too much so we headed back to the hotel.  The next day we were off to Tarangire National Park where we saw tons of zebra, elephants, wildebeest and impala from the moment we entered the park until we arrived at our camp for the night.  Camp sounds like we had to rough it a little and that would be very misleading….we were met by a friendly staff with fresh passion fruit juice and hot towels.  Not too shabby.  Every place we stayed at had such amazing service I almost forgot I was in a 3^rd world country.  We went to Lake Manyara (where we saw our first lions and water buffalo), the Serengetti (cheetah and leopard) and Ngorongoro Crater in the next few days and in my opinion we saved the best for last with Ngorongoro.  Every park was awesome, and totally different from the one before so it was cool, but the crater was just amazing.  I had been looking forward to it the most because it’s just such a cool place.  It’s an old volcano that’s collapsed and there are tons of animals down in the crater.  The drive down into the crater was cool, and once we got down there we managed to complete the much sought after Big 5 sightings by watching a rhino make his way across an open field and waltz right through the middle of a group of safari vehicles.  We ended our day in the crater by coming upon a pride of about 12 lions just lounging around, enjoying the afternoon sun, right in the middle of the road.  There was even a cub who parked himself against our back tire in the shade of our land rover.  That night we stayed at a lodge right on the rim of the crater and got to watch an amazing African sunset over a glass of wine.  Good ending to a great few days.  Then on to Zanzibar where in Stone Town, the narrow and winding alleys which are supposed to be enchanting, terrified my family.  Thanks to the warning from an over-cautious taxi driver, they were sure we would be robbed at any moment.  My mom and sister ended up enjoying it though because there is some great shopping to be done in Stone Town.  My dad on the other hand…. After that it was two nights on a pretty secluded beach on the north-east part of the island.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it down to good ol’ Mahuta.  Flights between Mtwara and Dar es Salaam have been canceled at random lately, and we didn’t want to risk them missing the flight back home.  So for the few days we spent in Dar, the fam got to take a ride in a daladala, see the Peace Corps office, and I took them to my favorite spots in the city.  It was an amazing 2 weeks, and I enjoyed every minute of it!  Thanks so much Mom and Dad for everything.  I’m so happy you and Allison got to come visit me in Africa! 

            For now though, it’s back to work in Mahuta.  Lots to do in the next year! 

p.s. Coach K, congrats on the head coaching job!  I’m so happy for you!  You and Coach Tate are going to be an awesome coaching team J…..again.