Tanzania Trip Day 3

It was a bit of a groggy wakeup as the kids gathered around 0830. Breakfast was a wonderful collection of eggs and bacon, fresh fruit and juice, toast and chapatis – like a crepe, adding toppings like peanut butter, honey, mango jam, etc. Our morning journey started by changing money at a small “bank” so we will have some Tanzania Shillings.

We then went to the National Museum, which had some fascinating items, but was a bit sparse – we were the only visitors during our two hours there. The highlight was the excellent exhibit on human evolution, highlighting the many key discoveries made by the Leakeys and others in places like Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli.

We learned about the history of Tanzania also, about African rock art, saw some modern art, and experienced a moving outdoor memorial to the victims of the US Embassy bombing in 1998.

We returned to the Triniti Guest House for a lovely lunch – the kids had their choice among pasta, curry dishes, fish and chips, etc. After some down time, we loaded back up at 1400 to go to the Village Museum where they have many examples of traditional homes from various parts of the country.

We got an unexpected performance of dramatic improv from some of the workers there and then traditional drumming and dancing, with all of us participating in the second part of the show.

We then visited the Nafasi Art Space, a community of local artists who have a campus of all their studios. We saw dancers and craftsmen working looms.

We met a famous cartoonist and the best graffiti artist in the country (according to his colleague). We attended a talk with their current artist in residence – a young portraitist working in charcoal.

The kids showed great patience sitting through the talk which was mostly in Swahili (no shame if some eyelids rested for part of it). The final stop of today’s journey was dinner at Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant. We sat on their upstairs deck eating various spicy vegetable and meat dishes, served on huge collective platters lined with a thin bread and the dishes on different parts of the platter.

Without utensils, you use the bread (which had a tart taste) to grab some of a dish and have a bite. This was some adventurous eating, and the kids embraced it. They were rewarded with ice cream for dessert, and we got back to the hotel at about 2100. After some more check ins with home (everyone has to gather in the reception hut/bar to have wifi), and some showers to wipe the day’s sweat away, we settled in for an early sleep, hopefully waking tomorrow recovered from our jetlag.