Goodbye Gingerbread Cottage

This is the wee house, Gingerbread Cottage, that Maree lives in. Note the banana tree in the garden. It's quirky. The only disadvantage is that it's across a field from a mosque, which wasn't there when she first moved in. The sing-song call to prayer is fine, but it's the haranguing, yelling without a pause for breath, in the style of a very excitable but angry racehorse commentator, that would make me move, as it lasts for at least 40 minutes a session. Starting at 5am. Though on our first morning it was 1am, 3am and 5am...

We had a lunch at another of the favourite ex-pat retreats, sitting under a big gazebo looking out over green fields where rugby games are played, and it's a popular Friday Happy Hour spot. They don't seem to have any drink/drive laws in Tanzania...

We had yummy calamari strips at the beach, and so when I spotted it on the menu, I ordered it. OMG! I nearly died when I saw it arriving - piled high, with lots of big purple tentacles sticking up... Eeeek! And actually, it was as tough as old car tyres, but I managed to make a bit of a dent in it. It was certainly the scariest plate of food I've ever seen in front of me - JR missed a chance for a prize blip! I hadn't realised it was the same menu as the first place we went to when we arrived in Arusha, where I had the best salad ever.

A white knuckle drive to the airport on the shuttle. Bus drivers in Tanzania cannot bear anyone being in front of them!! They have to pass, even if there's a car coming.

Maree travels a lot, and re-assured us that our bags would be checked right through to Glasgow from Kilimanjaro Airport. The girl at the check in also assured us. Nairobi Airport was even more chaotic than last time. But plane left on time. Early, actually. Things going smoothly... Too smoothly.