(As written in my journal that day; grammar and minor edits only. Italicized portions are additions written after the trip.)
I'm overwhelmed by fear about food and water - too many awful stories told me before my flight and as Meggie and I realized - I've had food poisoning before and she never has. (Or the old joke - there are two types of people in the world. Those who have had food poisoning and those who have not. Yet.) Hence my fear of it and her fear of other things. Other things = bugs. Bugs that carry malaria or yellow fever or sleeping sickness.
And being overwhelmed by fear caused me to rebel this morning and eat the traditional dish served at hotel breakfast along with the American offerings. Stewed salad of some sort. All the wrong things. Lettuce. Bell Peppers. Bits of firm white fish. Am I tempting fate? Time will tell. It was a bad decision, I am now thinking, but on the other hand, if I don't get sick, then I'm going to feel immune to the current fear gripping me for the rest of the trip. Self-imposed immersion therapy of some sort?
-- -- --
At this point, we're waiting for our fellow volunteers to arrive. We think we see a pair of them but are wrong. Then we see a family - 4 kids and mom and dad - and sure enough, they are 6 of our group! We have until 6 PM tonight (Saturday) to spend as we wish, until the program formally begins, and that means lots of journaling on this day, and a bit of sightseeing in Dar.
Meggie and I decide to say "screw the jet lag" and hire a taxi driver to take us to see Dar. The front desk clerk is a little confused; there is nothing to see in Dar. Tourists go to Zanzibar or off on safari; this is a layover, not a destination. She suggests the National Museum and the main fish market - they're near each other and will fit into the 2-3 hours we want to spend exploring before it will likely be pre-dinner-naptime.
Boats on the ocean outside the hotel, and Meggie on the bay:
Oh wow! These are pics I've never seen before! Cool. Ahhh yes, the bugs. Like Emily says, I was not too concerned about getting food poisoning but oh man was I worried about the mosQUitos! The first couple of days I was reeling with regret at not having gotten the Yellow Fever vaccine that my Dr. said was not obligatory for Tanzania (I later learned that I was the only one who didn't get it). I didn't think a thing about it until I got on the plane for Dar. As soon as we landed, I maniacally counted each and every bug bite that were quickly appearing on my body (just call me Sweet Meat). It took several days for me to relax a bit and the cooler weather in Pommern kept mosquitos at bay...which helped my paranoid mind :)
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