And so free travel has begun....and what a week it's been so far!

Zanzibar was HEAVEN. I spent the first few days in Nungwi, a hippyish section of coast pretty much ignored by the crowds this time of year. It's fairly predictable how that was, the usual white beaches, palm trees, laid back days and a large population of rastas that seem to be part of the island paradise experience no matter where in the world you are. After the sunbathing got boring, I did a few activities like a tour of a spice plantaion, a trip on a dhow etc....Then I headed to Stone Town for some culture. I saw a few museums and ancient churches, got hopelessly lost in Stone Town's famous maze of alleyways and ate at the nighttime food market in Forodhani Gardens. The town is beautiful, I can't wait to go back one day and spend more time there.

After Zanzibar I got a train from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, 764 miles in all.The trip is supposed to take 33 hours, but actually ended up being a neat 49 hours. Oh the joys. The other volunteers and I were taking 2nd class, ie 6 bunk beds in a cabin about the width and height of a double bed. No exagerration here folks. Our first impressions of the cabin were tainted by the legions of cockroaches that came running from the beds upon our arrival. They were smaller than the cockroaches we'd enjoyed at our home in Arusha (great!) but a lot cheekier (not so great...) and far far more numerous (oh dear god). The pickpockets literally lining the hallways of the train waiting for us to leave the cabin unattended were also a bit of a downer, as were the tales of nightime thieves who waited until the train stopped to climb onto the roof, spray sleeping gas through the window and rob us all blind. However, everyone embraced the train as 'an experience' and accepted that this is what you get for trying to travel nearly 800 miles for 15 quid.

All was well on the second day of the train, we'd met the more eccentric of our neighbours including an alzheimers possible called 'Kingboy' and a rather chatty nun, when I decided, perhaps illadvisedly, to get epic epic food poisoning. And the train engine broke, when we were exactly equidistant between two stations, and the next station along the line didnt have the equipment needed to fix our train, so after an 8 hour delay in the baking sun, we were being towed backwards, slowly getting further and further away from Mwanza. I was throwing up far more than I'd ever thought possible, praying to all the various Gods and wanting to die. Needless to say, the journey to a low at that point.

When the train finally arrived in Mwanza, hours and hours after expected arrival, I nearly wept with joy. Stable ground! Fresh breezes! Showers! As a bonus, I also won the bet among the volunteers on when we'd arrive in Mwanzan, my natural pessimism finally paying off. 2,500 tanzania shillings were mine! I realise that's only 1 pound 50, but that kind of money goes a disturbingly long way here. So right now I am still a bit delirious from fever, but I took a load of rehydration sachets and a handful of painkillers to come and write this, and now I'm going back to bed to curl up and pray for relief. I havent eaten in more than 2 days, but still am in quite alot of pain. My fantastically understanding fellow volunteers have agreed to spend another day in Mwanza to let me recover before we attempt the Rwanda border crossing.

So until next time,

Ruby x