Zanzibar->Arusha->Moshi

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The taxi from yesterday picked us up early this morning to take us to the airport. When he got there he had a random bag of clothes and not my Gore-tex jacket and pants. We drove back to the hotel to talk to them and figure out what was going on. Basically, they had no information for me, so we returned the clothes and got ahold of Deana. She told us that they found them when they got to Dar es Saalam. They didn't know what else to do, so they sent then with Jocelyn. I'm glad I didn't lose them completely, but its incredibly frustrating because so many people knew they were there and that I needed them. Amelie and I had a conversation about them the night before because they were in her room. And the reason they were there in the first place was because Vincent had put them in his bad and then decided he didn't want to carry them so he stuck them in the kit. The whole thing was annoying. Anyway...
We got to Zanzibar Airport and it was complete chaos. I've never seen anything like it. Its disorganization at its worst. We eventually got through 10 minutes late, but the plane wasn't even there yet. We finally made it into the plane which was the smallest I have ever seen. Our luggage went on another plane. The cockpit was practically nonexistent and there was no copilot. Weird! But both of us and our luggage made it in one piece. Arusha airpirt was teeny tiny and our ride wasn't there yet so we hung out for a bit until he got there. Once he arrived we found out it was $100 and we were staying almost 2 hours away when Mr. Meru was right there. Both things were annoying. While we had him, he brought us to get lunch, stopped at the post office (I FINALLY got to send the postcards I wrote 2 weeks ago!) and went to 2 banks to withdraw money. It was a very hectic day. On our way to Moshi we had a cool view of Kilimanjaro. Pretty neat- snow cap and all (Meru is below the snowline- good thing). We got to our hotel which is more like a compound for climbers. Interesting mix. We had a bit of time to kill before meeting with our guide for an orientation so we hung by the pool which is not much like hanging by a pool in the tropics. After spending some time with our guide I feel much better about the climb. For the first time I feel like I might actually finish. He says I will. I shared all my concerns with him and he seemed to think it would be okay. Yay! Still a little scared but I think I can do it.

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