I Love Arusha

And I can sum it up in one word--weather. Yes, any of you with any kind of short or long-term memory capacity have probably heard my mini-rants/musings on why the *$&#^@ the weather is so cool at the equator. And anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that, next to my hair, being dissatisfied with weather is pretty much a way of life for me. After almost 20 years of living in Minnesota, I actually enjoyed the weather for about 6 weeks of the year. And don't get me started on the mosquitos. The combination of sunscreen, bug repellant, and sweat was something I just never really learned to appreciate.

Having just returned from Pangani, on the Tanzanian coast, I am reminded that I think Arusha is pretty much the best place to land in Tanzania, at least for me. For one thing, it really is a pretty decent town as far as being able to access creature comforts. It's got a great ex-pat community. It's on the edge of the savannahs, but in the shadow of the Meru rainforest so the scenery is great. Despite all the dire warnings about mosquitos and malaria, it's not too bad here, and we rarely are bitten and rarely wear repellant.

But back to the weather...the best thing about Arusha is IT'S NOT HUMID. In our 4 days at the coast, we loved the sea, the pool, the heat--but not that sticky humid feeling that never seems to go away. Even when it rained. The owner actually discouraged us from thinking about Christmas there unless we liked the humidity. The weather here reminds me of August in Montana--hot days (more intense sun here at th equator) and cool nights. Minus the forest fires.

Of course, I'm riding the high of a week of hot weather. Last Friday it started to rain here around 4 pm and was still raining without a break when we left Sunday morning. Yuck.

Now about my hair--I'm afraid nothing's going to help.