The Amsterdam Posting, Rated PG-13

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, early January 2007

Howdy from Dar es Salaam! I suppose I should say, "karibu" but I'm still learning the local lingo. As there will be plenty of time for postings on Tanz, suffice to say that we arrived safe 'n' sound and are encamped in "our" house. To backtrack a wee bit...

When we last saw our two heroes, they were trying to figure out everything they needed to bring for 6 months of living in Africa; I tried to stick to the credo, "take half the clothes and twice the money" but that may be a mistake. We arrived in Amsterdam quite worn out and promptly were forced to spend 6 hours killing time in cold, wet weather until we get check in and crash. Harumph.

The rest of our 3 daze in the Dam was fab. Heather hadn't been there before and I spent a week there 15 (!) years ago (shout outs to Joel and D-Love!). We loved walking around the 17th century streets that wound around ye-olde canals with houses leaning like that tower in Pisa and were awestruck at the huge number of cyclists (including foxy women in skirts and knee-high boots) cruising around. We drank strong coffee, ate from the plethora of restaurants that happily feed vegetarians, and even checked out the Van Gogh museum.

'tis true, we were in the Dam on New Year's Eve, but it was rainy and we were leaving early the next morn, so it wasn't quite a blowout. Still, we did get a bit jiggy and I remember at least some of the good times. 'Nuff said.