Upendo Hoteli

I finally feel like I’ve accomplished something as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Yey! It only took about a year, but at least I’m getting somewhere now…maybe. Upendo Hoteli (Restaurant of Love) is officially open for business in Kimondo as of today. In the Tanzanian time frame, this happened at lightening speed. I’m really proud of my widow’s group. They’ve been really motivated up to this point. We’ll see how long it lasts, but they’re doing great so far! We went to town together last Saturday to buy all the dishes and a big bag of rice and things of the like. Yesterday we planned on starting, but we had to get the room that we are renting for the restaurant ready as well as going buy a few last touches, like charcoal and bananas. Last night we were trying to get ourselves prepared to serve food first thing in the morning by cooking a loaf of banana bread (which I introduced to them at our cooking seminar at my house last week). However, the whole thing was sold within about 4 minutes of coming out of the “oven.” We cut it up into ten pieces and sold it for 200 Shillings a piece (about $0.14). This morning we planned on baking another loaf first thing, but we had to wait until about 11AM before we found some eggs in the vil, but we went ahead with the chai maziwa (tea with milk) until we finally got all the ingredients we needed. You would think we were serving chocolate soufflé. People are very impressed. So we’re off to a good start at least.
In other commentary, they aren’t kidding when they talk about there being a rainy season and a dry season in Africa. In the rainy season, it literally rained everyday. Now it appears that the rainy season is coming to an end. Perhaps not all at once, but it is clear that the dry season is rapidly approaching. If it doesn’t rain for just one day the dust is back in full force. I’d forgotten how bad it gets. And it doesn’t help that giant trucks fly by going 90 mph on the dry dirt roads. (Survival tip number one for Tanzania: Pedistrians NEVER have the right of way. Ever.)