Beach vacay on the coast

Last week, Brandon and I met up with our friend Rachel (from MN) on the Tanzanian coast. Since Arusha is at about 5200 feet elevation, it doesn't have the tropical feel that the coastal area does:

We met up in a big city called Tanga, and from there did a biking tour to several outlying areas:

We went caving at the Amboni caves (home to more bats than I would have liked):

We stopped at this gorgeous village, where an adorable man paddled us in a canoe across the river so we could access sulfur hot springs on the other side:Above, another example of the crazy loads women carry on their heads around here.

The kid below was wearing a #4 Favre jersey (curiously fading from green to purple...)

We also discovered a palm tree farm, used to make some surprisingly tasty palm wine...the palm trees all had footholds carved into them, which of course made us want to climb the trees!
After a day of biking, we caught some beach time in a small village called Peponi. The tide went out so far, you could walk a couple hundred meters into the ocean and still only be knee-deep! Rachel caught a cool pic of this boat stuck in the low tide, as well as a few other candids:

Monkey with a beer...

...and a great parting shot.