Day 5: Street Vendors and Star Treatment

The rooftop view from our hotel (No, it's not a painting!).

This morning, we split into two different groups for a relaxing morning. Some of us went to a Lutheran Mass at 8:00 AM this morning with our guide Godson, while the rest of us decided to rest before meeting up for a walking tour of Moshi at 9:45 AM. It was nice to have an easy morning after so many days of packed schedules.

Mid-morning souvenir shopping.

We spent several hours walking to different markets, shops, and souvenir stands, but who knew the shopping would come to us? As soon as we left our hotel, we began to collect a pack of street vendors who were simply intent on making sure we didn't leave Moshi empty-handed. Whether it was safari gear, soccer jerseys, or local artwork, everyone had something to offer.

The street vendors walked with us all day, hawking their wares.

The scenic walk to lunch

Following our souvenir shopping, we got to see the real Moshi on our walk to lunch. It's an incredible experience to be somewhere so far outside our comfort zone. It might sound a little cheesy, but walking the streets of this town has been eye-opening in the best way. Just before we made it to lunch, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some supplies for the rest of our time in Tanzania.

The lunchtime view!

Time seemed to fly by before we received our lunch in a local hotel rooftop restaurant. We had pumpkin soup, beef curry, fish fingers, rice, and salad, and it was all the fuel we needed before heading out to the International School of Moshi (ISM).

First-class travel to the International School of Moshi

The second bus to our concert

It was just a 15 minute ride to ISM, where we had our most well-received concert yet! There were upwards of 200 seats in the space, and nearly all of them were filled by students and faculty of ISM and their friends and family. All of us were reminded of stories of the Japan and Latin America tours, with the ISM crowd cheering wildly for us, asking for all of our autographs, and buying out all of our CDs!

The concert venue at ISM

Moving into the space before the audience filled the seats 

We concluded the evening with an all-you-can-eat buffet in a luxury resort just outside of Moshi. We had spring rolls, beef kabobs, corn masala, vegetable noodles, chicken masala, jasmine rise, buttered naan, fruit salad, coleslaw, and marble cake, with complementary coffee and tea. We couldn't have asked for a better end to an exciting day.

Ending the day with an all-you-can-eat dinner!

Tomorrow, we're off to the Mount Kilimanjaro View Lodge, halfway up the mountain! We'll spend the day hiking around the lodge and getting a closer look at the world's highest freestanding mountain, "the roof of Africa!" We might not have access to the internet there, but we'll do our best to post again tomorrow night.

All the best to our friends at home,

The Penn Glee Club