Could it be true??

We spent most of this week in the big city; had some meetings and a few things to accomplish. Last week we'd heard a rumor about this supposed "Mexican Restaurant" that's opened in Dar. We kept our expectations extremely low, because our typical experience with the cultural meals in Tanzania are that everything is sort of "ish"ish. Yeah, that meal of fried rice was Chinese-ish. Or that slab of meat between some bread was burger-ish. Well that ice cream dessert was ok, but it'd be a long shot to call is Chocolate-ish. Get the idea?

So we saw the sign in the morning, and went back in the evening, and what a treat!! We walked in and sat down, surrounded by a small international crowd, and the ex-pat waitress walked up to us and asked if we had ever tried Mexican food. We laughed to ourselves but understood, as this may have been the first occasion of Mexican food being served outside of a private residence in Tanzania. We then quickly scanned the four item menu of Burritos, Tacos, Salad, and Chips & Salsa and decided on our delights. We even went off the menu and she graciously prepared a quesadilla starter as well!

Turns out that our waitress and company owner was an American from California who had some free time and thus decided to open a Mexican restaurant to see how it'd do. It doesn't have a location and is only in operation two nights a week, borrowing space from two other local eateries, but we think (and hope) it's here to stay! Now we know on which days to plan all of our trips in to the city!

What came to our table was goooooood. Really good. Real salsa, giant foil wrapped burritos. Mmmm. Sadly, because I set a personal record for eating time while wolfing down my burrito, I never did get a picture of it, but here's a picture of the second round of chips and salsa that came out after the burritos.

Also while in town, we went to the rather massive US Embassy to vote. Even though our write-in absentee ballots may never be looked at nor counted, it was fun to feel a part of it all. And hey, we got to do it before everyone at home!

Tomorrow we celebrate one year exactly in country. What a ride it's been and what a ride we have ahead of us...

Swahili word for the day is kupiga kura, which means to vote.