Sweet home sweet - Springlands Hotel

When Owen and I went on a very long waking tour the first day the guide referred to our hotel as Sweet Home Sweet. Here is our Sweet Home Sweet for the next week or so...

Our room. The mosquito netting is now decorative since they added AC recently! That was a nice surprise... Though the power does go out pretty regularly! It's not uncommon fitbit to be off for periods during the day or during the night. 

View of the bathroom and the hot water heater over the sink. We turn it on at night and then off again after showering in the morning to conserve energy. 

The water is not safe to consume. We used bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth. When we first got to the hotel we put duct tape on the bathroom faucets because we were paranoid we would forget and run a toothbrush under the water! We went through at least 2 of these 1.5 liter bottles a day. 

The hotel has laundry service (all hand washed) that we used twice, but we also did a lot of laundry in the sink. We would joke about "putting a load in". 

More of the hotel. Everything is outside

View from outside our door overlooking the pool and dining area 

View of dining area from our room. Breakfast is served from 7-9 (We usually get there at about 8:50). We have been returning to the hotel after volunteering at TAFCOM in the mornings for lunch which is served from 1:30-3:00. The past few days we have been at the orphanage from about 4:00-7:00. Dinner is served from 7:30-9:30. They often need to ask us to move our conversation to the garden area so they can clean up at the end of the night!

Breakfast was typically eggs, toast or rolls and fruit. You can see in the pics below that the yolks of their eggs are white! The yolk color depends on what the chicken eats. They tasted the same. Lunch and dinner were buffets with veggies, rice, sometimes pasta, and a fish (like fried prawns or breaded white fish) or meat. There was usually something I could eat. Owen had a lot of special order grilled cheese!

The garden. This is where we hang out in the afternoons after volunteering and at night. It's also my blogging area since it is one of two common areas with wifi! 

Tashoy, Cathy and Kelly in the garden. It's a beautiful 72 degrees and these southerners are cold!! Unlike us...

Owen told them all how he wears shorts to school until it is 40 degrees!

Exotic plant in the garden area. You can also often see little lizards run up the walls!!

This is what we call the Bat Tree? Why do you ask? There are 5-10 tiny bats sleeping in there during the day. From the second floor you can get a really good view of them hanging there, upside down! They freak out Tashoy a bit, so Owen likes to keep her updated on the count! I tried to take a picture and lighten it, but not sure if you can make it out. It's certainly not the same as seeing them standing about two feet away! 

Kathy and Kelly's room was large and was the storage location for al of our donations and supplies. When they were in Arusha purchasing textbooks Tashoy, Owen and I worked on organizing supplies, putting together supply backpacks for the kids at the orphanage, and Owen inflated a lot of soccer balls!