Flaming Purell

We didn't make it to Dragonaire (the usual Friday night spot for pizza and a Safari) until about 8 because of a mini-disaster with one of the computers and some equipment in the lab. Macs are almost nonexistent in East Africa, as is support apparently! Joined by our newcomer B and even the two head haunchos, I decided to mix it up a little (sorry, that was a Dad joke) and instead of a Margherita with pineapple I opted for the mixed vegetable. I think I over-did it a little on the garlic but with a Safari (or two) it certainly was a good way to start the weekend. Of course my cell phone slipped out of my pocket while we were eating. Luckily I noticed it was missing before we left the restaurant compound. I ran out of the car (already two Safari deep--everything seemed of the utmost importance) to grab it before someone found it (I'm already on phone no. 2) and slipped on the concrete. Just to add to the embarrassment, I've got a nice little cut on my chin . I'm pretty sure T-Man and B aren't going to let me live that one down.

A Fourth of July celebration of sorts had been in the works for a few days: After Dragonaires (no way Dundy can miss his pizza on Fridays), I was hoping to get some s'more action going and even grabbed the last bag of marshmallows (pink and white...not exactly the right colors, but close enough) in Pira's, not that anywhere else in Morogoro would have had them. T-Man was in charge of the bon fire and managed to turn embers left over from the days burning trash into quite a good fire. My marshmallows were, obviously, toasted to perfection. We got a good look at some bush babies, nocturnal tiny little monkey things that make a terribly annoying noise at night. They are little drunkards and can often be seen falling out of trees. Unfortunately they weren't celebrating with us.

Fireworks are illegal in Tanzania, which meant that we had to improvise slightly. One of the boys somehow thought to bring out the hand sanitizer (69% alcohol) and squirt some on the fire. When that didn't produce enough of a reaction, he threw the whole bottle in! Our version of fireworks, I guess. No tubing this year or real fireworks in the nation's capital but our own little celebration turned out quite nicely.