{"id":23139,"date":"2022-09-19T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T23:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=23139"},"modified":"2022-12-10T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-10T19:33:06","slug":"infinity-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=23139","title":{"rendered":"Infinity, And Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania<\/em>\u2013 It was 4:40 when our lead vehicle left the pavement. The sign said Lake \"\"<\/a>Manyara Serena Safari Lodge<\/em> \u2013 that way. We got wiggly; energy sprouted out of our weariness; we were almost THERE, just a dusty road away. Two boys waved, we waved back; then just past that, our leader turned again; and stopped. Willy pulled beside. A small white building there, surely not our Lodge? What in the world? \u201cThis is a museum,\u201d Willy said. \u201cBen wants you to learn about tanzanite. It\u2019s a gem found in Tanzania.\u201d WHAT? Everyone but me got out; grumbling about this No Warning<\/em> stop. I was thinking of our Lodge, the infinity pool overlooking the lake, on the very tip edge of the escarpment a thousand feet above the Rift. I was thinking of lions that sleep in trees, and tuk-tuk rides \"\"<\/a>on a banana farm; of lunch in a Swahili canteen. So many things to do in this unique and lovely place; just one night here; so little time. Ben walked to my window, in line with the glare in my eyes. \u201cLois and Mike have a reservation for a bike ride around the lake this afternoon,\u201d I said in\u00a0Mama Bear<\/em> tone. \u201cOh, I canceled that,\u201d was his reply. \u201cYou should go inside, there\u2019s lots of pretty jewelry you can buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was 5:40 when we reached the Lodge, down the steps past the lily pool, into reception, the complimentary juice, the room assignments. \u201cThere\u2019s entertainment by the pool at 6,\u201d we were told. I looked at my watch. 6:05. Ben was handing off the keys. \u201cCottage 1 for you and Rick,\u201d he said. \u201cThe closest! Downstairs!\u201d Close, yes, but 16 rocky steps up hill, no rails. Our thatch-roofed rondavel was charming; twin beds-mosquito nets-a patio. Dark almost here; I changed my pants (remember why), grabbed my camera, headed for the pool. Cane got me down the 16 steps; I found a seat at the edge of the edge. Our entertainer was breathing fire. And so was I. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, https:\/\/www.serenahotels.com\/lake-manyara<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About Tanzanite: The Blue Gem.\u00a0<\/strong>The world’s only source of tanzanite is located on a small patch of land at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. The myth is that a local Maasai saw a bolt of lightning come down from the sky and strike the ground turning all the rocks to a shimmering blue. The geological story is that about 585 million years ago as continents shifted, and the Great Rift Valley was created, minerals morphed together to create (what is now known as) tanzanite. The commercial story is that in 1967, when the first stone was \u201cdiscovered\u201d and determined not to be sapphire, Tiffany & Co christened it \u201ctanzanite\u201d and launched a marketing campaign proclaiming it \u201cthe new must-have.\u201d Reasons: it is a thousand times rarer than diamonds, and it is a \u201csingle-generation\u201d gemstone due to its limited supply – with the current mining rate, there are only 20 more years of tanzanite in the ground. Hurry up and invest! Tiffany says: Tanzanite can be found on only two places on earth \u2013 Tanzania, and Tiffany\u2019s. The Tanzanian places to buy: The Tanzanite Experience, with stores all over \u2013 from Arusha to Serengeti to Zanzibar. And Lake Manyara.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Tanzanite Experience https:\/\/www.tanzaniteexperience.com\/tanzanite-knowledge\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A great Tanzanian MINING story, in 2020 a Tanzanian subsistence miner was awarded a government check for 7.74 billion Tanzanian shillings ($3.35 million) for the two largest tanzanite gemstones ever found. Each stone was about the size of a forearm; they were discovered by Saniniu Laizer in one of the tanzanite mines in the north of the country; the mines are surrounded by a wall to control cross-border smuggling of the gemstones.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania\u2013 It was 4:40 when our lead vehicle left the pavement. The sign said Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge \u2013 that way. We got wiggly; energy sprouted out of our weariness; we were almost THERE, just a dusty road away. Two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4318,4319],"tags":[4514,4513,4344,4517],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23139"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23190,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139\/revisions\/23190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}