Well, the adventure is over. This will be the last entry except in the case of an unexpected really good grade. I think I spent more time observing life in Africa than being a good master's student. But at least nobody can say my priorities are screwed up...
I had a wonderful experience. I can't easily summarize it, so this last entry will be just a best/worst list. Zanx for reading the past three months.
Best accommodation: Blue Oyster in Jambiani/Sansibar.
Worst accommodation: Hotel Continental in Dar es Salaam. In the morning I saw a cockroach climbing up the stairs. Found out later it must have come straight from the Aussie couple. One of them was complaining about "something walking across my face in the middle of the night" and when they turned on the light, there was a cockroach, heading upstairs...
Best bed: Another vote for Blue Oyster. The bed was as long as wide and was the only one in three months where I could fit w/o touching the moskito net. Another highlight was that it had a light inside the bed, so it was also the only time where I didn't need to get up to turn off the light when I was done reading. Does it occur to anybody that getting in and out of bed increases the risks of moskitos coming in? And once you turn off the lights they are kinda hard to see...
Worst bed: The squeaky and soft bed at A&A. Fortunately they rented it as a single, but it had two beds and the other one was OK.
Best drink: Again, with part of the fun being the experience I vote for the sugar cane juice on Sansibar. The dudes were running the long sugar canes through their presses right in front of you for some fresh juice.
Worst drink: I wish I would have paid more attention to the name of the drink before I bought it: "Chemo Orange" or something like that. The worst drink I ever had since "Kotz" ("Barf", some awful tasting syrup that still made you throw up when diluted 1:9999999) when doing a bike tour with my cousin in England in 1987.
Best food: Puh, there was lots, but due to whole setting and my advanced ability of eating ugali with my hands at the time I vote for eating fresh Lake Victoria Samaki (fish) with the Komanyas in Bukumbi.
Worst food: Difficult. I think after three days in Meru I was a bit sick and tired of white bread with peanut butter...
Best habit: Taking time and not being hectic at all. There are more important things in life than hectically running from one appointment to another.
Worst habit: Taking time and not being hectic at all. Especially at the NBC bank in Moshi, where the person
dealing with my traveler's checks carefully made sure each of the four copies were not different from the original. Huh???
Best health moment: They say it ain't over till it's over and with an incubation time of malaria of about one to two weeks there is no reason to celebrate yet. My travel doc said anything within a month should be tested for malaria and somewhere I even read that one should consider getting a test within a year. Oh well, I am still grateful I didn't get sick down there.
Worst health moment: Didn't really have one other than a couple of slight, one-time diarrhoea. This seemed to be usually related to after eating food in facilities that weren't quite that clean.
Best moment: When the one kid said "We'll keep him here" on one of my first site visits.
Worst moment: In Mwanza. The one guy who wouldn't stop following me even after I told him to leave me alone several times; I even changed directions. He was drunk or stoned or both. Eventually a double U-turn left him a few feet behind and when I noticed he was going after me again I turned around, added a few inches to my 6feet, made three quick steps towards him and said "Hacha" (it kinda means leave me alone) for about the tenth time. This helped.
Best noise: An angry moskito buzzing *outside* the moskito net at night.
Worst noise: The vote is still out on that one. Is it the rooster screaming underneath my window at 2:00 in the morning or is the dozen or so dogs going at each other, also underneath my window at 2:30?
Best shower: I really enjoyed the bucket baths after the shower in Dora's place broke.
Worst shower: I didn't care for any of the trickle showers in the majority of hotels, but really the worst was two days w/o any shower during the train trip.
Best street: Well, that would be the one that we walked, from Momela Gate to Miriakamba Hut in Arusha National Park. We only saw three cars in like four hours. The nicest walk you can get.
Worst street: The stretch between Arusha and Siringa. Especially the last two hours were awful and I had to concentrate hard to not get bus sick.
Best transport: The train was awesome, the ride on the back of a pickup truck out of Meru was cool, but nothing beats the independence a bicycle offers.
Worst transport: I didn't care for the dala-dala's at all, but really what annoyed me the most were the myriad of taxi drivers that constantly yelled "Taxi, taxi." Like I am blind or something. I let you know when I need a taxi, dude. I really tried to minimize taxi usage and usually only dealt with them with other people. I can remember four times taking the taxi by myself: To and from the wedding in Arusha, as I wasn't convinced about the safety at night, to Momela Gate, as there was no public transit and to St. James seminar as I was running late.
Best swim: Snorkling in the Indian Ocean.
Worst swim: Trying to get my belly wet during low tide in the Indian Ocean...
Best trek: Mt. Meru!!!
Worst trek: The walk to KIDT. Not for lack of interest, but it got old after a while...
Best vendor: I really enjoyed the craziness in all the little villages when we stopped there by train. Everybody was trying to sell something through the very high windows. Priceless.
Worst vendor: The dudes who wouldn't let go even after I told them three times I wasn't gonna buy any of their art or Safari packages...
Best wildlife moment: Walking down Meru and seeing a Giraffe on our left, chewing away on a late breakfast.
Worst wildlife moment: Ok, that's a stupid category. How can there be such a thing? Even if you don't see all those big animals, there are still trees, insects, birds, lizzards and a ton of other things to observe. So just scratch this category
Would I do it again? In a heart beat!!!!
Kwa Heri Tanzania.
Friday 1 February 2008
Thursday 31 January 2008
Back home
The travel back started with a mirror image of the day I arrived. Unplanned events with a taxi driver. Three months ago Dora helped a friend of hers get some extra income. Now that I knew the prices I could negotiate a better price for the taxi. 30,000 shillings, less than half of what I paid when I came. However, the best deal doesn't help when the taxi driver doesn't show up and my biggest night mare came true. I called him twice. Once five minutes before he was supposed to show up and he sounded sleepy. The second time I called him at 5:10 (he was supposed to be at the hotel at 5:00). I told him he had to be there in five minutes, otherwise I'd take a different taxi. He said OK, but wasn't there and I was lucky another taxi stopped by and gave me a reasonable price. 40,000. With me now needing to have to go to the airport desperately he could have asked for more. I didn't show it, though and that may have influenced his decision.
The taxi didn't look promising (the engine turned off when he stopped to ask me if I needed a ride). The driver also slowed down to a crawl every time there was oncoming traffic, blinded by the light. Fortunately, the ride took only 40 minutes, as he had said, so I was still there with plenty of time.
We had a short hopover to Mombasa/Kenya. Unfortunately, there we had to exit the plane and re-enter. At least it gave me the chance to buy some overpriced water. The dudes at the Kili airport were just as stupid as in Europe and took all the liquids, including a sealed juice bottle. Sigh. I gave my juice to some workers, emptied the water and still managed to sneak in a 300ml bottle of some carbonated lime drink. They did catch the juice in my Aluminum bottle as well, so next time it's time for a lead bottle, I guess.
Now I am back. It's weird. When I left the area looked like this.
Here is another display of fall colours:
Now all the leaves are gone, but it's not as cold as I had expected. In fact I am not sure why people ran around with bulky jackets, but maybe I was just longing for some cold after three months of no cooling off.
Here is a shot from approximately the same angle as the previous one:
And here is some proof there is snow in the mountains...
The taxi didn't look promising (the engine turned off when he stopped to ask me if I needed a ride). The driver also slowed down to a crawl every time there was oncoming traffic, blinded by the light. Fortunately, the ride took only 40 minutes, as he had said, so I was still there with plenty of time.
We had a short hopover to Mombasa/Kenya. Unfortunately, there we had to exit the plane and re-enter. At least it gave me the chance to buy some overpriced water. The dudes at the Kili airport were just as stupid as in Europe and took all the liquids, including a sealed juice bottle. Sigh. I gave my juice to some workers, emptied the water and still managed to sneak in a 300ml bottle of some carbonated lime drink. They did catch the juice in my Aluminum bottle as well, so next time it's time for a lead bottle, I guess.
Now I am back. It's weird. When I left the area looked like this.
Here is another display of fall colours:
Now all the leaves are gone, but it's not as cold as I had expected. In fact I am not sure why people ran around with bulky jackets, but maybe I was just longing for some cold after three months of no cooling off.
Here is a shot from approximately the same angle as the previous one:
And here is some proof there is snow in the mountains...
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Time to say good-bye
I brought in Cookies and Juice for the people at KIDT. It was a nice farewell. I wanted to demonstrate the biogas, too. But yesterday Vicky from COMPACT was unavailable. She was the main person for my thesis here and was needed in attendance. And today the biogas storage tank was empty... Joys of technology. I think sometimes the storage tank is empty in the morning because Mfinanga puts a weight on top. Oh well.
I quit early and went to the town Machame in the afternoon. I didn't know what to expect other than it's one of the routes up to Kili. Turned out there is a hospital and I ran into a Nebraskan. We had lunch together. Everybody calls him doctor, pastor or teacher, and as he pointed out "I am neither." He has been there for four years and is doing administrative and organisational things. He initially came for three weeks, then got infected with the "Africa bug" We'll see if I am next in line...
After lunch I walked up to the Kili Nationalpark gate (four kilometres). I had a quick look and went back. Half way back down I realized school was out as tons of kids came up the mountain. There was a lot of greeting, waving and smiling to be done until I was through. One (non-school) kid ran after me for a couple of hundred metres. His mom (or some other relative) was coming the other way, up the hill and laughing her head off. When we met she picked him up and prevented him from going further. Still, everybody was laughing. The kids wear school uniforms here, btw. The sweaters are either dark blue or held in the Tanza flag colors (black, blue, yellow green).
I then got in a bus. Mamma mia, that dude was screaming down the mountain like there was no tomorrow and for a while I thought there isn't. Then a guy entered that I knew from KIDT. What are the chances to run into him with all those dala-dalas and some 20km away from Moshi? We had a good chat. Then the driver overshot his stop completely. I felt sorry for him. But then the stop came and he explained to me that I have to change to a different dala-dala, free of another charge. That never happened before and I don't know what the reasoning was for that. At any rate, the other dala-dala was emptier, more modern (not that I care for A/C, which fortunately was switched off, but had an overhead luggage net) and the driver was driving reasonably well.
All in all a nice afternoon to cap off the stay here. I will enjoy a nice dinner and some football on TV tonight and hope that the stopover in Mombasa will be alright (apparently yesterday several people were killed there in the post election unrest, including a member of parliament and two German tourists).
Kwa Heri.
I quit early and went to the town Machame in the afternoon. I didn't know what to expect other than it's one of the routes up to Kili. Turned out there is a hospital and I ran into a Nebraskan. We had lunch together. Everybody calls him doctor, pastor or teacher, and as he pointed out "I am neither." He has been there for four years and is doing administrative and organisational things. He initially came for three weeks, then got infected with the "Africa bug" We'll see if I am next in line...
After lunch I walked up to the Kili Nationalpark gate (four kilometres). I had a quick look and went back. Half way back down I realized school was out as tons of kids came up the mountain. There was a lot of greeting, waving and smiling to be done until I was through. One (non-school) kid ran after me for a couple of hundred metres. His mom (or some other relative) was coming the other way, up the hill and laughing her head off. When we met she picked him up and prevented him from going further. Still, everybody was laughing. The kids wear school uniforms here, btw. The sweaters are either dark blue or held in the Tanza flag colors (black, blue, yellow green).
I then got in a bus. Mamma mia, that dude was screaming down the mountain like there was no tomorrow and for a while I thought there isn't. Then a guy entered that I knew from KIDT. What are the chances to run into him with all those dala-dalas and some 20km away from Moshi? We had a good chat. Then the driver overshot his stop completely. I felt sorry for him. But then the stop came and he explained to me that I have to change to a different dala-dala, free of another charge. That never happened before and I don't know what the reasoning was for that. At any rate, the other dala-dala was emptier, more modern (not that I care for A/C, which fortunately was switched off, but had an overhead luggage net) and the driver was driving reasonably well.
All in all a nice afternoon to cap off the stay here. I will enjoy a nice dinner and some football on TV tonight and hope that the stopover in Mombasa will be alright (apparently yesterday several people were killed there in the post election unrest, including a member of parliament and two German tourists).
Kwa Heri.
Monday 28 January 2008
The yesterday after tomorrow
What did I write yesterday? "The last day. I can't believe it!"
Yup, better don't believe it! I am waiting on the day when someone can explain to me how many days each month has. Could we agree on 31? Then my calculation of leaving the next to last day in January would have yielded 30 and would have been right on target. Instead, I used 30 as a base and came out with a scheduled departure of Jan 29... I checked my plane ticket this morning and it clearly shows I am leaving on the 30th, not on the 29th. Ooops.
It's nice, of course, to have an extra day! I am not complaining, except for the fact that I have to contact the taxi dude.
Yup, better don't believe it! I am waiting on the day when someone can explain to me how many days each month has. Could we agree on 31? Then my calculation of leaving the next to last day in January would have yielded 30 and would have been right on target. Instead, I used 30 as a base and came out with a scheduled departure of Jan 29... I checked my plane ticket this morning and it clearly shows I am leaving on the 30th, not on the 29th. Ooops.
It's nice, of course, to have an extra day! I am not complaining, except for the fact that I have to contact the taxi dude.
Waiting on a sunny day
Sunday, Jan 28
Finally another rainy day here. It was about time. I took the opportunity to go for a run. I had two 'conversations' on the way. The first one I am not really sure what it was all about. Two Massai warriors were trying to tell me something. I think one said something about dala-dala, so they may just have suggested I take the bus. I must have looked rather tired or awkwardly running...
15 minutes later – I was already on my way back – I heard someone say "Good morning." I looked up and saw an old woman, slightly hunched over, on the other side of the road. She asked "Why are you running?" That's a good one! I replied "For exercise." She was laughing at the answer: "Ha Ha Ha." Since we were going opposite directions that was the end of the conversation. But it brought me full circle to the beginning, when I was describing how former professional runner Dieter Baumann had similar experiences in Kenya.
People do things with a purpose here and I enjoy it. I have often tried to do the same in the US and use my bicycle to run (or bike) errands. That saves me from having to go for exercise. I did a tremendous amount of walking while in Africa, but couldn't really run most of the time, as it was too hot during the day. I took buses and taxis only for the absolute minimum necessary. I will have one final taxi ride to the airport ahead of me. For a long time I thought I would either stay in the hotel next to the runway or maybe try to find some private accommodation. But one seemed too expensive and the other too inconvenient. I now found a taxi driver who will give me a ride for 30,000; the minimum, according to a German who had been here for a while. I had to do some negotiating for that one.
And more negotiating today when I bought a football shirt. It's really funny – all the shops seem to be local and single shops. But somehow they are just one gigantic chain, I guess. I went to one shop. They didn't have the shirt, so I walked on to the next. They didn't have it, either, but one guy told me to wait and off he went. Then the guy from the first shop came over also and told me to wait. Next were two other guys that all of a sudden dashed off in two different directions. They came back a couple of minutes later, almost colliding with each other. The next thing was hilarious, as they were fighting for position in front of me (only guys three and four; I never saw one and two come back). They started yelling at each other – not even handing me the shirts, so I could inspect. I told them "Easy" and they calmed down somewhat. I liked the shirt from guy #2 better and asked for the price. "25,000." Oh, the same shirt was offered in the Mzungu store, generally more expensive, for 15,000. Fortunately, I also knew that the shirt sold for 8,000 in Arusha. So I said 8,000. He went down to the 10,000, while another guy now kept yelling 15,000. Hmm, strange; the guy who has the shirt said 10,000 and some other dude tries to convince me to pay 15,000? I repeated "8,000" and the guy shook his head. So I tried to hand it back to him and he wouldn't take it! I finally just hung it over his shoulder and walked away. This usually does the trick when they do want to sell it. And yes, he came after me and said. "Give me money." I double-checked. Yes, 8,000.
In the evening I went to watch the football Africa Cup of Nations on TV again (without wearing the football shirt..). The games are really fun to watch. There is less tactics, much more technical brilliance and sloppy defending than in Euro soccer, which leads to high scoring games. Yesterday Cameroon won 5:1, today Angola clobbered Senegal 3:1. My favourite player is from the Cameroon team. It's not his hairdo, his looks or his skills I notice. But come on, you gotta love a guy called BIKEY!!!
I managed to stay healthy for the three months here, but now in my final days I am apparently getting sick. Not that I have any symptoms like fever or anything. But today I packed! Two days ahead of time. Very suspicious for a last minute guy like me. Of course I am only 75% done, as I still need a quarter of my things. All I know, hoewever, is that it's not normal.
Tomorrow is the last time I will head to KIDT. I bought some cookies and juice and will hopefully be able to demo the biogas, if the system is ready.
The last day. I can't believe it!
Finally another rainy day here. It was about time. I took the opportunity to go for a run. I had two 'conversations' on the way. The first one I am not really sure what it was all about. Two Massai warriors were trying to tell me something. I think one said something about dala-dala, so they may just have suggested I take the bus. I must have looked rather tired or awkwardly running...
15 minutes later – I was already on my way back – I heard someone say "Good morning." I looked up and saw an old woman, slightly hunched over, on the other side of the road. She asked "Why are you running?" That's a good one! I replied "For exercise." She was laughing at the answer: "Ha Ha Ha." Since we were going opposite directions that was the end of the conversation. But it brought me full circle to the beginning, when I was describing how former professional runner Dieter Baumann had similar experiences in Kenya.
People do things with a purpose here and I enjoy it. I have often tried to do the same in the US and use my bicycle to run (or bike) errands. That saves me from having to go for exercise. I did a tremendous amount of walking while in Africa, but couldn't really run most of the time, as it was too hot during the day. I took buses and taxis only for the absolute minimum necessary. I will have one final taxi ride to the airport ahead of me. For a long time I thought I would either stay in the hotel next to the runway or maybe try to find some private accommodation. But one seemed too expensive and the other too inconvenient. I now found a taxi driver who will give me a ride for 30,000; the minimum, according to a German who had been here for a while. I had to do some negotiating for that one.
And more negotiating today when I bought a football shirt. It's really funny – all the shops seem to be local and single shops. But somehow they are just one gigantic chain, I guess. I went to one shop. They didn't have the shirt, so I walked on to the next. They didn't have it, either, but one guy told me to wait and off he went. Then the guy from the first shop came over also and told me to wait. Next were two other guys that all of a sudden dashed off in two different directions. They came back a couple of minutes later, almost colliding with each other. The next thing was hilarious, as they were fighting for position in front of me (only guys three and four; I never saw one and two come back). They started yelling at each other – not even handing me the shirts, so I could inspect. I told them "Easy" and they calmed down somewhat. I liked the shirt from guy #2 better and asked for the price. "25,000." Oh, the same shirt was offered in the Mzungu store, generally more expensive, for 15,000. Fortunately, I also knew that the shirt sold for 8,000 in Arusha. So I said 8,000. He went down to the 10,000, while another guy now kept yelling 15,000. Hmm, strange; the guy who has the shirt said 10,000 and some other dude tries to convince me to pay 15,000? I repeated "8,000" and the guy shook his head. So I tried to hand it back to him and he wouldn't take it! I finally just hung it over his shoulder and walked away. This usually does the trick when they do want to sell it. And yes, he came after me and said. "Give me money." I double-checked. Yes, 8,000.
In the evening I went to watch the football Africa Cup of Nations on TV again (without wearing the football shirt..). The games are really fun to watch. There is less tactics, much more technical brilliance and sloppy defending than in Euro soccer, which leads to high scoring games. Yesterday Cameroon won 5:1, today Angola clobbered Senegal 3:1. My favourite player is from the Cameroon team. It's not his hairdo, his looks or his skills I notice. But come on, you gotta love a guy called BIKEY!!!
I managed to stay healthy for the three months here, but now in my final days I am apparently getting sick. Not that I have any symptoms like fever or anything. But today I packed! Two days ahead of time. Very suspicious for a last minute guy like me. Of course I am only 75% done, as I still need a quarter of my things. All I know, hoewever, is that it's not normal.
Tomorrow is the last time I will head to KIDT. I bought some cookies and juice and will hopefully be able to demo the biogas, if the system is ready.
The last day. I can't believe it!
Friday 25 January 2008
White men can run
I had a field visit at Camartec today. It's fairly easy to get there: Take a Dala-Dala from Arusha to Tengeru (about 20min), then take another Dala-Dala (about 5km over unpaved, rough roads). Well, as I got off in Tengeru I noticed the Dala-Dala was completely empty (remember, they only leave when they are full). Since I wasn't sure how frequented this route was I decided to walk and hop on the Dala-Dala when it drives by. But after one kilometer I had enough and started running. The darn Dala-Dala never passed me and I got to the Camartec office reasonably early.
My trip was as always planned very well in theory, with C'tec having visited all the sites already to make appointments (something I tried to prevent, as I thought they may tell them what to answer). Well, I didn't need to worry, as they assembled a list on the fly. I actually got to alter it during the trip a bit. My prof had also promised some money for this trip, as they wanted quite a lot. I was really interested in visiting sites that were dormant, to find out why people are not using them anymore. This should help in coming up with strategies for the future. Of course the guy insisted that all their plants are working. But nothing that a little money couldn't fix and so I promised him good cold cash if he suddenly remembers where the non-functioning plants are. That jogged his memory :)
At one plant he pointed out that "in this area we have 20 plants and one or two are not working. The others are fine." And at the same time admitting that he had trouble finding those one or two places as "I haven't been here in 15 years." Hmmm. Follow up is a problem and I'll add this to my thesis...
Leakage was actually a problem, as seen in the picture. But most of those plants had been around for 15 years or more. Actually a pretty good track record. I doubt it is representative, though...
Later in Arusha I went to the market, looking for something my mom had requested. I couldn't find that, but I got a real treat instead. The vendors had most of their stuff on blankets, straight on the ground. They were next to the street. I came across an intersection that was almost deadlocked by four or five cars. I say almost because one guy backed up and was apparently trying to untie the deadlock like the Gordic knot. A loud bang, some honking, angry shouting. Then the 'hit' taxi driver got out to inspect the damage on his vehicle. It's beyond me how he managed to find the "new" dent among the 2,000 old ones and why this one really mattered that much. At the same time another taxi tried to get through and with the space being tight decided to roll over the "stand" of the Mango lady. Fortunately, she spotted the problem and quickly rescued here yummy fruit from becoming unusable juice.
Yesterday was also memorable. Mfinanga didn't show for our 10:00 meeting, so I decided to head to Arusha myself. But he managed to board the same bus eventually, having arrived some 45min later. Phew. Two "wazungu" from Germany also boarded. The woman had been doing an internship for her studies in Morongoro, working in a place for disabled children. She really enjoyed it. Pretty cool. Then we started and all of a sudden voices got louder and an older men and two younger ones were in a pushing and shoving contest. Eventually, the old man got off, fairly angry. But the other two kept wrestling and shouting. The bus finally stopped and while I thought the one guy was trying to prevent the other from getting off (with the aggressive conductors here fighting for customers it wouldn't have surprised me), it was actually the other way round. That dude was holding on to the door so the conductor couldn't open it and throw him out. Eventually, there was some more wrestling and one passenger hitting the conductor, as it got too close for her comfort. The dude was finally thrown off under much laughter from the "audience." It is moments like that when I regret not having taken a full language class.
With all those experiences today I was feeling a bit blue at times. Once, when I checked out of Monjes Guesthouse. After all this was my third stay with them and they all remembered me. Also, later on the way home, when I came by Mt. Meru, for the last time this trip. I had to think back about the great experience I had walking up there and the mountain was as beautiful as ever. A few days ago I was looking forward to coming back, but right now I am not so sure. Things aren't strange anymore as they were in the beginning and I feel like I am blending in pretty well. Now just someone tell those taxi drivers I do not need a car to cross the street...
My trip was as always planned very well in theory, with C'tec having visited all the sites already to make appointments (something I tried to prevent, as I thought they may tell them what to answer). Well, I didn't need to worry, as they assembled a list on the fly. I actually got to alter it during the trip a bit. My prof had also promised some money for this trip, as they wanted quite a lot. I was really interested in visiting sites that were dormant, to find out why people are not using them anymore. This should help in coming up with strategies for the future. Of course the guy insisted that all their plants are working. But nothing that a little money couldn't fix and so I promised him good cold cash if he suddenly remembers where the non-functioning plants are. That jogged his memory :)
At one plant he pointed out that "in this area we have 20 plants and one or two are not working. The others are fine." And at the same time admitting that he had trouble finding those one or two places as "I haven't been here in 15 years." Hmmm. Follow up is a problem and I'll add this to my thesis...
Leakage was actually a problem, as seen in the picture. But most of those plants had been around for 15 years or more. Actually a pretty good track record. I doubt it is representative, though...
Later in Arusha I went to the market, looking for something my mom had requested. I couldn't find that, but I got a real treat instead. The vendors had most of their stuff on blankets, straight on the ground. They were next to the street. I came across an intersection that was almost deadlocked by four or five cars. I say almost because one guy backed up and was apparently trying to untie the deadlock like the Gordic knot. A loud bang, some honking, angry shouting. Then the 'hit' taxi driver got out to inspect the damage on his vehicle. It's beyond me how he managed to find the "new" dent among the 2,000 old ones and why this one really mattered that much. At the same time another taxi tried to get through and with the space being tight decided to roll over the "stand" of the Mango lady. Fortunately, she spotted the problem and quickly rescued here yummy fruit from becoming unusable juice.
Yesterday was also memorable. Mfinanga didn't show for our 10:00 meeting, so I decided to head to Arusha myself. But he managed to board the same bus eventually, having arrived some 45min later. Phew. Two "wazungu" from Germany also boarded. The woman had been doing an internship for her studies in Morongoro, working in a place for disabled children. She really enjoyed it. Pretty cool. Then we started and all of a sudden voices got louder and an older men and two younger ones were in a pushing and shoving contest. Eventually, the old man got off, fairly angry. But the other two kept wrestling and shouting. The bus finally stopped and while I thought the one guy was trying to prevent the other from getting off (with the aggressive conductors here fighting for customers it wouldn't have surprised me), it was actually the other way round. That dude was holding on to the door so the conductor couldn't open it and throw him out. Eventually, there was some more wrestling and one passenger hitting the conductor, as it got too close for her comfort. The dude was finally thrown off under much laughter from the "audience." It is moments like that when I regret not having taken a full language class.
With all those experiences today I was feeling a bit blue at times. Once, when I checked out of Monjes Guesthouse. After all this was my third stay with them and they all remembered me. Also, later on the way home, when I came by Mt. Meru, for the last time this trip. I had to think back about the great experience I had walking up there and the mountain was as beautiful as ever. A few days ago I was looking forward to coming back, but right now I am not so sure. Things aren't strange anymore as they were in the beginning and I feel like I am blending in pretty well. Now just someone tell those taxi drivers I do not need a car to cross the street...
Living on a prayer
I read a scary paragraph today in a paper called "The Citizen". It contained the sentence: "...with nearly 90% of the people unable to get a single meal a day." This would reduce the Tanzanian population to about 10% fairly soon.
All joking aside, the report is fairly grim and says that 90% of Tanzanians have only $2 for food per day. How much do you get for $2 here? For example, a loaf of bread and about ten bananas, having enough left over to get a cup of tea somewhere. As I mentioned earlier, this area is somewhat richer and doesn't feel the pinch as much. There are quite a number of overweight people, actually. But my trip, especially the train part, has brought me through some poorer areas, where there is not as much food and things are grimmer.
All joking aside, the report is fairly grim and says that 90% of Tanzanians have only $2 for food per day. How much do you get for $2 here? For example, a loaf of bread and about ten bananas, having enough left over to get a cup of tea somewhere. As I mentioned earlier, this area is somewhat richer and doesn't feel the pinch as much. There are quite a number of overweight people, actually. But my trip, especially the train part, has brought me through some poorer areas, where there is not as much food and things are grimmer.
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