PFFFFFFT

Not a pretty sound when it is made by a bicycle's back tyre. I had just gotten home and the bike was resting when all the air vanished at once. Hmm. I had to go meet the German lady that runs Chagga Tours, so I was in a bit of a hurry. I knew there was this "repair place" (just a guy sitting with some tools) near my house. I didn't have tools or patch kits yet.

I started chatting with the guy. To fix a flat was 200 shilling – the equivalent of around 18 US cents! He didn't even take the wheel off. Out went the tube, with the gaping hole quickly spotted. Becuase it was a big hole he asked twice the price. 36 cents. Fine. I then asked him where I could buy a repair kit and how much it cost. He didn't know what I was talking about. But he did tell me a tube was jubo in Swahili. The he fixed the flat. Equipped with a large tube of Pattex (glue – I am not sure what the US equivalent is?) he put on an old tube. Very interesting. The only [patches I knew are apparently not available here...

After paying I went on to meet Christina. There was also a dude from East Germany. Quite a character. His plans to climb Mont Blanc together with a team from ZDF (one of the public TV stations in Germany) to make a documentary of global warming affecting the climbing had essentially been cancelled...by warm weather! Since he had already asked for the vacation he decided to climb Kili, something that was in his mind for 4-5 years. He did the climb superfast and ended up at the rim in the dark (usually you try to time it to be there to see the sun rise, so he had to walk around in the dark and wait for the sun in the cold...)

Anyway, he agreed to do a City Tour on Sunday, which Chagga Tours offers for five dollars. Problem was that he didn't speak much English. So I quickly offered my translation services, as Christina was flying back to Germany (same flight as the other dude, KLM at 8pm). Cool, my first money earned in Tanzania in form of a five-dollar value :)

We walked around. They threw us out at the Hindu temple. The guide said that he has taken many people there, but one of the guards wasn't happy. We then walked to the German railway station. That's what it was called as the German started it in the late 1800's. But then the British ended up winning the war and took over. That's why all the signs are in English. The train service to Tanga and Dar es Salaam stopped around 10 years ago. The schedule is still posted (three trains a week) and also the note explaining the salary situation at the time of the closure in 1997. There is still freight traffic, but since I have never seen a train here had to ask about its schedule. The guide replied "Once a week. Or once a month." Aha, whenever they need to get something shipped. Or trained, as I should say.

I am not sure if the guy in the picture was waiting for the next freight train or what?

We then went to the mosque, which was a better visit than the Hindu temple as we were allowed on the premises. The only problem ensued when we were leaving as Helge, the East German, put on his shoes two centimetres inside the temple. He was quickly told that shoes are not allowed inside. But we were leaving anyway...

Afterwards I was riding around some to find a baseball cap, as my sun hat is not the greatest when riding faster than 10mph. I was scouting it out first. The asking price was at 5,000 to 6,000 shilling. I didn't want to pay more than 1500, but that didn't interest them at all...

Then my chain broke. Arrgh. Maybe the bike wasn't so good? But a guy fixed it for 500 shilling and afterwards it ran smoothly and w/o noises, so maybe it's good now (I thought the noises came from the bottom bracket). But I will stop by at the dealer's place sometime this week to ask what is going on with the bike....