Ticket to Ride

My travel guide said the train to Dar goes three times/week. I checked the calendar and figured that Dec 30 would be good for me. I went to the train station today to buy the ticket. The sign was not encouraging: Trains sold out for first, second and third class until Jan 20th, 2008! Second class (sitting) was available for purchase the day of travel. Those are not recommended (for those who can afford to get the sleeper category) as it is very crowded. I asked anyway. The next train going is Jan 1st, 2008 (so I guess the Dec 30 got cancelled or the schedule changed). Despite the sign they still had a spot in second class available - phew. So I'll be in Mwanza a couple of days longer than planned, but otherwise will continue as planned by train to Dar.
The pix shows Mt. Meru in the sun rise, taken from little Meru (3800m)

Now that I am Lake Victoria, I desperately wanted to eat what everybody had recommended - samaki (fish). Fresh from the Lake. But I have tried since three days and none of the restaurants had fish!!! Some didn't have meat either, except for chicken. I have so far stayed away from the meat anyway. I don't like meat that much to begin with and mostly prefer vegetarian food. But Africa is definitely a meat country. I also tried to get a chapati pancake in vain. Seems like more of a morning dish. But today I went to the LonelyPlanet-mentioned Food square and they had it all! It was very delicious.

When I left the restaurant there were two kids that asked me for food. So we walked a bit - I wanted to find one of those women who sell the bananas right of their head. It didn't take long and we found one, selling the small bananas. I am not sure about the real price of the small ones yet - the "regular" size ones are about 50 shillings per piece. I think the small ones may be the same for I know they are more expensive. Anyway, I had to argue my way through again. She initially wanted 1,000 for a handful. Then she offered about 8-10 for 500, which was more reasonable (ahem). One of the little kids grabbed them (he spoke English very well, btw). I paid and s we were parting I asked if I could have one, too (I felt like having a dessert). He said "No, you get two." He even wanted to give me a third one, but I stopped him. After all they were the hungrier ones. But it was moving (although I am not sure if that meant they weren't really that hungry...

I will switch hotels tomorrow. Christmas is over, so the Christmas Tree Hotel is not appropriate anymore. I also want to save some money. I don't need my own bathroom and a TV (first time I saw the news in a while), if I can spend four Euros instead of eleven per night...