African Bush Adventure - March 20

African Bush Adventure

Our weekend adventure started with a pretty typical bus ride, well, typical for a developing country. We were invited to go to Arusha, the bigger city about an hour away from Moshi, with our new friends, Megan and Travis (Duke 3rd year medical students here doing research for one year). They had the whole weekend planned, and we just tagged along. As we approached the very busy, crazy bus station, we were led to the Arusha-bound bus by a local, and as we climbed aboard, we negotiated a price for each seat (about $2.00), then paid less than we expected (about $1.50), and did not have to pay for the seat our luggage was in. Instead of storing luggage below (who knows if we’d ever see it again) we pile it in the seat next to us where we can keep an eye on it. The ride to Arusha was quite beautiful, starting off hot and humid in Moshi, and as we slowly climbed in altitude toward Mt. Meru, the air temp cooled quite significantly, and I started wishing I had packed a long sleeve shirt. We passed through many small villages scattered with mud and stick huts, many unfinished buildings of brick (they stop construction when the money runs out, I imagine), and some market areas. The stores here are named quite funny – some make no sense at all, and they are all in English, which I find really ironic, since Kiswahilli is definitely the language most often spoken around town. As we moved toward Arusha, the landscape became more green and lush, almost jungle like, and the scenery got prettier and prettier. Almost all of the fields are being tilled right now in preparation for planting and growing once the rainy season starts. It almost looked like Central America, and it made me long for some homemade tortillas and black frijoles.

Arriving at the bus station was chaotic and hectic. Three taxi drivers were arguing over a price with us, when one guy stepped in and told us that our hotel was just a few blocks away and that we should just walk given the high volume of traffic. He was right, and it really made the drivers irate! Then he handed us his card and told us to call him when we needed a ride : ) We walked to our hotel, Arusha Centre Tourist Inn, which was small with two single beds pushed together, mosquito nets, a bathroom with shower (though, not separate, you have to bathe next to the toilet) and a small TV with 3 channels. It was very clean, and I was quite pleased, since it cost just $20.00 USD and included breakfast.

We took a taxi to a local Dutch restaurant, Jacaranda, and ate some of the most delicious food I’ve had – bitter ballen, steak béarnaise, avocado and mango salad….it makes me salivate just thinking about it. The chef came out to greet us and proceeded to tell us exactly how he made Travis’ meal, something much like roast beef. Christian ate a local game stew, which he loved, and we shared a bottle of wine. Diego tried boiled full cream cow’s milk, and hated it, so he settled for bitter ballen and mango juice. Dinner was such a treat – fabulous food and a Swiss Family Robinson like atmosphere, as the restaurant was set outdoors with trees and muted light. It was fantastic!

We quickly fell asleep after returning back to the hotel. The one thing that I found quite interesting was the mosque across the street. Around 4:45 am in the morning, we were awoken by a Muslim call to prayer which lasted about 30 minutes or so. It started across the street, sort of muted and calming, and then some man in our hotel got into the foyer and started chanting. At that point, all I wanted to do was drift back to sleep, but the combination of chanting, heat and mosquitos buzzing outside my net kept me awake until Diego and Christian woke up a few hours later.

Saturday morning we ventured out to a local craft market – a tourist trap, really, but they did have some interesting stuff. The best stuff is carved out of ebony wood, and we found an artist who does his own carvings, and is quite good. I’ll return there with my mother and father to do some real shopping. Christian and I bought two batiks for $8.00 USD and called it a day. Then, we walked across town to an English bookstore and a burger and milkshake place, called McMoody’s. Cute, huh? After enjoying a REAL milkshake, we walked a bit further to Shop Rite. I was quite excited to have the opportunity to find some items you can’t find in Moshi, but to be honest, the prices were not “rite” – very high, and the selection was just OK. It was a typical supermarket by US standards, but to be honest, it wasn’t any better than the shopping you can do in Moshi – it’s just all in one place. In Moshi when you shop, you go to like 5 different shops (the way we did in England with my mother’s family). When you have nothing else really to do during the day, spending 2 hours hopping around town shopping is not such a bad thing.

We caught a taxi across town again to meet up with a new friend from Durham who is living in Arusha for 6 months doing research for her PhD in Public Health. Her husband is a first year resident at Duke. Melissa invited us to Via Via, a cute outdoor restaurant that obviously caters to mzungu, but is set in a lovely tropical setting, which allowed Diego to run around and enjoy the space without fear of getting lost or hurt or run over (the traffic is horrendous in Arusha, and the drivers are out of control with apparently no traffic rules.) Christian tried ugali (corn meal mush, the staple food for Tanzanians) and some very spicy curry. I’ve never seen him leave a good curry on his plate, but after 20 minutes of profusely sweating, he gave up trying to finish it. I had a simple tuna and egg sandwich with fries. Yum.

Our afternoon proved to be the most exciting thing we’ve done here! We joined up with Megan and Travis again and headed out towards the African bush, out of town, with some crazy Europeans in Land Cruisers. We drove on very bumpy roads (through which Diego amazingly slept) and then suddenly turned off into the grasslands, scattered with big rocks and ditches and trees, and proceeded to climb a mountain, driving as far as we could up it. Soon, we saw Masai people walking towards the mountain, wondering what the crazy mzungu were up to. Masai people are the local tribal Tanzanians who farm the land and graze animals. They live in mud and stick huts and dress in shukas, which are bright red and purple sheets or blankets, wrapped around them. They wear shoes made of tire, if they have shoes at all, and carry spears with them. Some of the men and women wear earrings and necklaces. The earrings create huge holes in their ears. They drink blood and milk, mostly, from the cattle they herd, and have remained fairly traditional in their way of living, though one older man did speak some English, and they do travel to Moshi to visit KCMC or shop at stores in nearby villages. They are known for being warriors in the past, but the people we met were very friendly and gentle, especially considering we were driving onto their land without permission, climbing their hill, and then parachuting off it. Yes, Megan and Travis had arranged to paraglide with this crazy Dutchman, Pierre, and we followed to watch.

When we got to the place on the hill that was no longer drivable (mind you, I would have stopped a lot earlier), we got out of the cars and climbed by foot to the top of the very steep, tall hill. The Masai children literally ran up the hill and beat us to the top by a good 20 minutes. It was a breathtaking view (see blog photos) and although the winds were high, the cool air was refreshing. Of course, the Masai people who followed us up were very cold and kept wrapping themselves even tighter into their shukas. When we first got out of the car, I gave Diego a fruit roll up and he shared it with some of the children. They laughed and joked, and did not find the taste of the roll up very appetizing. From that point on, they all loved Diego and could not get enough of him, wanting to pick him up, wrap him in their shuka and play with him atop the hill. He had a grand time being the center of all the attention, and I loved watching him interact with these people. I only wished he was a bit older so that he could remember this experience.

After about an hour of waiting out the high winds, the paragliders took off from the top of the hill and glided down into the local villages. Christian and I watched with amazement, took photos, and then proceeded back down the hill. Christian carried Diego on his back, which gave me a heart attack, but we successfully made it down the hill, amid huge spiders in the trees and black beetles at every step. We met the paragliders at the bottom of the hill (they had to walk from where they landed, through several Masai villages to the cars), and then we headed back to town. This was a whole separate adventure, because at this point it was dark and we could not find our way back. With no real road, we were trying to follow our tracks coming in, and somehow lost the track. We found ourselves lost on the other side of the mountain, when we decided to pick up a Masai man who guided us to the road to Arusha. He sat next to me, and was very smelly, but friendly enough. When we finally got to town, we had missed the bus and shuttle back to Moshi, so we had to stay another night. It was already very late and Diego was asleep, but we ventured out to another one of the restaurants that Travis and Megan like, L’Oasis, and ate comfort food – much like the kind you can get at TGIF – potato skins, nachos, pizza and fried mozzarella. After another night of buzzing mosquitos (this time, though, with no net, so I was paranoid) and Muslim call to prayer singing, we ate breakfast, boarded a bus to Moshi, and arrived home about noon for a good, long bath and some relaxation time.

Spending time with the Masai people was most amazing, and some companies here in town advertise a “village trip” and charge a lot of money for it. Here we were, hanging out in the real African bush with the local tribal people, who were laughing and joking around with us (at one point, they all became fascinated with my camera, and one guy jokingly wanted me to give it to him, then pretended to throw it off the mountain. Christian quickly asked for it back, and put it away). The weekend away from Moshi was a breath of fresh air for me, and helped me to put a lot into perspective about my time here. I am pretty isolated in the doctor’s compound, and once I am out and about, I really do have a good time exploring the sights, sounds, and people of Tanzania (not the smells, though, those I can definitely do without). I am very much looking forward to my parents visiting in just 10 days for the month of April. We have a trip to Zanzibar planned, as well as a couple of safaris, and of course a trip back to Arusha.

I hope you are enjoying the blog entries and the photos. We can’t wait to see you all back in the states!