Date: Fri. Mar 24 03:47:56 2006

=== I started out declaring that contrary to popular lore, the busses here in Tanzania "do not careen but travel along in a sensible way..."
funny because soon there-after I was in a bus that indeed careened along the most outrageously rutted dirt road I've experienced, and crashed in-between two trucks it was trying to squeeze through the middle- no one was hurt, we were just jammed between the trucks, and tempers were hot! I feared the truck guys would beat up my bus driver (and his posse), but instead all the men gathered, yelled and swore for about an hour then burst out laughing, and off we drove (I got pictures)- so my destination there was a British lady running an AIDS information and street kids project- amazingly in this fairly small village were about 700 street kids, all boys that I saw- the kids were great-I really loved hanging out with them, but it was not the place long term for me; plus the buses had struck fear in me, so I got a ride with a young American Fulbright scholar to his village where he's researching Sindhalese people who use a clicking language and are on the cusp of converting from hunter gather to farming- ate and hung out w/his local family and went w/his local assistant hut to hut conducting a census, in the process meeting some of the greatest characters, and the place was beautiful- then I steeled myself and got on another bus to Kondoa, a small town en route to Arusha- that bus ride went well although at one point the whole bus sort of surreally filled w/ biting, divebombing, flies-everyone on the bus swatting away- about that I wrote: the bus full of flies with that grin-ny old man chivalrously smooshing them against my window for me, that was something"! Anyway I've since had a bus story to surpass all others, but I'll cut back to my early days, in the Land-Rover hangout on the beach outside Dar es Salam:
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here in east Africa- I've had an interesting time so far-
Because of circumstances I quickly wound up on the coast; starting in Kenya and now in Tanzania- it's been a case of pretty beaches and some interesting Muslim architecture but I've had a nagging urge to get inland to the 'real' Africa. That said I spent a week on the beach outside Dar es Salam and in Zanzibar and learned that the two places have been a hub for political movements and Zanzibar in particular a hub of intermixing cultures thanks to the slave and spice trade.
I was hanging with a British, an Irish, and a South African guy at a beach camp outside Dar es salam waiting for the Irish guy's truck to be repaired, as he was looking for passengers overland and I thought it could be interesting. I was going out of my skin hanging out there in the ex-pat enclave with their swapping of adventure tales accompanied by heavy drinking- again I'm so antsy to get to the real Africa- I have to say though, now that I've broken off on my own (gave up on the truck as it continued to have repair delays) and here I am in Dodoma, I kind of miss my gang. The Irish guy was funny- he had owned a bar on the coast of Spain and seemed familiar with the entire underworld - had many stories for a 32 yr. old. The south African guy was concerned about my going along w/ the Irish guy because he thought his route was nuts given the rainy season road conditions, and he gave me contact info to a Christian woman up in the center of Tanzania, in small village Singida, who runs an AIDS outreach and street kids program. The British guy got his affairs together quicker than the Irish guy, and offered me a ride in his truck up to Arusha, and to accompany him in his micro-light airplane to circle around Kilimanjaro. I know I was supposed to be thrilled at the opportunity and was thinking of the stories I could tell, but feared for my life, and was vacilating- in the end he went off on his own and I went up by bus to check out the Christian lady

Date: Sun Apr 02 03:46:37 CDT 2006





















here in Kampala at Megan and Mat's very lux. accommodations- a different planet altogether- enjoying the hot water, swimming pool, good food drink and company- it has been a little less adventure oriented, though -so let me cut back to my bus trip from Kondoa to Arusha...

Kondoa, mid march:
embarking on the MTEI bus, supposed to be the more reliable bus co., in pre-dawn darkness, antsy to get to my destination Arusha. I have lost my sense of fun w/the small town stares and other challenges, have been laid over already a day in Kondoa, have had to wait a day also in the previous place, Kwamtoro- and now am ready for a smooth exit to a more urban destination. - a bit impatient, irritable- amused though, too- drunk guy on board to send off my seat mate has gotten stuck on the bus and is dropped off a mile down the road, grinning and thumbs-upping the whole way-
Then jarred into attention, - rickitiest, rattliest bus ever, we toward the back flying out of our seats on big bumps grip the seats in front of us, erect and paying attention! Along the way picking up passengers w/babies strapped to their backs, an abundance of chickens, ancient looking women standing grabbing the seats to steady selves on the bumpy road- no one stands for them, and I feel guilty but in my window seat also don't- karma caught up? Just around dawn we hit a muddy stretch and stop- I'm gestured to by my seat mate to get off, and like everyone else leave my luggage taking only my passport/money bag- as we start hiking along the impossibly rutted and muddy road, the bus backs up and goes off in another direction I presume to find an alternate route- I am not in the mood for this what I am imagining could be a 30 minute or hour long delay, am hiking along thinking, 'oh, come on!'

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A crowd of us hiking along congregate at a tiny village outpost a 1/2 mile up the road. I sit down at a bench, order a chipati, take out my English/Swahili notes and decide to make the best of it. It's still a bit dark. Some great local old men enthusiastically join me in my Swahili /English vocabulary lesson. I try to ask them when the bus will come and am given what i presume must be the nonsense answer of 3-5 hours. Here we are in the middle of nowhere surrounded by inaccessible roads, and just as the sky lightens a rugged looking white guy bikes by on a state-of-the-art mountain bike! He is followed much to everyone's bemusement/amusement by about 20 others,and trailed by a truck looking much better equiped for the road then our bus. I resist my impulse to flail out into the road for them to rescue me! Several hours later, for a change, i go sit under a tree near some others. i try to ask if they're on my bus but they seem to have a different destination. I'm apart from my luggage, don't really understand what's going on, see no one I recognize from my bus, am unable to communicate with anyone- this is the kind of situation I came to Africa for!- to see how i handle myself. As it is I am close to a melt-down- I envy the Massai guy napping on the ground nearby, by the looks of it unfazed by anything. Sleep deprived, I try to doze seated with my head on my knees, but start to think of Nate. I spend an hour trying to doze/not cry. Then i see some women have laid out on the ground by the road. I go over there to join them sort of like a dog - get close enough for comradery but not so close as to annoy them- I think everyone is a little bit amused by me. I get some sleep- it's about noon and i try again to communicate to someone to see if they're on my bus- no one makes much sense of my Swahili attempts.
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Just as I begin to think things like because I am skinny I may be one not to survive if we are forever stranded here because I am not an efficient food processor, a well dressed man speaking meticulous English approaches, assures me I am on his bus, and that it will come 'soon'- - All my stress leaves, and I am all of the sudden fine with this, and start to positively enjoy the situation! In the end, the bus does not get free until noon the next day- we all camp out there that night -the villagers supply us w/ great food and clear out spaces in their food stall/restaurants for us to sleep- all the men on one the floor, the women in a few places. So there i am that evening under the stars practicing English/Swahili with the very funny as it turns out Massai warrior and a woman from another local tribe who has adopted me- the whole bus feels like family and at night it is like a big party- what sports they are with their babies strapped on, small children in tow, chickens waiting on the bus somewhere, missed connections--I sleep that night with five women 2 babies and a rooster- i am only aware of one of the babies until morning because they are both so perfectly behaved! i declare those mothers experts in the art. Am sad to leave them when finally we arrive in Arusha the next evening where I am immediately surrounded by touts, and I am a tourist again, no longer part of the bus family!
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Date: Sun Apr 09 04:33:19 CDT 2006

back in Tanzania,happily surrounded again by Swahili, and the landscape and the people- sticking to a small area where I know the roads are good. Back in Arusha now. I went on an amazing hike yesterday w/one other young American and a guide- we thought the hike would be fairly wimpy - designed for tourists- I took my flip flops. Instead it was about two hours up a steep mountainside, followed soon after by a descent so steep you had to run down portions then find a ledge to catch your breath- it was wild! Down to a river in an amazingly beautiful gorge, where our guide had to hike up another small mountainside to report our presence to authorities and then hike back down to us- we gladly rested at the river wondering what was next- when he got back we took off our shoes rolled up our pants and walked through the river, slippery rock to slippery rock at a brisk pace for about 40 minutes! I with my tough feet was ok but the other American guy was eventually wincing at every step- it was very funny- then we arrive at a spectacular waterfall just as it starts to pour rain and thunder- soaked and a bit cold, we start back rock to rock, then up the steep path we descended now muddy- clawing and slipping our way up! The other American guy and I were wondering how the average tourist handles this hike! I like an element of adventure in my exercise, and I couldn't have dreamed up a better hike- we stopped in at a masai household once back on top of the mountain- now sunny and hot again- then down the mountainside again steep enough that we were run/ free-falling! It was a full day of intense exercise- the most I've moved in 2 months, and totally unexpected!