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