Tanzania!

More like the drive there, actually. We left the club, took a cab home, packed and took another cab to get the bus. Ugh, left Nairobi at 6.30a.m- not realizing just how long this trip was going to take. Shit… 12 hours.

It took about 2 hours to get to Namanga- the border. Which I hadn’t realised was that close, either. At the border we had to beg and plead with immigration officials to get a temporary permit for my cuz (they were like, we don’t give these to people from Nairobi, you should have gotten it from Nyayo house- my cuz got caught telling a lie about being from Kajiado (ha!)- actually her older sis busted her out by saying, ‘oh we couldn’t get these in Nairobi cause she got there late’. I think they almost told us to go back… which would have been disaster- actually, I wouldn’t have, ah ah. So, I was thinking, oh 2 hrs into Tanzania, Dar cant be that far…. Yea right.

Tanzania -very mountainous/hilly-hadn’t expected that, I don’t know the names of the ranges- I think its Ngorongoro, need to look it up- except its all part of the Rift Valley. My cuz swears she saw Mt Kilimanjaro while I was passed out asleep, but I don’t believe her (someone should have had the decency to wake me up- or don’t tell me at all). Countryside looked a bit sparcely populated- at least there didn’t seem to be as many people as I’d have expected (I think my Nairobi bias is showing- im so used to overcrowded streets)- but also… well they probably don’t live right next to the main road. For the first time I realized that there are (probably) more Maasai’s on the Tzed side than they are on the Kenyan side, at least they are everywhere…. Even in small towns in their bright reds… Much of Tzed looks like rural Kenya (like the drive to western Kenya)…people selling produce by the roadside (bought oranges for real cheap), mud huts next to stone structures, little kiosks selling a little bit of everything- some with catchy names like Zaire shop, Kalifonia, (mainly maasai) cattle herders....

think I romanticize country living a bit- everything looks so uncomplicated-but it probably is hard- but from the outside looking in, everything looks easy- roaming around amazing countryside, fertile land, growing all your produce… why not? Oh and they grow sunflowers…. that made me happy cause next to gladioli these are my favourite flowers (no particular reason). Also many sisal plantations, and maize, of course. That’s about all I could recognize.

We had a few breaks but the bus driver was in a rush to get to Dar-es-Salaam by 6p.m. We stopped once for lunch- its hard being vegetarian- such limited choices, but I did like my meal- pilau with some vegetables- not as spicy as I would have wanted it to be…. we’d barely sat down to eat before they announced- if you are in Dar-express the bus leaves in five minutes- so we had to buy to-go boxes (ugh). We got to Dar late, about 7p.m, had to call babbiez to give us directions to there… the bus station (ubunge, I think its called) as bustling, taxi drivers hustling, people selling (always people selling), buses coming going, there was traffic, cops doing whatever it is cops do. Really nice seeing my homie- she’s been in dar since before I left for the states- been working as a radio and t.v presenter.