A Lot to Learn

Saturday, February 16th
Having had a chance to catch up on some badly-needed sleep, I woke up at 6am, took a hot shower (which is turning out to be my only hot shower in Tanzania...) and stuffed as much as I could back in my bags in preparation to leave (on a side note: how is that even when i'm in a hotel room for ONE night, my bags are magically unpacked into piles of shoes and clothing all over the floor and furniture?? It must be the gnomes. Damned gnomes.)

The plan: Take a taxi to the central bus station, buy a ticket for the earliest Dar Express bus available (my favorite Italian emphasized that this was by far the best and most reliable bus service), nap in luxury, and arrive in Arusha at around 6pm with plenty of time to find a hotel and possibly even buy a sim card for my cell phone.

What actually happened: The incredibely helpful receptionist at the Safari inn found me a 'special' taxi driver, who would not only deliver me safely to the bus station, but would also walk with me to purchase the bus ticket so that I wasn't harassed by the various scam artists trying to fleece me. How nice. Although I kept insisting that I wanted to take the Dar Express, we, um, conveniently ended up parking outside the "offices" of Saibaba Express, which charged me 25,000 shillings (about $20) for a deluxe coach. Given the chaos outside, and the fact that my taxi driver essentially had my duffel bag hostage in his trunk, I decided, what the hell, and went along with it. Well, as it turns out, Saibaba Express has quite a reputation... for being one of the worst, most crowded, broken-down bus lines EVER. How much do people typically pay for a ticket? 10,000 shillings. How many squeeze inside the 30 passenger bus? 40, give or take a few chickens. During our THIRTEEN hour bus ride, stopping briefly at various dusty villages along the way (with just enough time to get pineapples and bananas tossed in through the windows in exchange for throwing shillings back out), I was greatful for one thing: By the grace of some benevolent higher power, I managed to not need a bathroom the entire ride. Those who did need it disembarked, disappeared, and somehow magically reappeared at a later bus stop. I'm not sure exactly what happened in between, and I really didn't want to find out.

One quick side-story: I met an interesting Tanzanian on the bus named Israel; He spoke excellent english and worked for an NGO in Dar es Salaam managing logistics. We had a great conversation about politics, religion, and even medicine - he was amazed that most people in the US who have gun shot or stab wounds don't die, and didn't believe me when I told him that we have artificial plasma for transfusions. He did tell me about his one visit to the US, during which time he learned that all US satellites are in fact owned by the 'Israelites', and therefore the Jews know everything. Our conversation got me thinking... Israel really needs to start its own version of the Peace Corps; Too many people have really distorted ideas about our culture and religion, and thier understanding of the political and social situation is often so warped that I barely recognize it. I did manage to distill a few misconceptions, but it's hard to say whether he really believed me or was just being polite. On the other hand, he offered me his uncle's son for marriage, so I'm going to take that as a sign that he liked me.

One more aside... there were two adorable little kids on the seat in front of me, traveling to Arusha with their mother; I shared my Hersey's kisses with them (I asked Israel to translate that it was chocolate, but looking at them, he thought they were too poor to even know what that is). I rummaged through my backpack for something to give the little girl (she was 6 or 7, at most), and found a beautiful beaded bracelet from Nepal. You should have seen her eyes light up when I put the bracelet on her arm (i had to slide it all the way up her forearm!)... I don't think she has ever received a gift like that, or had any jewellery at all for that matter. I'm glad I had the bracelet with me - I still remember when we were immigrating through Italy, and a man visiting our camp gave me a beautiful box with foreign coins; It meant so much to me, I still have it. Israel said that her mother would probably take it for herself once I was out of sight; that may be so, but at least I tried.

Saturday Night, 8:30 pm.
I finally arrived in Arusha, exhausted but with bags and bowels intact. I chose a place called 'Masai Camp' for my stay; my lonely planet guide reported that it was popular with overlanders (travelers exploring Africa via car/bus), and reportedly had a pool table, internet cafe, hot showers, and even a bar and disco. Excellent. Well, although the internet cafe wasn't working and the hot showers were inexplicably FREEZING cold, the rest held true; I'm paying 13,000 shillings ($10) per night to stay in a semi-private dorm (I only have one roommate, an eccentric Scot named Dan who is otherwise nice but has a rather unhealthy obsession with elephants). I met a South African guide, Colin, who's been working as a tour guide throughout the continent for the past 6 years. We spent the entire evening chatting and playing Bow (it's a local game played with cups and beads). I do have to admit that I crashed fairly early, a little past midnight... I guess i'm getting old :).

Sunday, February 17th
Not suprisingly, Arusha mostly shuts down on Sundays, so I ended up spending the day around Masai camp. It's a beautiful campsite (with a bar!) set on about 5 acres of land several kilometers outside the city, so it's incredibely peaceful. I hung out with Colin for most of the afternoon, and we were invited to have lunch with several Masai living nearby - have I mentioned yet how much I'm loving Africa? Although I consider myself fairly worldly and well-read, i'm constantly reminded of my narrow-minded, 'western' eyes; when I think of Masai, I picture thin Africans draped in clorful cloths living in huts. Breakfast? Blood, I presume. Well, these Masai were not the ones on National Geographic... although the traditional way of life still persists in many areas of Kenya and Tanzania, this was not quite the case with our new friends. These Masai had cell phones and business cards; they lived in a nice house a few minutes away from the camp, and one of them - ready for this? - is married to a British woman. He had actually been the US, twice, and had met with Kofi Anan several years ago to discuss the land grab situation (quick background: the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments have, in recent years, taken significant amounts of land away from the Masai and severely restricted their hunting and hearding practices; it's a major problem because their tradional way of life is being supressed as they're forced into small camps and left without a means to support themselves). We had tea (again with milk, ugh) and bread, and chatted about politics. They had a thousand questions for me about American government because Bush is in town; they absolutely floored me with their depth of understanding, not to mention, for the most part, their excellent English. Most of all, they wanted to know if Obama really had a chance to become president; A black man, even half-black and from the west, seemed to them the cornerstone of Africans no longer being seen as inferior or backwards by rest of the world. I left humbled. If Milton Freedman wants to write another book about globalization, he needs to meet with the Masai.

So, this brings me to Monday morning... Colin had introduced me to another guy staying at the camp, a photographer from Holland, Oliver. He was passing through Tanzania on a three month trip aroud east Africa and was also looking to go on safari this week. So this morning we went to Shidolya, a reputable tour operator, and booked a 4 day, 3 night safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. I'm absolutely thrilled - I can't believe that tomorrow - TOMORROW! - i'm going to be camping in the Serengeti... it's been a dream of mine since watching "Out of Africa" several years ago. And, it's an added bonus that he's a photographer; he promised to give me some tips on photographing wildlife with my SLR. This, however, also means that I won't have internet again for a while... we leave early tomorrow morning and come back Friday night, by which time all connections to the outside world will be off-line... My plan then is to take the earliest bus possible (the Dar Express this time, no exceptions!) back to Dar es Salaam on Saturday, and then immediately taking a ferry over to Stone Town, Zanzibar. I will do my best to find internet that night and update the blog - hopefully with photographs! - but that may end up being postponed as, after all, this IS Africa.

So, until I write again... I love you all, and Salaam...