the bus to Arusha

I know I have not finished my safari parks, and they only get better; but today I am in Arusha for the day, and want to talk a little about what a trip to Arusha entails.

From Moshi buses depart for Arusha all day from the bus station down town. For about $2 US you can travel in comfort (ie: with out two people on your lap and possibly with a seat of your own!) for the one and a half hours to the Arusha bus station. The buses here are mostly smaller than buses back home, they have three row seats with a fold out seat for when the regular seats fill up (and they always do), so there are about 40 seats on the bus. It is however, not unusual for there to be anywhere from 45 to 55 people on the bus. How you ask? By fitting people five or, depending on the bone structure of the people in question, six to a row and with a few people standing by the door it can be done.

Our bus this morning was early, just after 9am, so there were just exactly enough seats for the number of people on the bus. Alex, who is with me on this adventure, got a seat in the back row, and I got the fold out seat for the last row. Today has not been as hot as usual for the past couple weeks and even with most of the windows closed the bus was not overly hot. I only sweat a little, and the Tanzanians didn't sweat at all.

Once you get past the tight spaces and being the only white people on the bus, it is in many ways an enjoyable ride. Between Moshi and Arusha the landscape changes several times and often quite suddenly. Just past the outskirts of Moshi where we live the country is mostly open soft hills where farms are being tilled and seeded now in preparation for the rainy season that is about to hit. There are Shepperd's with flocks of sheep and herds of cows going here and there, and the dirt is a deep red that looks about as rich as soil can. Off to the right, depending on the cloud cover at any given moment you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro hovering over the landscape.

Soon though you find yourself in what could almost be a desert. The dirt is so dry that it blows around like sand, and small dirt twisters are always moving back and forth in the distance. I've taken a few good pictures of them and will put them up some time in the future. There are tree's but they are small and so spaced out that you would never think of them as a forest. I have no idea what the goats and sheep and cows here eat, not much by the looks of it. Still, the landscape has a vastness to it that makes it enjoyable to watch pass by. In the distance are hills and the sky is huge and blue, and often filled with sculpted clouds. You pass through small towns of mud-brick and concrete houses with rusted tin roof's, it could almost be a strange western film.

As you approach Arusha the land turns green again, the hills rise around you, and towns and villages grow bigger and busier. Soon the fields give way to banana plantations and jungle. There are several stops between the outskirts of Arusha and the bus depot in the center of town. At every one a few people get off, requiring people in the fold out seats to stand awkwardly to the side and fold down their seat backs so the person behind them can get out. At the same time street vendors come up to the windows and offer snacks and drinks for a few hundred shillings (which isn't expensive). I would probably buy some if I wasn't afraid of getting sick from the food, there is no way of knowing where it's been.

The Arusha bus depot is one of the craziest places I have ever seen. It's an open air parking lot of sorts where buses enter and exit and in between they are refueled and maintained (or so they say). All kinds of people wait around the bus station for all kinds of reasons; cab drivers stand around hoping for fare's, news paper sellers stand around hoping for sale's, old men stand around mostly for the sake of standing around. Basically, there is a lot of standing around. But once they see you (a foreigner) they all want you to use their services, what ever they may be.

Now that we are here, we'll be off trying to find what ever odd things we can buy to bring home for all those lovely people back in the good old USA. Wooden bowls, animal carvings, jewelry, illegal DVDs, t-shirts, and who knows what else. We'll get some lunch, hopefully from a reputable establishment for our stomach's sake. Then be on our way home, which of course means another trip in the bus, this time from Arusha to Moshi. The buses tend to be fuller later in the day, so it could be a long ride. It's ok though, dinner tonight is vegi-burgers, and Alex and I would not miss that for the world.

Lake Manyara

Last Friday our safari began. We booked through a local company called Bushman Safari's who we have heard good things about and we were not disappointed. They picked us up in a beastly safari land rover like the one's you see on discovery channel specials. We were driven first to our campsite by a man called Godwind, and our cook's name, in all seriousness, was Good Luck.

The first animal we saw was a giraffe on the side of the highway. Godwind stopped so we could look and told us is was a Massi Giraffe. Megan asked if it was a boy or girl and Godwind said it was a male. Megan then asked how he knew, to which Godwind replied "because I can see his balls." Poor Megan turned a nice shade of red and the rest of us cracked up for about two solid minutes.

Once at the campsite, which was behind a very nice hotel lodge with a pool, we met our park driver Eric who has been driving safari's for seven years since he graduated Safari College. From what I can tell Safari College is like a trade school or two year degree. There have been several CCS volunteers at a safari college in Moshi actually.

Our first Park was Lake Manyara, with the entrance just a mile or so down the road from our campsite. Almost before we were in the park we came across a group of baboons on the side of the road. They were on both sides of us and in the tree above us; they were small and grey and seemed completely not bothered by us. Eric pointed out the alpha male on our left side who was chasing a female who was in heat. When we asked Eric why the animals were not afraid of the cars he said that the vehicles don't scare most animals, but if we were to get out they would go running.

The next animal we saw I almost missed at first. While we were all looking around at the African wilderness Eric was able to spot a pair of Dik Dik on the side of the road. If you don't know what a Dik Dik is, imagine a small deer, like baby small, with huge black eye's. They pair off for life and if you see one the other is probably not far behind, and the male has tiny little horns. Basically, imagine the cutest animal you can think of and put it in the African bush. How they survive in a land full of lions and cheetahs I have no idea.

Next up was something a bit more dramatic, as we turned a corner in the corner around some bushes and Joe said, "there's elephants in the road!" I didn't really think we would just run smack into elephants like that but in fact that is almost exactly what happened. A small group with a couple kids as big as horses, their mothers and a large bull elephant were casually munching on leafs and grass on the roadside. We watched them from no more than thirty feet for several minutes before they wondered off into the bush.

As we got closer to the lake the jungle thinned out until the landscape became a flat grassland for maybe a mile or two. Out in the fields of yellow grass was a group of 6 giraffes, spaced out, and just standing facing the lowering sun behind us. I must say, even though I have seen pictures of giraffes many times before, they are amazingly odd looking creatures. They seem almost alien. Off in the distance behind the giraffes we also saw a small heard of zebras, but they were too far away to get a good look.

Later, in a small pond we found a group hippo's lounging and surrounded by several large flocks of birds of various colors. They splashed and yawned their huge mouth's wide open, and though we were not extremely close it was easy to see that this was an animal you don't want to mess with.

The sun was starting to set and we headed back toward the park entrance, but on the way we still saw a family of warthogs and crossed path's with the group of giraffes again as they moved into the jungle.

Really the only thing we didn't get a look at at the Lake were any big cats. They are rare to see in Lake Manyara park, but we did see a kill that a leopard had left up in a tree, and Eric was able to spot the tracks of a large cat in the dirt road. We followed them for a short distance, but lost them in the jungle. The big cats are more common in other parks, so it wasn't a big deal.

When we got back we had a big dinner that Good Luck had prepared for us and then quickly went to bed, our day in Ngorongoro the next day was starting at 7am and we needed sleep. It's amazing just how tiring it is to stand up through a hole in a moving land rover for several hours. But even though it is easier to sit, standing is way more fun. You feel the wind on your face and have to be careful your hat doesn't blow away, and you really feel like your in the environment.

Update

Yesterday we took a trip to Arusha, a city about 60 Km from Moshi where I am staying. Arusha is where the Rwanda War crimes Tribunal is located, and we were able to watch some of the of the trial. When we sat down in the visitors gallery a woman was the whiteness and she was being questioned by several lawyers in turn. As far as I can tell she had been given testimony there in the past, but a member of the current ruling party in Rwanda had told her to give false testimony about someone involved in the genocide. It was very interesting, but also quite tedious, as every question had to be translated back and forth; and in addition to the translation issue was that whenever a lawyer would ask a question one of the three judges would follow it up with a series of seemingly pointless questions that ran in a circle.

Moving on, no pictures today, sorry, I forgot my cable to connect my camera to the computer, maybe tomorrow or the next day. Besides, next week will probably have some of the best pictures of my trip because tomorrow I go on safari!

I am extremely excited about my safari. I am going with 5 other volunteer's from CCS, and we'll be gone all weekend. Tomorrow we leave around 11:00 or 11:30 for Lake Manyara, then on Saturday we will go to Ngorogoro Crater, and Sunday will be Tarangire park, before we come home. Lake Manyara is a smaller park, but is home to almost 3 million flamingos and a good variety of large African animals. Ngorogoro Crater is the park that I am the most excited for, it's a caldera over 20Km across, filled with lions and elephants and even rare black rhinos. Tarangire on our last day is where other volunteers have said they have seen the most animals, including a leopard last weekend, which are almost never seen.

Tonight I'll pack, and tomorrow we're off. I'll make sure to take as many pictures as possible, and I'll write sometime next week to tell you all about it. Bye for now.

A few pictures

Nothing much else to say today, I just had the opportunity to put some pictures on the page and I know people have really wanted to see some. We have here, my 4th grade class doing long division, Haley, another volunteer with me at TCC holding little Fatuma, a waterfall we hiked to last week on our cultural excursion into the area north of Moshi, and a Tanzanian woman outside of her house in the morning. I hope you enjoy these pictures and I will post more as I get the chance.

Unexpected things in Tanzania

Whenever you travel far from home you run into the unexpected. I knew coming here that there were many aspects of life in Tanzania that I knew nothing about, and when traveling so far from home it is always good to keep an open mind. However, even keeping that in mind there have been several times when things I have seen have come as a complete surprise.

Cell Phones:
Probably the biggest surprise about arriving in Tanzania is that everyone has a cell phone. They are sold on the streets for about $30 to $50 and people buy phone cards to call each other. And when I say that everyone has one I mean everyone, cab drivers, teachers, local artists, dress makers, mothers, and police officers. One of the strangest sights is to drive down a road and see a mud hut, another mud hut, a brand new five story red and white cell tower, and another mud hut.
I suppose on one level it does make sense. There are very few land lines in Tanzania compared to more developed countries, so it is much easier for a cell infrastructure to be put in place. What is really amazing is that the reception is excellent, it seems like anywhere you go people are talking on their cell phones.

The WWE:
Of all the TV programs that could be imported to Tanzania WWE wrestling seems to be by far the most popular. It isn't translated, but I don't suppose it really has to be. I have heard that kids in some of the other volunteer's schools sometimes pretend to be their favorite wrestlers during recess. WWE being so popular would be more embracing except that the rest of Tanzanian television is really no better, the soap operas are quite possibly the most ridicules programing I have ever seen.

Heavy clothing:
In a country where the average temperature is well into the 80's you wouldn't thing there would be much need for what we would call winter clothing. However it is not at all uncommon to see people walking around in full winter coats, or wool hats, or sweatshirts, or sweaters. Not just at night or in the early morning either, when the temperature may drop to the bone chilling temperature of 68 degrees, but in the middle of the day. All I can imagine is that they must be used to the heat and the extra clothing doesn't bother them much. But when you are sweating in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals, just looking at a man in a winter parka makes you a little sick.

All strange habits aside, I do very much like this country. For such a poor country there is a real sense of pride and a belief in what is possible. Everyone seems more or less happy, or at least they don't seem overly stressed. Everything is kept as clean as possible, even dirt roads and paths are swept clear of any stray leafs or garbage. People here walk with their heads up high, it makes me realize just how bad my posture is.

From the Internet Cafe in Moshi

Ok, I'm trying to upload pictures today but the Internet cafe here in Moshi is very full right now and the connection is slow. I've tried twice so far to upload a single picture of Mt. Kilimanjaro that I took yesterday morning from just outside my room. I may have to come back some other day when there are less people here. I know everyone wants to see pictures, and I've got some good one's to share, but in Tanzania you never know what will happen. Ha! Victory! I think that took about 5 minutes to upload. If I get ambitious later I'll try another one.

I've started to get into a rhythm here after my second week, now that I'm used to the heat. My day starts at around 6:30 in the morning, I wake up when the sun comes up. I take a quick shower and get dressed for my placement. Breakfast for all the volunteer's is down stairs and outside in the garden under a large tin roof. Usually I have some oatmeal with brown sugar, egg's if there are any that morning, and a cup of instant coffee. Even thinking about hot coffee right now is making me sweat a little, but in the morning before the sun gets too high the coffee is nice.

At about 7:30 we all get on one of the two van's that CCS uses for transporting their volunteer's. Usually there are around 10 people per van, some people are close enough to walk from home base. The drive for the most part feels like a Disney ride, with the van going over uneven and rock filled dirt roads. Most of the roads in Tanzania are made of a very hard dirt and rock mixture, only in Moshi and on the "highway" is there any pavement.

Volunteer's are dropped off in one's and two's at their various placements, schools and nursery's mostly, and those remaining bounce along and stare out the windows. Mine is one of the last stops, and we arrive around 8:20 or so. There is one other CCS volunteers with me, a girl named Haley, who has been working in the pre-school class. We teach until 10:00 when there is a break for the kids to have a snack and the teachers have tea. Around 12:00 the CCS van picks us up and brings us back to home base for lunch at 1:00.

For the last couple weeks we have had various programs in the after noon, from cultural lectures on health or gender issues in Tanzania, to Swahili lessons, and some feed back meetings. Next week is my last with such busy schedules, then I will have much more free time, and I will hopefully be able to come to town and post more pictures here.

At 6:30 we have dinner, and after dinner most of us hang around, play cards and other games, and read before bed. Most of the volunteer's go to bed early, between 8:30 and 10:00. It sounds early, but we get up early, and once the sun goes down here there isn't much to do. Lately we have been watching movies on various people's laptops, street vender's in Moshi sell bootleg compilation dvd's with up to 20 movies on each. Since I've been here I don't believe I have been up later than 11:00pm more than once. Being here takes allot out of you.

Alright, I'm going to try to upload one more picture, then call it a day for this post. Humm.... nope, it doesn't want to, oh well. Talk to you later.

Here at last

Hello to all my friends and family.

After a very long trip I arrived safely and with minimal trubble in Tanzania last week. I have been extreamly busy for the last week, getting used to my new and very diffrent surroundings, but still i appoligise for not posting sooner.

Anyways, all is well here. I have spent several days working at my placement, the Tanzanin Childrens Concern, working with diffrent age students. they range form the baby class, roughly pre-school, through what we would call 4th grade. Many of the children are orphans and live at the school, and they all wear green uniforms. For the most part i have been working with the grade 1 and grade 3 students, working on math and english.

About Tanzania, it is hot here. But I must admit, its not too bad. the weather reminds me of hot days in Auguest, durring the middle of the day you just find some shade and dont move too much if you dont have to. As for more details, well, really there is just too much for me to say right now. It is simply so diffrent from anything else I have expieranced. In future post's I will try to delve deeper into the detalis of Tanzania.

For now however, there is a line for the computer forming, and I must go. The computer is old and not always reliable, so I can't upload any pictures here at the CCS homebase. Maybe tomorrow if I go into Moshi to the internet cafe I will put up a few pictures.

For now, good night