14 hours on a horrid bus in a period of 36 hours. And I am telling you it was worth it.
Victoria and I found ourselves at the front of the bus, thinking this was lucky. But the bus acts much like a matatu, stopping to pick up passengers for short distances. Of course this is once all seats are already filled so people are standing in the aisles bracing themselves on your shoulder, accidentally pulling your hair, resting their bags in your lap and the like. Not to mention it is the storage place for all the big bags that cant make it past seats through the skinny aisle, including huge sacks of maize flour. A couple hours into the trip I realized the floor, which was our only place to store our backpacks for the trek, was soaking wet. When the wet got onto the tops of my feet and didn’t dry, I realized it was oil, and it had soaked all the way through my flip flops! I changed into my tennis shoes quickly, but the ick had covered my legs from the straps of my backpack. Such a mess. I sacrificed the shoes to the bus gods hoping the trip back would be less eventful.
The drive to Lushoto was GORGEOUS. Blooming baobob trees, fields of pineapple bushes and termite hills, so lush. By the fifth hour we made it into the mountains, which I have never seen anything like. Looked like something in a Dr. Seuss book. Waterfalls and streams cutting through the canyons, gray slate rock home to strange trees and bushes.
We got off the bus and were greeted by my dear Heidi, who took us to our 6 dollar guest house and fed us chips mai (best TZ dish ever, basically a French fry omelette). We then set off on our hike, which was pretty easy, considering afterwards we learned we had hiked 8 miles. The end destination, the famed “viewpoint”, was incredible. Basically, it was a rock ledge to sit on, thousands of feet up from the valley floor, where you can see nearly everything between Arusha and Dar. I cannot even begin to describe the vertigo you might encounter there. And it was GREEN as far as I could see, with grey mountains on all sides. We basked in the sun on the rocks for a while as it set and sipped sodas. In the face of so much beauty I found I couldn’t even be mad upon realizing that our neighbor girl had run out my camera batteries when she left my camera on a few nights ago.
Headed back to the guest house where the power kept flickering on and off. Though we slept with the lights on because we really couldn’t be sure nothing was going to crawl out of thin air, or the huge open drains in the bathroom or the bedding for that matter.
The ride back somehow dragged out from 6 to 8 hours, with many screaming children and painfully rattling windows. Also, I began noticing the crazy amounts of hustling that took place on the bus. We pulled over every 20 minutes to pick up one thing or another, huge sacks filled with charcoal, stacks of crates filled with empty soda bottles, even a lone unaccompanied knap sack here and there. They do really smart business.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
a typical friday in arusha
Selina, Eunice and I went into the Tribunal Friday morning, thinking it would be business as usual. We walked through the security checks, and Selina tried to throw some garbage away in a big bin and was chastised. "That's not for garbage." Upon asking what the bin was for, we learned it was for containing explosions. huh.
After making tea and settling into our offices, we began hearing sirens, and were called into the office of one of our colleagues. "Come see the presidents!" So we crawled out her window onto the ledge to watch the procession. Tanzania's president, Kikwete came first. He and his crew paused and smiled and seemed to enjoy the large group of traditional African dancers welcoming them. He was followed by the presidents of Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. We saw the first three from the balcony, but upon some angry glances and gestures from the security on the ground we realized we were making people nervous. So we saw the last two from only 10 feet away down on the ground. I was really surprised at how loose security seemed. Undoubtedly there would have been five times the amount of security used for these five men used for Obama.
Our classmates were having a different adventure on this morning. It had rained something like inches the night before, making the drive to see Heifer projects in Arusha quite interesting. I was getting texts about adventures of the car getting stuck in the mud. I was bummed I missed that.
I had lunch with a wonderful friend from Australia, though we were soaking wet and really cold from the downpour outside. We treated ourselves to steak and red wine, and I had the privilege of explaining what snow was like to someone who had never seen or touched it. I must have done an okay job because her face looked as excited as a little kid finding out its a snow day (of course, I had to explain snow days to her, too). I think my mind was equally blown when she told me that often times Christmas day after opening presents they have an outdoor pool party.
We went to the infamous Spices and Herbs Restaurant last night. It was the first time I had been back since the robbery, and they patched the bullet holes! We went for a ritzy Ethiopian dinner and fashion show.
There you have it. Typical Friday in Arusha. Always something going on :0)
After making tea and settling into our offices, we began hearing sirens, and were called into the office of one of our colleagues. "Come see the presidents!" So we crawled out her window onto the ledge to watch the procession. Tanzania's president, Kikwete came first. He and his crew paused and smiled and seemed to enjoy the large group of traditional African dancers welcoming them. He was followed by the presidents of Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. We saw the first three from the balcony, but upon some angry glances and gestures from the security on the ground we realized we were making people nervous. So we saw the last two from only 10 feet away down on the ground. I was really surprised at how loose security seemed. Undoubtedly there would have been five times the amount of security used for these five men used for Obama.
Our classmates were having a different adventure on this morning. It had rained something like inches the night before, making the drive to see Heifer projects in Arusha quite interesting. I was getting texts about adventures of the car getting stuck in the mud. I was bummed I missed that.
I had lunch with a wonderful friend from Australia, though we were soaking wet and really cold from the downpour outside. We treated ourselves to steak and red wine, and I had the privilege of explaining what snow was like to someone who had never seen or touched it. I must have done an okay job because her face looked as excited as a little kid finding out its a snow day (of course, I had to explain snow days to her, too). I think my mind was equally blown when she told me that often times Christmas day after opening presents they have an outdoor pool party.
We went to the infamous Spices and Herbs Restaurant last night. It was the first time I had been back since the robbery, and they patched the bullet holes! We went for a ritzy Ethiopian dinner and fashion show.
There you have it. Typical Friday in Arusha. Always something going on :0)
Monday, November 16, 2009
started off the weekend well...
We might have gotten ripped off by the fees. Turns out the trail is only a few km from our apartment. Which is incredible, a 3 minute taxi and an hour walk to a breathtaking waterfall in the middle of a jungle.
They gave us each a hiking pole. But ¾ of the hour walk was through a village. Can you just imagine two white girls walking through a village leaning on poles through the muddy roads? Nobody else needed poles to get around. A woman in her 60’s saw the irony in this as well, she came up to me with a smile and made a gesture toward the pole, as if to say she wanted it and would be able to put it to better use. Somehow despite the language barrier, I shared with her my agreement, and she laughed and turned and carried on down the road, at a JOGGING pace.
There were so many children that collected around us as we stopped to admire the avocado, mango, papaya, and PEACH trees. We could hear them shout MA- ZUUUN- GU! From far away and suddenly they were right behind us. One particular group was all whispers and giggles and kept trying to sneak up behind us to scare us. So I turned around quickly to startle THEM. The poor kids, you should have seen the look of terror on their faces! Though this quickly melted back into their fine senses of humor and we all laughed for some time.
We finally made it to the waterfall, which involved some jumping over ant hills and sliding down steep mud hills. We came across another American (who just graduated from a Quaker school, go figure) and his two guides. Just as we made it down to the bottom of the climb, before I could even pull out my camera, the sky OPENED up. We were caught in a downpour. Thunder pounded and fat raindrops made it difficult to see. We took quick pictures and then scrambled back up the hill. Victoria, myself and our guide joined with the other hiking group and they led us to a small cooking shack to keep dry. The problem was we were already completely drenched. So after the rain showed no sign of letting up, we convinced them to let us keep walking.
What a sight that must have been. The roads were FILLED with water, and people were standing under cover, staying dry. And here we come traipsing along in a thunderstorm, with our metal poles mind you, and covered in goosebumps having to wipe the heavy rain from our faces. They shouted to us in sympathy, “Poleni!” One lady even offered us to come to her house for milk. A little later we came across a couple of trucks that had gotten stuck in the mud, I shouted “Poleni!” to the men trying to free the vehicles, and got some great smiles back.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get warm for quite some time, despite drinking hot tea and wearing two pairs of sweatpants at a time. And not surprisingly I feel like I am coming down with something. But it was SO worth it. That was the most fun I have had since, last weekend. :0)
They gave us each a hiking pole. But ¾ of the hour walk was through a village. Can you just imagine two white girls walking through a village leaning on poles through the muddy roads? Nobody else needed poles to get around. A woman in her 60’s saw the irony in this as well, she came up to me with a smile and made a gesture toward the pole, as if to say she wanted it and would be able to put it to better use. Somehow despite the language barrier, I shared with her my agreement, and she laughed and turned and carried on down the road, at a JOGGING pace.
There were so many children that collected around us as we stopped to admire the avocado, mango, papaya, and PEACH trees. We could hear them shout MA- ZUUUN- GU! From far away and suddenly they were right behind us. One particular group was all whispers and giggles and kept trying to sneak up behind us to scare us. So I turned around quickly to startle THEM. The poor kids, you should have seen the look of terror on their faces! Though this quickly melted back into their fine senses of humor and we all laughed for some time.
We finally made it to the waterfall, which involved some jumping over ant hills and sliding down steep mud hills. We came across another American (who just graduated from a Quaker school, go figure) and his two guides. Just as we made it down to the bottom of the climb, before I could even pull out my camera, the sky OPENED up. We were caught in a downpour. Thunder pounded and fat raindrops made it difficult to see. We took quick pictures and then scrambled back up the hill. Victoria, myself and our guide joined with the other hiking group and they led us to a small cooking shack to keep dry. The problem was we were already completely drenched. So after the rain showed no sign of letting up, we convinced them to let us keep walking.
What a sight that must have been. The roads were FILLED with water, and people were standing under cover, staying dry. And here we come traipsing along in a thunderstorm, with our metal poles mind you, and covered in goosebumps having to wipe the heavy rain from our faces. They shouted to us in sympathy, “Poleni!” One lady even offered us to come to her house for milk. A little later we came across a couple of trucks that had gotten stuck in the mud, I shouted “Poleni!” to the men trying to free the vehicles, and got some great smiles back.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get warm for quite some time, despite drinking hot tea and wearing two pairs of sweatpants at a time. And not surprisingly I feel like I am coming down with something. But it was SO worth it. That was the most fun I have had since, last weekend. :0)
Saturday, November 14, 2009
c'est la vie?
Today at the office we were frantically asked to prepare a speech on the role of ad hoc tribunals in ending impunity for war crimes. About an hour later I was in my supervisors office as people were running in and out asking questions passing around phone calls. All of the sudden someone comes in and states that they are very busy as “there has been a plane crash, but everyone is fine.” Then she ran off down the hall (retelling this I am picturing the white rabbit in Wonderland.) Turns out a plane went down in Kigali, and the man we were writing a speech for was on it. Only bruises though, so we are carrying on with the speech.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
the sign before rain is clouds.
I bought a new bag in Nairobi over the weekend, and on it is a Kenyan proverb written in Kiswahili that translated means "the sign before rain is clouds". I started wearing this bag on Sunady and since then it has been raining. Maybe the key for fixing droughts is to get someone that comes from a very rainy place (like me from Oregon) to walk around in the dry place bearing some profound statement about rain. Seems to be working okay here in Arusha.
Nairobi was a whirlwind of a trip. seven hour bus ride each way Friday and Sunday. So Saturday was packed full of everything we could think of. We fed giraffes (I got headbutted by a giraffe btw), we watched women making beads out of clay and necklaces out of beads, we saw cultural dances, we walked through a replica of Obama's tribes' village, we saw mob run after a man yelling thief and whipping off their belts to beat him, we haggled in an open market, and we ate fabulous Ethiopian food with our fingers.
Sunday morning Victoria and I went to the Swaminarayam temple before sunrise. We drove past dance clubs and saw people just leaving to go home (we thought how convenient, we should have just come here last night it is so nearby :0). We arrived at a temple but the guards were slow to let us in the parking gate. So as we sat in the middle of a sidewalk in the dark and waited I could feel our cab driver tense. He locked the doors, and would interrupt his conversation with the guard to stare down the person who may be walking down the sidewalk at that moment. They do call it Nairobbery for a reason I suppose. Turns out we were at the wrong place anyway, this temple wanted appointments. ha.
We made it to the temple we were looking for. We stumbled up the dark steps but were corrected by the guard who directed us to the womens entrance, the steps on the other side. (I must note though, this is the first time I have seen a temple with segregated entrances where the entrances resembled each other. The women's entrance was as beautiful and spacious as the men's!) We walked in with our head coverings and jeans and long sleeve tshirts looking rather like sloppy travellers, to find women dressed in BEAUTIFUL Indian saris performing a prayer ceremony. We hid in the back but I couldnt take my eyes off of all the colors. What a contrast with the opaque-ish twilight we had entered from. After maybe a minute of the women staring at us, and us staring at them, a girl of maybe 18 or 19 came up to us and asked us to join her sitting at the front of the room. She told me she goes to temple twice each day of the week, sunrise and sunset. And she marvelled that us muzungus were able to sit crosslegged like they did. For the next half hour we had NO idea what was going on but they included us in everything nonetheless. I think we purified ourselves with smoke from incense, and drank holy water, and ate something that tasted like annise? Okay those all sound like dangerous ideas in a country you dont know but I assure you it was fine! Anyway, I was so impressed with how inclusive they were toward us.
Nairobi pictures
So, I am about to grab some hot chocolate and sit on a sofa and watch the rain. sounds like home, huh?
Nairobi was a whirlwind of a trip. seven hour bus ride each way Friday and Sunday. So Saturday was packed full of everything we could think of. We fed giraffes (I got headbutted by a giraffe btw), we watched women making beads out of clay and necklaces out of beads, we saw cultural dances, we walked through a replica of Obama's tribes' village, we saw mob run after a man yelling thief and whipping off their belts to beat him, we haggled in an open market, and we ate fabulous Ethiopian food with our fingers.
Sunday morning Victoria and I went to the Swaminarayam temple before sunrise. We drove past dance clubs and saw people just leaving to go home (we thought how convenient, we should have just come here last night it is so nearby :0). We arrived at a temple but the guards were slow to let us in the parking gate. So as we sat in the middle of a sidewalk in the dark and waited I could feel our cab driver tense. He locked the doors, and would interrupt his conversation with the guard to stare down the person who may be walking down the sidewalk at that moment. They do call it Nairobbery for a reason I suppose. Turns out we were at the wrong place anyway, this temple wanted appointments. ha.
We made it to the temple we were looking for. We stumbled up the dark steps but were corrected by the guard who directed us to the womens entrance, the steps on the other side. (I must note though, this is the first time I have seen a temple with segregated entrances where the entrances resembled each other. The women's entrance was as beautiful and spacious as the men's!) We walked in with our head coverings and jeans and long sleeve tshirts looking rather like sloppy travellers, to find women dressed in BEAUTIFUL Indian saris performing a prayer ceremony. We hid in the back but I couldnt take my eyes off of all the colors. What a contrast with the opaque-ish twilight we had entered from. After maybe a minute of the women staring at us, and us staring at them, a girl of maybe 18 or 19 came up to us and asked us to join her sitting at the front of the room. She told me she goes to temple twice each day of the week, sunrise and sunset. And she marvelled that us muzungus were able to sit crosslegged like they did. For the next half hour we had NO idea what was going on but they included us in everything nonetheless. I think we purified ourselves with smoke from incense, and drank holy water, and ate something that tasted like annise? Okay those all sound like dangerous ideas in a country you dont know but I assure you it was fine! Anyway, I was so impressed with how inclusive they were toward us.
Nairobi pictures
So, I am about to grab some hot chocolate and sit on a sofa and watch the rain. sounds like home, huh?
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