The Sun Comes Out

This is a beautiful time of year, when the rains end and the sun comes out, but it's not yet dry and dusty.  The above is on the road just outside the school gate.  Below are close to my house.

 

Driving Down the Highway

It was a beautiful evening to be driving along the highway between Duka Bovu and Kisongo, with Mt Meru ahead and the late afternoon light turning the dusty landscape golden.

 

Drive Back from Dodoma

We got up and ate the breakfast provided at the lodge (toast, boiled eggs and tea) and left around eight (late by the Allisons' standards, quite early by mine ;) ).  We were blessed with another day of beautiful sunny weather with fluffy white clouds for our drive.  It's pretty flat around Dodoma, with some occasional outcroppings here and there, but it got hillier as we drove north. 

I took some pictures of the countryside along the way; sorry they're not great as I didn't roll down the window for most as we were trying to get the air conditioning to keep up as the day warmed up.  

The dirt in central Tanzania is very, very red; you can see a bit of it at the edges of the road but none of these photos really capture it.  I love driving here, seeing farms and villages along the way, and many baobob trees.  We don't have many baobob trees right around Monduli and Arusha, but in most of Tanzania (and much of East Africa) they are common.  They are such iconic African trees, and I love to see them.  

We thought the roof on this little guard house was interesting.  Must have been a lot of fun putting the metal roofing on that.  The corn is really coming up, too! We chatted about music for a good while; the Allisons had a pretty good mix of country music on an iPod, and I played some Home Free, Secret Sisters and Chris Stapleton on my phone. 

We stopped in Babati on the way back to get some fresh vegetables at the market, since it's a bigger town than Monduli and therefore likely to have more variety, and so we wouldn't have to stop once we got back home.  I found a little bit of broccoli, but they didn't have much, but I also got my usual staples, bell peppers, onion and carrots.  The Allisons wore their masks while there; I didn't have a mask (and no locals were wearing them at all), but I did wrap my scarf around in such a way that I could pull it up to cover my mouth and nose when in a crowd.  However, I mostly just managed to confuse people; in their experience, Americans (which I clearly am) who come to Tanzania are generally Christians, but I was wearing a scarf on my head, so was I Muslim?  At least it was a conversation starter to have a nice chat with an avocado and green bean seller.  

Below, the gates into the market place: 

Above: the street that runs alongside the market in Babati.  

We stopped for food at a rest area a bit after Babati; I bought some chapati and some mishikaki (beef on a stick) for lunch, and the Allisons found some samosas.  They only had beef samosas, though, and I prefer the chicken ones.  I really need to learn to make good chapatis or find a good place in Monduli to buy them.  My friend Upendo can make them, I know, but she's pretty busy these days with her laundry business.  

We stopped for gas in Makuyuni, where the road turns toward Arusha.  If you turn left in Makuyuni, the B144 runs out by Lake Manyara an on to the Ngorongoro Crater and eventually the Serengeti.  After Makuyuni, we could see the crater wall of Ngorongoro in the distance for several miles.

I finally did roll the window down briefly to get a good shot without glare.  What a beautiful day!

We made it back to Monduli by three in the afternoon.  The photo below is driving up the TMA road into Monduli.  It's so green here after the recent rains! 

Road Trip to Dodoma

Road trip time! While we have been trying to socially distance as we can (social distancing is not really a thing here, and we are only at the early stages of the pandemic here, unlike the US), the Allisons and I are all still trying to get our residence permits (still...I've only lived here a year and a half...), and one of our current issues is that our work visas we got last year are not coded correctly for the type of residence permit we need.  Fielden has been on the phone with the labour department in the capital city, Dodoma, but it's hard to get much done over the phone here.  Without school, we've got plenty of time anyhow, so the Allisons decided to just drive down to Dodoma and ask at the office in person, and invited me along. 

It's about a six-hour drive to Dodoma.  Dodoma is not a huge town; the capital was moved there from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's biggest city, a few years back because Dodoma is so centrally located.  Dar es Salaam is on the coast, which made for quite a trip from the western parts of the country.  The highways only pass through one city of any real size on the way, Babati.  Other than that, the scenery is rural countryside.  I took these picture from where we stopped alongside the road in case anyone needed to use a bush.  

We packed our lunches to eat along the way so we didn't have to stop; I had peanut butter crackers and yogurt and we bought some bananas along the way.  

I took some photos of the streets of Dodoma as we arrived; I took them through the car window from the backseat so sorry about the reflections.  We were fortunate to have beautiful weather for our drive (not a given in April, the middle of rainy season).

Above, I didn't get a good picture of the parliament buildings, but here's a photo of the entrance to the Bunge (parliament) complex. 

We went directly to the labour department office.  We got the information we needed, but unfortunately, we can't get our work permits corrected until we have a certain document that is dependent on the school finishing an audit that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus closures.  Maybe someday...

Although our trip didn't yield the results we hoped for, it was really nice to get out of Monduli and it was a beautiful drive.  After we left the labour department, we went to Dodoma's new Shoppers (one of the small chain of grocery stores that we often shop at in Arusha).  They had the chocolate that I like that the Arusha Shoppers' had been out of, and a new flavour of Doritos, as well as a few other things that I picked up.  

Below, some of the items in the bakery at Shoppers.  I'm not sure Americans would always recognize things that are labeled American, and I'm not sure they quite understand the meaning of the word pie, but they tried.  We decided to just buy some snacks to eat for supper rather than trying to find a restaurant, especially as the Allisons are older and trying to wear masks when in public spaces when it's necessary to be in public.  I bought a little mini pizza (edible) and a spring roll (not edible), and I have some bananas as well as the chips and chocolate I bough just to stock up, so I've got plenty to munch on if I want it.

We stayed the night at the Zebra Lodge, which the Allisons had stayed at on a previous trip and liked.  It was clean and comfortable and had a gated area to park, so it was fine, although my shower didn't work.  I was looking forward to a real shower since I take showers with a bucket at home, but oh well. 

We checked in and sat around reading on the front patio for a while, but we still had a nice afternoon and we weren't ready to eat the snacks we'd bought at Shoppers for our supper yet, so we went on a walk through the nearby neighbourhood.  

Here's my room for the night.  It was nice to be in a city, as I had really good phone service.  I never could quite figure out the lights, though; the bathroom had a normal light, but the room seemed to only have an odd red bulb (trust me, it's not the red light district ;) ).  The room had an air conditioner, but it didn't seem to actually be cooling much, but it also had a ceiling fan which was plenty to be comfortable. I had a pretty good night, and we'll be up for the provided breakfast tomorrow and then drive back to Monduli.

Road-tripping to Moshi

Well, today I went on a little road trip to Moshi (three hours' drive one way) with a car full of Tanzanian friends.  We all had some business there, and so we carpooled.  Moshi is a nice city; I've visited there a couple of times before.  It's the city closest to Kilimanjaro, right at its foot, really, but it was too cloudy to get any good views of the mountain today.  

We had a couple of stops for car issues: getting gas, checking the oil and adding more, fixing a puncture in a tire, etc.  Such is life on the roads here.  Fortunately, all the issues were easily fixed and didn't slow us down much at all.

  

We stopped for lunch at friendly-looking place on the edge of Moshi.  Here's another good look at typical Tanzanian food for you--the guys shared a platter of roast goat meat along with ugali.  I was really craving chapati (kind of like thick, fried tortillas), so I ordered some to eat with roast chicken and pilipili (handmade hot sauce).  Add coca-cola all around, and it's a great meal!  Also something nice about Tanzania--a good lunch for five cost about $15. 

Above: Beth and I had added air to the tire several times, but it kept going flat again.  Albert stopped at Lake Oil to have them fix the puncture once and for all. 

Driving back into Monduli, we realized we had just missed a major downpour.  We had very little rain on us on our trip, but dark clouds were just leaving Monduli and the ditched were full to overflowing.  Just outside of Monduli we came across a place where water was flowing over the road; the car got doused with quite a wave of muddy water as we passed through it.  

I was keeping the car (I have a lockable gate, so I've been keeping the Shorts' car that they haven't sold yet until Lewis is able to return to sell it), so we made the rounds of Monduli dropping everyone off.  It had just gotten dark by the time Jackson (who lives somewhere nearish) and I reached my neighborhood.  I was afraid my road would be a complete mess after the heavy rain, especially as they just did major work to move the road over several feet and straighten it out just a few days ago.  When we got there, a gravel truck was dumping a new load of rocky dirt onto the new road, and several guys were out shoveling it out on the road as it began to drizzle again.  The old road is still there just to the right of the new road; we tried driving along it so as not to disturb those working, but it quickly became so deep with mud that we backed out of it. I was going to turn around and go park the car at Beth's and walk home from there, but Jackson insisted that we could make it through as soon as they finished shoveling, and jumped out to help shovel.  Sure enough, after a few minutes the pile of rocks and dirt was smoothed enough that I made it through with the car.  

I think it might need washed, though.  

Waiting at the Gate

Looking back at the school gate from the road.

I'm leaving work before dark! It doesn't happen often, as I usually stay at the school to keep the library open until the students go to dinner at 6:30, and it gets dark pretty quick after that.  Today, though, I really needed to run some errands in town, including buying fruit and vegetables at the market, which closes at dark, so I managed to escape a bit early.  It wasn't easy; anytime the students see me packing up they suddenly have ten more questions and three more urgent crises, which is why I usually leave while they're eating. I did it, though!  It was a beautiful evening, so I took a few pictures as I waited out by the road for my boda boda (motorcycle taxi).

Looking down the road towards town.

Looking up the road, up the mountain to Monduli Juu.

My Road

Well, the rainy season still isn't my favorite.  I know, I know, I'm being whiny.  At least it's convenient to know almost all the rain will be confined to certain times of the year.   I've tried explaining how weather usually works in climates with four seasons to my students, and they are rather amazed by the fact that it could just...rain...any time at all.  It could be sunny today and rainy tomorrow, or the temperature could change drastically, or all sorts of things.  Here, weather reports aren't much of a thing because the weather is pretty predictable.  In the dry season it will be dry (it rains just a little maybe once a month or so, sometimes), and in the rainy season, it's going to rain hard at some point during the day. 

It really wouldn't be so bad except for how difficult it makes it to get around.  I have mud boots, but even so, the mud is like walking on ice. My road is one big mudhole, and there aren't any sidewalks to get around it.  Cars slide, too.  I have managed not to actually fall in the mud yet, but I know it'll happen eventually!  

Easter Break: Shuttle bus from Arusha to Nairobi

From the bus window: the scenery just north of Mt. Meru, driving from Arusha towards the Kenyan border

Here in Tanzania, most schools close for a two week break around Easter, and I’ve been looking forward to it.  Over a long weekend in the middle of the two weeks, most of the missionaries associated with churches of Christ here in Tanzania are heading up to Nairobi, Kenya for an Intermission Retreat.  Missionaries from all over East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi) are coming.  I’ll explain a lot more about Intermission when I write about the conference itself, but for now, let me tell you about the days leading up to it.  

Local Maasai women walking along in northern Tanzania

Most of the crowd from Monduli and Kisongo are driving up on Wednesday (it’s about a seven-hour drive), and then the conference will start on Thursday afternoon. However, I decided to head up a bit early since school is out and I’ve never spent time in Kenya other than at airports.  The first thing most people think of to do in Kenya is to go on game drives in one of the National Parks, especially in the Maasai Mara (the Kenyan half of the same reserve as the Serengeti), but that area of Kenya is not that far as the crow flies from where I live in Monduli and is a similar landscape.  Also, we’re going out to a park on Saturday as a group from the conference.  I wanted something different. 

Maasai sheep herders out on the open savannah north of Arusha

When people think of beaches and tropical coastlines, Kenya is usually not the first country on the list, but it does, in fact, have miles of beautiful beaches.  Now, I like beaches, but I get bored after a day if there’s nothing further to do than just sit on a beach.  I found Lamu, an island with hundreds of years of history and a unique culture. 

Getting somewhere is rarely quick here in Africa, so I broke this trip into two stages. Today, I took the afternoon bus from Arusha to Nairobi.  Beth, Michela, and the kids drove me into Arusha, and we stopped for lunch (at one of my favorite places, our one-and-only Mexican restaurant) and a bit of shopping before my bus at 2.  The bus usually take around six hours, depending on how long the lines are at the border and whether there’s traffic going into Nairobi.  

From the bus window: there are a few small, rocky mountains near the border

The drive isn’t bad; it goes mostly through countryside and the scenery north of Mt Meru towards the border is beautiful in a stark, wide-open sort of way.  We ran through some rain just out of Arusha, but the sky was clear by the time we reached the border. 

I splurged a bit and got a place to stay for the night; I've slept in plenty of airports, but tomorrow I'm flying out of the domestic airport, which I've never been to, and I found a fairly expensive place not too far out.

The rest area that the bus from Arusha to Nairobi always stops at, just over the Kenyan border

I saw a rainbow as we drove through southern Kenya

Southern Kenya in the afternoon light

Southern Kenya from the bus window

Driving through a small town in southern Kenya 

My guesthouse room in Nairobi