Thursday, July 4
Mtae, Tanzania
We get up early for the walk to Mtae, and the viewpoint beyond it, which sits at
the end of the ridge. On the way, we see lots of woman walking the other
way, heading back to Songa for market day. They carry all manner of stuff
on their heads, especially cassava and locally brewed beer.
As we get closer to Mtae, we notice that all of the
kids are carrying fairly large stones on their heads. It turns out to be
"bring-a-stone-to-school-on-your-head day" because the school was going to use
the stones to line the path coming into the school.After dropping our things at a guesthouse, we walk another couple of hours out to the viewpoint, which has a spectacular 270 degree view. We can see across the Kenyan border, and apparently on a clear day, which it was not, you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro. We climb up on a big rock to enjoy the view and attract a group of kids.
Back in Mtae, as we we watch the sunset, we hear a group of
women singing. Mwisho tells us that they were going to welcome a new baby
and bring gifts of firewood, food, and other things for the new mother.
They would all go to the mother's house, where they'd continue singing and
drinking locally brewed beer. At the same time, we can hear two cows
mooing back and forth to each other, as well as local kids playing frisbee with
the English students, who had walked all the way there.
We go to bed early so we can get up for the 4:00 a.m. bus to Arusha. We're up at 3:45 and on the bus by 4:00. The bus is jammed before we leave Mtae; by the time we get back to Lushoto around 7:30, it is completely packed. We get our bags from the Tourism Office, say good-bye to Mwisho, and then head to Arusha.
We spend spend most of the 11 hour trip studying the Lonely Planet and planning our meals for the 36 hours that we'll spend in Arusha before leaving for our Kilimanjaro trek. While we like the African food quite a bit, it gets a little monotonous, and we're ready for something different. The ride to Arusha, unfortunately, is one of the least scenic that we've seen -- mostly flat land, and lots and lots of litter.
Friday, July 5: Arusha, Tanzania -- Palm Inn
Saturday, July 6: Arusha, Tanzania -- The Outpost Bed & Breakfast
We had heard that Arusha is very touristy, that the touts are aggressive, and that the bus station is dangerous. As we pull into the bus station, several guys board the bus, and tell us that they are from the bus company, that they have been put on the bus to protect the tourists, and offer to drive us to the hotel of our choice, for free. They start in on the scare tactics, telling us not to walk in the bus station, and to watch our wallets. We sense a scam, but we're tired, so we take our chances. Sure enough, they try to sell us safaris and Kili trips, but when they find out we're already booked, they still take us to our guesthouse, free of charge, in a brand new Landrover -- not a bad deal!
We're staying at the Palm Inn, a decent budget hotel, not too far from the bus station. Compared to where we've been recently, we're living large. We have electricity, our own bathroom with a hot shower, and we are able to get our laundry done. We head off for dinner at PizzaArusha, which claims to be the "best damn pizza in Africa," and may well be right. The pizza is excellent, and the bananas in custard sauce are out-of-this-world. The next day, we have breakfast at The Patisserie, a French bakery run by Indians. We order so much we can't eat it all -- a first for us. The samosas are excellent; the croissants, while tasty, leave something to be desired in the flakiness department. After breakfast, we move over to the Outpost Bed & Breakfast because our tour operator, IntoAfrica, is paying for our room. At $35 for the room, this is by far the most expensive place we've stayed so far. Set somewhat out of town and with pleasant grounds, it is a relaxing place to spend a few nights. Next on our agenda is lunch at the Everest Chinese Restaurant: hot and sour soup, deep fried whole fish with chili sauce, and fried rice. We're in heaven. And while we're very much enjoying all that Arusha has to offer, we realize we've become very accustomed to paying African prices. Having paid no more than 70 cents for a half liter beer throughout our travels, we're incensed at having to pay the "tourist" price of $1.20.
We're nervous about not having enough warm clothes for the Kilimanjaro trek, but we've heard that it is easy to buy used clothes at the market. After lunch, we wander through town to an enormous market. After looking around for a while, we spot a stall that has a huge, bright yellow, very warm looking parka. As soon as we ask to see it, we are surrounded by more sales help than at Saks Fifth Avenue. Randy likes the yellow jacket, but there's nothing in that stall small enough for me. Several of the guys run off to other stalls and return with a selection of jackets. I choose one, and then we ask about scarves. Before we can turn around, they've returned with several brightly-colored, knitted, acrylic scarves -- not particularly fashionable, but they'll keep us warm. We duck into the stall to negotiate with the owner. When we come to an agreement ($20 each for the parkas, and the scarves thrown in for free), we emerge to a round of applause and high-fiving all around. I can't help but wonder whether we've overpaid.
 |
 |
 |
This is enough activity for us; it's time to eat again. For dinner, we go to Spices and Herbs Ethiopian restaurant, which has delicious food and a very pleasant atmosphere. After dinner, we go back to the Outpost to organize our gear for the Kili trek. We're very excited, but also concerned about how we'll be affected by the altitude, how cold it will be, and whether we'll make the summit.