Day 9: Arusha

The main mechanized mode of transportation in Tanzania seems to be small motorcycles or motos of uncommon brands (Lingkin, Skygo, Toyo, etc.) although there are plenty of buses - both big and small - as well as, of course, large slow-moving trucks grinding their way up the grades. A couple of communities are buzzed by a number of small three-wheeled motorcycle “tuk-tuks” for hire but these are not common elsewhere. Most of the trucks and busses sport odd English names across their windshields: the "Obama Air" bus, the "Weekend Love" or "Reality Bites" truck, the "Hollywood City" mini bus, etc. Bicycles are also common although most people seem to travel on foot with many of the women stately balancing - with the gait and grace of runway models - large plastic buckets or baskets of goods or even bundles of firewood on their head (check out the two women in the photo, the one on the left is on her cell phone while her friend carries a bunch of bananas on her head). Women generally wear long wrap-around skirts with nice tops and often with their hair wrapped up in a scarf. Men wear long pants and collared sport shirts with the occasional sport coat thrown in for good measure. We are repeatedly amazed at how clean and neat they keep their clothing in rather dirty, dusty, and even muddy conditions. Once you get out to the small farms in the rural areas, the clothes, particularly on the kids, becomes much more dirty and raggedy. The most common footwear are cheap plastic sandals although some people make their own from cut motorcycle tires and rubber straps. There is lots of hustling and bustling along the road wherever we go. Hair salons and bars seem to be the most common enterprises, I suppose they are relatively inexpensive to start up and maintain, but there are also many shoe shine stalls (that also sell rubber sandals for those without shoes), roadside fruit sellers, even people selling small bundles of charcoal in crumpled paint cans. Note the photo of the "Hillary Clington Shop" and the "Obama Hair Cuting Saloon" with the termite mound in front and the Masaai mingling outside. As for light manufacturing, there are a number of small cement works, metal fabricators, and furniture shops. These are all easily recognized by the men working in front of the shops with shovels, saws, hand planes and the like. Interspersed among the shops are small plots of corn, herds of goats, and the occasional cow.

We were supposed to head up to spend two nights at the Mt. Kilimanjaro View Lodge tonight but we didn't quite make it. Bone got us up to within two kilometers of the lodge when we passed some road construction and the maroon dirt road got so greasy muddy we were worried we would end up in the river below. Through one particularly dangerous stretch point we had to disembark while a group of local kids gleefully ran alongside the vehicle pushing it up the steep sections and keeping the back end from sliding down the steep ravine and into the river. At this point, we decided to turn back. We maybe could have made it to the Lodge but we were worried we could be stuck there as a result of further predicted rains. The Osterbergs were a bit surprised to see us get out of the Land Rover when Bone pulled up back at the Ilboru Safari Lodge but we all enjoyed a drink and a snack before Bone turned around to bring them to the airport.