A disastrous trip

Friday July 24th Well, what a day! It started slowly, no-one apart from Bruce seemed to be in any hurry to get up, and eventually I had to ask him to settle down, he was getting me uptight! Breakfast was sooty peanuts and slimy pawpaw at 7. Michael hadn't as yet appeared, and the taxi was due in twenty minutes! We waited for him to join us, and he looked very surprised to see us still sitting there at 10 past, he’d forgotten all about food! Pic: Bibi & Mama Lucia outside the 'new' house.
Just as well the taxi was a little late, Jeremia had had to walk to Nzega to get it as the driver didn’t know the way to bibi’s. We were a bit surprised to see no bus waiting at the bus stand as it was supposed to leave at 8 sharp! Eventually we were told it had broken down on the way from Mwanza, but would arrive at 8.30. Michael jokingly said it wouldn’t come till 10!
Well, it hadn't come by 10 so we started discussing the possibility of getting a refund and finding another bus. Michael wanted to arrive before dark and Jeremia said we’d need to leave by 11! No-one was talking much, Michael kept wandering around the bus station. At one point he hugged Jeremia, asking, “Why are you so cold & your heart beating so fast?” “Mama’s running away, and I want her to stay & stay & stay....!” It was quite sad. He was going to return to Igunga later that day.
Well, we had to wait & wait & wait – until 11.45, when the bus pulled in and there was a mad dash to load up the luggage and push passengers on board. I delayed getting on to give Michael time to stow our bags away underneath the bus, aided by Jeremia who came up to say a last goodbye. Michael was only just in time, we were almost pushed up the stairs by the conductor!
It was sad, we couldn’t sit together again - it was a smaller bus, the seats were in pairs not threes. However, Michael sat behind us, and little Michael sat on my lap.
We stopped just after Igunga, they opened up the panel behind the driver’s seat to access the motor. Bruce was really worried by the hissing sound as they added water to the radiator, he thought we had or would get a cracked cylinder head!
The stop at Singida was only for 10 minutes, hardly time for anyone to get to the loo, so we just stayed on board.
I'd been told it’d be tarmac roads all the way to Dar, but after Singida, it was back to rough sand and dirt. The roads will be nice one day, there’s a major roading project as far as Dodoma. The new road’s being built to one side of the old one, some parts had already been tarmacked by prison gangs. We were only allowed on one brief stretch near Manyoyi.
The scenery near Singida and Dodoma is fantastic, there are amazing rock formations: huge crags and gigantic rounded rocks looking like they’d just been dropped from heaven!
Just after one of several weigh-stations near Dodoma, a helmeted policeman, waiting on a motorcycle at a police checkpoint, came on board to accompany us! At first I thought it was just a routine things, but it soon became apparent we were in trouble!
After stopping in the large car park outside the Dodoma police station, the driver and crew went off, with no announcements made re how long we’d be there. There were a few kiosks selling food, but no sign of public conveniences, and I was feeling uncomfortable.
After asking Michael if there were toilets, I thought he said no, and then he got off the bus. I was a little worried we’d have to stay in Dodoma as it was now 6 p.m., and public transport doesn’t normally run after dark in Tanzania
Bruce and I stood up to rest our weary behinds, but I got too desperate so went outside to see Michael, and was very relieved when Michael pointed around the corner – wondering why on earth he hadn’t come back to the bus to let me know!
Once I returned, I asked if he knew how long we’d be there and why we'd stopped – well, apparently the bus driver, well-known to the police, had been arrested for some minor misdemeanour on the way, and no-one knew how long it would take to get him released!
While Michael took little Michael to the toilet, one of the bus crew came out of the police station to tell the group of passengers standing around to go into the office, but he specified men only much to my relief, I was the only woman outside and there was no way of letting Michael know. I was more relieved that the man hadn't told everyone on the bus to get off.
When Michael returned, I told him what had happened, standing in full view of the three officers at the desk indoors. I don’t know whether the sight of a stranded Mzungu standing outside quietly made them relent or whether the men had had to pay a bribe – but they all trooped back out again, telling us to re-board the bus, we were off! It was great news, although by now it was nearly dark.
We reached Morogoro about 10 p.m., then the outskirts of Dar around 1 a.m., everyone dozing between stops. Just before each stop, the lights would be switched on & the destination announced to the sleepy passengers.
We were very glad to disembark at 1.20, waiting for the bags to be offloaded – somehow they’d switched sides on the way - then went by car to the guest house, which unfortunately had only a double room available, no singles. The two Michaels walked off into the dark back to his little room. Our bed might have fitted three but not all four!
We were glad the staff agreed to look after our bags the next day till the afternoon and to let us pay the next day. We needed a bank or ATM, we didn't have enough cash left and had an afternoon flight!

Off to Arusha

Thursday July 16th We were up at 7 and went outside to wait for Michael as usual, then Ntarula came out, hearing us talking, and told us Michael had already gone to Rosa's, so we went together to look for him. He was outside cleaning his teeth!
At breakfast, we were joined by another of the Mzee’s brothers, Saidi’s father, who’d come down the mountain for the day.
We went to the bus stand around 9, Michael had wanted to leave earlier, Rosa wanted us to delay! We were to take Michael mdogo with us too (pictured with mama + Bruce)!!
It seemed a long wait before we left in a battered old landrover. First Michael had to bargain over the price: the driver wanted to charge for little Michael, although small children normally travel free as they sit on a lap. It's always a bit nerve-wracking waiting, they keep on tooting the horn like they’re ready to go, then drive away to make a circuit of the village to try to find more passengers before returning to the bus stand. Our luggage stayed up on top without being tied on for ages, but once it was fastened, it was REALLY time to go.
We drove off the road into part of the village criss-crossing a drain + squeezing between trees to pick up a passenger from his house. Back on the ‘main road’ – a dirt track wide enough for 2 vehicles - we stopped to hoist a motorcycle onto the roof, it almost didn’t make it! We ended up with several people on the roof + hanging off the back door!
We'd been told Same was only 1/2 hour away, but we Took 1 ½ hours! It was a very rough road, the countryside a mixture of lush, wetter areas & dry thornbush-covered land. Little Michael was very proud to be coming with us, not at all concerned to be away from home, but he soon thought we’d already arrived!
Once in Same, we travelled down the dusty streets to gingerly cross a drain on wooden boards to arrive outside a mechanic’s workshop to drop off the motorbike. It took a bit of manoeuvring to reverse the Land Rover back onto the street, there was no room to turn round!
It took a while to find a bus with enough spare seats going to Arusha at the bus stand. We'd decided to stop there for the night instead of Moshi, to be able to visit Michael’s sister Evelina. We bought some bananas, biscuits, juice & water while we waited. Bruce + both Michaels sat in the back seat, but I had to sit by a rather sulky lady + young baby. It was nice to have tar-seal roads, although shortly after reaching a large town at noon, the bus broke down, just 28 kms from Moshi - a broken tie-rod.
Many got off the bus or stood up during the 25 minutes it took to fix it. Unfortunately my neighbour spilt juice on my seat, and I started to wonder if it was ‘accidentally on purpose!’ as she didn’t even want me to sit on the edge of the seat.
I was very pleased to be able to change seats after Moshi, where a lot of people disembarked, and Michael even came over to sit next to me and chatted the rest of the way to Arusha!
I was very impressed by Moshi, it's very clean & beautiful – the only part of Tanzania to have anti-litter laws! This region is lush & green, there are lots of good crops & trees, very unlike many other parts we passed through.
We arrived in Arusha about 3.30, and Michael left us with the bags + little M to buy tickets to Nzega + find a taxi to take us to a guest house. We then went to a nearby ATM, as we didn't have enough cash for both the tickets + a guest house. The glass cubicle was guarded by an armed man sitting inside a small room with a roll-up door. As the taxi was waiting, I only briefly checked the money, and later on found the last 3 notes were only 5,000 Tsh each instead of 10,000!
The guest house was nice, quite close to the bus stand in a very quiet street. We were glad to put on our sweaters before going by daladala to Eve's. The busy streets were lined with people selling wares, and we even saw 6 Europeans!
Once off the daladala, we walked along a narrow, raised dirt pavement alongside a deep drain, and stopped at a small shop to ask where Evelina was; Michael had expected to see her selling corn but she’d gone home early.
We went through a dirty alleyways, stepping over a smelly drain to enter a gate in a tall mud brick wall. Eve’s was the last on the left in a small alleyway between 2 buildings. 2 small boys, Joshua & David, came out from the opposite curtained doorway to greet us, then Mary (Evelina’s step-mother - Boniface has remarried) invited us into her small living room: a bed on the right, 2 sets of chairs with a low table in the middle (not much leg-room!) + a large wall unit on the left. A second curtained doorway leads into another room. It's typical rental accommodation: you rent 1-2 rooms in a house and share an outdoor kitchen, choo & bafu.
We sat on the chairs, Michael on the bed, listening to Mary. She’d just got over being sick for a month, firstly a lung infection then a painful stomach. Eve entered without greeting us properly, rather reluctantly sitting next to Michael, who eventually got her to greet us in English, even to answer a couple of questions + count to 100! She likes school & is in Standard 4.
She was sent back out with the 2 boys to buy soft drinks; Bruce had fun trying to take the tops off with no opener! Betty (Mary’s teenage daughter from another marriage) came in with the pastor’s eldest daughter who's 19 and has excellent English. Her mother came round with her youngest son Tito (6), inviting us over for a chai afterwards, although her husband was still at church.
Boniface turned up later on his bicycle, he’d had trouble getting back from work as the roads were so busy. He’s a salesman. He’s very nice but isn’t a Christian, unlike his wife.
We all went to the pastor’s for chai, and were told it was the first time they’d had such visitors, other Wazungu have refused to come! How rude!
I tried to take a photo of Eve, her father + the rest, but the battery went flat & the spare one was in the guest house! That was sad, our only opportunity.
Both families accompanied us out to the street, we caught a daladala with Boniface back to the guesthouse, then he left us at a nearby café where we ate chicken/chips for tea – yummy! Little Michael ate an omelette with his & whilst we were waiting, we played with a marble on the tabletop! But it escaped & got lost!!!
We went to bed about 9.40, arranging to meet at 5 the next day for another early bus.