Mary leaves

Post Mary/ Weird things Mary does

Over the past six weeks I have had the privilege of getting to know my co-traveller, Mary. We are both from the same University and took the risky decision to go to Tanzania together despite not knowing each other at all previously. It has been a fantastic shared experience but nonetheless Mary has taken the decision to return home one week before schedule, allegedly to have more time with her family before the next academic year begins. It’s okay though because I am very familiar with women leaving me. 

Mary mentioned a while back that, shockingly, she had never read my blog. I expect that she never will – so it’s a safe place to record some of my observations of the nuances of her behaviour without fear of her finding out: 

- Mary is rightly very cautious about the dangers of unsafe drinking water – she has avoided tap water religiously for the entire trip. She instead has been drinking exclusively Serengeti brand lager, 8 bottles a day, plus extra for washing fruits and vegetables with. She’s a mean drunk.

- In addition she been vigilant in preventing disease from insect bites, having fashioned a burqa-esque garment out of mosquito netting that she insists on  wearing at all times.

- She has attempted to kidnap several African children from the hospital and orphanage, but thankfully gave up interest when she couldn’t fit them in her suitcase.

- Admirably Mary quickly became very proficient at Kiswahili, but communication is not completely problem-free as she refuses to pronounce any consonants.

Some of the above facts might not be completely true. However, what is definitely true is that I enjoyed our evolution from strangers to friends and will miss my companion as I continue alone, not least because I have eaten her leftover food at every meal for the past 42 days (yes, I am a glutton.) Further, for 42 days Mary has reminded me to take my anti-malarials, and also saved me by lending me money when I lost my debit card. 

I’ll quickly jot down my few days without my sidekick so far. I left from Zanzibar early on Sunday morning as Mary was preparing to spend her last African day dolphin watching. I took a comfortable ferry, a couple of taxis and a long uncomfortable bus to get to Morogoro by the evening time. I’m reassuringly quite sure that I am indeed staying at the cheapest hotel in town; the surly owner speaks no English and there is only very infrequently running water. On a few occasions I have been locked out of the place as the owner insists on taking my key if I go out, and then disappearing for long periods. 

I got chatting to an excellent local guy, Joseph, who has been invaluable showing me around. He fills his time working as an unofficial (uncertificated) tour guide and I opted to follow him up the mountain on Monday. Joseph, casually wearing jeans, genuinely couldn’t understand why I was so slow and sweaty on the way up, he often runs up the mountain to buy cheaper vegetables. The path was dubious in places but the views where spectacular. Joseph is unbelievably chatty and enthusiastic and talked pretty much non-stop. When we got back he introduced me to his family at his house and we had an truly excellent ginger-tea/coffee brew, (one could call it toffee. Or key). I joined him to watch Spain-Portugal in a local bar later.

Today I explored more of the town and I spent some of the afternoon reading in the poshest hotel in town. This has to be the main thing I’ve learnt from Tanzania – I’ve often spent the night in a terrible hotel for no money and then used all of the facilities at expensive hotels for free. I also made two trips daladala to the central bus station outside of town. The first attempt was unsuccessful, I was hassled by hustlers and I eventually found that the bus company  I was looking for no longer exists (I have annotated my guidebook for future reference), but Joseph came on the second and easily found me an alternative ticket, hopefully I’ll eventually get to Tanga and meet up with Laura and Rhi.

Tomorrow I’m doing more hiking in the Uluguru mountains, a different route further and higher than yesterday. I eventually decided not to continue with my planned overnight stay in the mountains as to my great surprise camping in the village worked out five times more expensive than my current crummy hotel. Elsewhere in Tanzania staying with villagers is a good way to save money, but there is quite an established programme here whereby extra funds go towards conservation and local development – worthy causes I would like to support more. Unfortunately since losing my wallet I’m wary about spending in case the money (Mary’s) hidden in my shoe runs out before I can get to the airport next week, so I’m doing the slightly cheaper option with the same programme but have to walk faster to get the hike done in one day instead.

The uluguru mountains from
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18162682

A brief diversion

The blog has become stylistically stale. 

So here are some rubbish haiku about places in Tanzania.

Suffocating hill

women work the hot wild slopes

near Morogoro

- - -

Lost in stone alleys

grilled octopus at sunset

ships go sailing by

- - -

Tall ugly buildings

where busy rich people hide

dirt and crime are here

- - -

Doctors work nearby

clouds cover your snowy peak

and mosquitoes too

- - -

Quiet fishing village

the sea nuzzles close

and contentedly

- - -

Centre of nowhere

proud capital half-finished
many ways to leave

Uluguru Mountains, Stone town, Dar es Salaam, Machame, Gezaulole, Dodoma