Arusha, Uzunguland

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It took me awhile, but I discovered why I didn't like Arusha. Don't get me wrong - it's a very nice city, especially for tourists. However, Arusha seemed too Western for me. At night, the streets are lit by street lamps. 10 minutes from the center of town looks like a leafy-green suburb. There are some things that scream "Tanzania" like the main market and the horrendous driving skills, but in general I found the city unsettling. An excuse for this may be the presence of a large United Nations contingent.

The United Nations is in Arusha for the sole purpose to prosecute the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) occupies a space right next door to the Arusha Conference Center. In fact, huge staff meetings like the one that was happening while we were there take place in the center's auditorium. Anyway, the ICTR is fascinating. We met with an Italian man who has worked there since the beginning of the UN mandate. Several times during our meeting he realized that he might have divulged confidential information. Whoops. He didn't seem too perplexed by it. As he told us, this information will be useful for us Georgetown students as we go on to things that require us to improve on the ICTR. Funny man.

After several hours in the ICTR (including seeing a courtroom where visitors aren't allowed and browsing the cool library), we left into the freezing, drizzling weather. Everyone told us how nice Arusha's weather is, but it was absolutely miserable for us. After a quick lunch, we went to the main market. The main market is set up like Kigoma but with the craziness of Kariakoo. Nice mix. We spent 30 minutes there and then left and found the artisan's market. I got myself some things. Sweetness.

We spent a long time in the market but eventually left. We were going to meet Angela's host sister in front of the main post office, so we sat on the wall right outside of it. Nobody was there when we arrive, but within five minutes, 15 guys had come by. At first we were skeptical but after talking with them awhile, we realized that they simply had nothing else to do. It was a lot of fun practicing my Swahili again and they seemed impressed with how much we knew. So in that respect I liked Arusha better than Dar because we were never just talked to in Dar.

For dinner, we went to a very good Ethiopian restaurant (recommendation: Spices & Herbs). I asked for chicken in the least spicy sauce they had. The waitress seemed like she understood. Well, my meal ended up being one of the spiciest on the table. Even people who like spicy agreed. And Ethiopian food is usually spicy to begin with. Whoops #2 of the day.

#3 happened just after. We need to get back to our hotel but didn't know any taxi drivers. So we walked it. As previously stated, at least the road is lit. But still, it wasn't a great idea. Especially since a police car was driving slowly parallel to us. We were a bit scared that they would stop us for some fake law, but we made it through okay, thankfully.

Wednesday night was bittersweet because we lost three of our family. David is doing independent travel around East Africa and Leah and Angela are going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Eleven is now down to eight.

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