Christmas in Moshi

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I almost forgot that it was Christmas. Dates and holidays seemed less relevant when you are not surrounded by friends and family. The only signs of Christmas at Moshi were the plastic trees and the annoying "jingle bell" song played over and over again at the hotel lobby.

I set out to explore the town a bit with Sherry this morning. Madhu and I met Sherry during the bus ride from Nairobi. Sherry is one of the 28 people on the bootsnall Kilimanjaro/Safari tour.

The people greeted us with "jambo" (hello). One little boy came up and sang "happy birthday" to me (it was not my birthday).

The streets were dusty. The air was hot and humid. We turned the corner and came upon the local market bustling with open stalls selling everything from produce, healing cream to batteries.

At night we met up with several other people from the bootsnall group and ate dinner at the Indoitaliano (yup Indian and Italian food) restaurant, right across from the Buffalo Hotel. The pizza was suprisingly delicious.

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One thing that suprised me was the sight of seeing hundreds of Indians dressed in their traditional clothing walking in Moshi. There is a large community of Indians in Moshi and Arusha (another big town about 1 hour away).

About two blocks from the hotel stood a large Hindu temple. The temple was celebrating its 50th anniversary that week. When asked if we can take a look inside, the people there graciously offered to give us a tour.

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50 cent is very popular in Moshi. I saw at least five people wearing shirts with 50 cent on them. Barber shops also featured prominent rappers.

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