Rasta land!

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The north

To start from the beginning we didn’t arrive straight from Moshi to the beach but started the travel in Dar es Salam by visiting a friend of the Sister. Her boyfriend currently works outside of Dar in Tegeta. We stayed at their place for three nights and had time for a daytrip northward to Bagamojo where we were to visit the Art College, an independent school for artistic education such as music, dance and artwork. Perfect for the Sister who is, for those who don’t know her, addicted to dancing. Meet a finish girl who studied there as well as Margaret, a Swedish lady we got to know at the festival on Zanzibar. Nice people who showed us around the place. At this time the semester for the school had just started, meaning that most classes and people would not arrive until next week... Therefore, since the Sister was interested in looking more into the possibility of taking some dance classes we made another trip up here five days later. This time not only did the Sister get to dance but we also bought some souvenirs, namely five yembe drums. Classic drums shaped like hourglasses made from coconut wood and goatskin with really impressive sound. Also I had the big spender pants on that day and decided to buy a very nice and moving painting I laid eyes on during our last visit. The same painting was later forgotten in the taxi when we were heading back to South beach (our place to stay in Dar es Salam). But thanks to Soud a.k.a shadow, one of our friends from last time, we managed to retrace our steps and regain this paining. This despite the fact that we didn’t know from where we had taken the taxi and also this being in a city housing the entire population of Sweden and god only knows how many taxi cars. Luck was a large part but mostly clever and trustworthy friends solved this Muzungus mistakes.




The beach

After this trip northward we got down to the beach, and to relive the extreme suspense I left you with the last time, the answer to the question is YES! For those joining in at this time the question just answered was whether the Rasta’s on the beach still smoked the ganja. Not really surprising but rather interesting and frightening at the same time. Not only the fact of what is a reasonable amount to ingest before getting behind the wheels of a car, but also the degradation of once own morale when you get into the same car as a stoned and drunk driver and let him take you to the ferry. Sorry mom! I will never do this again because it was a horror ride...

Anyway after arriving at South beach (Kipipeo) we checked in to Sunrise hotel and went next door to the local pub where we spent most of our days hanging out with the Rasta’s during our last visit. We were immediately recognized by Ali a.k.a. Coconut who remembered us clearly from two years ago. Some nice relaxing time with good beer and nice people awaited us here during the next days. I will however never get used to the question when ordering a beer if you would like it warm or cold. And note that this is not a fine porter were talking about but light pisswater-drink comparable to Pripps Blå. We soon decided after one day on the pricy Sunrise to move to the hotel behind this local bar for a third of the price, good choice. Unfortunately the only had three days for us before their rooms were fully booked and we had to move up into the village. But this second move came as a welcome not only due to frequent power outs leading to uncomfortably warm nights but also due to bed bugs leaving me looking like a needle cushion...

But I digress, to summarize the beach experience the following can be said; it’s relaxing and warm. Not much happens except the sea being a balmy 28 degrees on average, slightly colder in the mornings making this time suitable for exercise to avoid the sweltering heat of the daytime. However life relaxing was not an option for me being the restless soul I am. Therefore a number of trips and projects (Bagamojo above being one of them) have been undertaken. This resulted in a stay here that lasted longer than planed but I got a lot of things done so I’m still happy (22 days instead of the planned seven... tempus fugit!)



Morogoro

A town located “three” hours inland from Dar es Salam situated at beautiful mountains and with lush nature was one of the trips undertaken during this stay. The citation marks around the time estimate will from here forth be referring to the estimate in African time i.e. add anything between 1-48hours and you got the right time. The reason we went here was because we got to know two Norwegian and one Danish girl at the beach were they came for some relaxation time over the weekend. They were volunteering at Mehaio centre for disabled children. The sister and I decided it would be a nice thing to visit them at work and also good to get out of Dar for some days. The centre was wonderful, I mean kids in general (and I never thought I’d say this) are wonderful. And I have to make the distinction between kids here and kids back home, because here they smile a lot and are always happy while at home they are sorry little ingrates who don’t know how to behave. The centre itself was run by a nice old lady who mainly used volunteers to get things working. Unfortunately it’s difficult to find genuine volunteering these days since everything is turning into business. But I will not get started on this, if you want to hear my view on charitable giving and voluntary work give me a call when I’m back home and we’ll talk for a few hours ok? But in general the visit to Morogoro was good. Nice people, good food and the Saturday evening ending with a party at the local pub with a limbo competition. Great fun but I didn’t win, needless to say but anyway... The way back to Dar took shorter “three” hours than getting here in the first place thus arriving after four hours.



The shipping!!!

Here follows a brief interlude describing the hardship and pain (mostly mentally) of buying and shipping large souvenirs from here to Sweden. To start of the story in a good way my goal was to get some genuine designed furniture back home. Initially I hired a carpenter in Bagara to create the desired items for me. However after he’d spent six days in the forest trying to get the necessary material I got a call saying he could not get nor make the things I needed. Okay thanks, maybe you could have told me a bit earlier since by this time I was getting rather frustrated since my original plan was to be away from here in two days. So slightly frustrated and rather disappointed about having wasted this week for nothing I went to a carpenter closer to the place we were staying. Hired him on the 14^th of March 2012 to create what I wanted and with Coconuts help got everything started that very day. This quick carpenter named Chirumba finished everything four days later, with me working alongside mainly doing the finishing work like polishing. Also Chirumba built me a crate to ship everything in including the drums previously bought. And okay I know I said I should send a parcel to myself in each country I visited during this trip as a momentum of the journey but I think I will need to decrease the size of future packages. This one ended up measuring 2.5 cubic meters weighing in at approximately 300 kilograms. Rather interesting project thought to ship something that size from Africa to Sweden. The amount of approval forms and stamps I had to go through and get a hold of was ridiculous. Mind reeking frustration and repressed anger is proving itself worth it now that the crate is no longer in my hands. Estimated arrival to Gothenburg is two months.



This Is Africa (TIA)

Now we are approaching the end of this entry but I would like to leave you with my analysis of the famous expression TIA. In my opinion the usage of this is not racist in any way or in essence even negative but rather a statement of facts provided you use it correctly.

When you travel to Africa (now I’m making the generalization I actually despise referring to a continent as a country which is annoyingly common back home in statements such as: “you really travelling to Africa, but it’s so dangerous...”) you will encounter a mentality that is enormously different from the scheduled, planned and very structured way of thinking we have at home. This one fact is the basis for this expression and there is not much that can be done about it. You can’t come here like I did with a plan to create souvenirs in four days, get the paperwork for export ready in two days and the ship everything of and be done. And if you do you’re likely to dislike the place because nothing works and everything is horribly slow going. As annoying as this can be sometimes, take my advice, adapt to the pace down here and you will love it. This pace is something that to a degree should be incorporated into our way of life back home; I believe we could improve our mental health a great deal by living a little more and stop stressing over the rest of our lives.



“The bus might come today, or it might come tomorrow, what is another day in your life?”



Till next time friends, and then we’ll talk about the rainy season in eastern Africa…

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Photos

The sister
Birthday dinner, turned 25. Here with Shadow. A very good person indeed!

Coconut
A.k.a. Ali beating yembe on the beach

Me and some steel wool
Like a big hanging sparkler but spinning...

The Kidz are alright!
Two of the kids from the Mehaio centre for disabled children

At the market
With the two Norweigans Betina and Marie and the Danish Kirsten along with some kids

The sister
At Mehaio centre

Electrical safety
I think one or two at home would think twice before using power tools with this plugin...

At the workshop
Were me, Coco and the carpenters laboured in order to get the furniture reday for shipping