What a fun weekend. Plenty of friends and visits to the Railway Bar for beers & views of Kilimanjaro at sunset, Local Bar for Konyagi, Haria bar for live music and a club for some late night dancing. Has been a while since I stayed up until the early hours, so yesterday I was feeling a little delicate – nothing that a Coke Zero and some chips couldn’t sort, though!
It was my third time in Moshi during my travels. Even the first time I was there, it felt familiar and that feeling has only increased during my following visits. The town has everything you need, but it’s still Africa… there’s plenty of nature a short drive out of town… and the people are ace! I love the mixture of cultures all in one place. You can wake up to the sounds from the nearby mosque, have a chat with a few Maasai in traditional dress and see the confident swagger of young, modern Africans walking down the street.
So I was a little sad to wave goodbye this morning but excited at the same time to see some more of Tanzania. It was an early start… Carelynn and I got on a 6am bus heading south to Iringa, starting our 14 hour journey.
Needless to say it was not a state of the art bus, but I’d rate it ‘average’ in terms of comfort. And there were no goats or chickens onboard so that was a bonus! It even had a TV which showed random films; first one was a Nigerian production with terrible acting and narration in Swahili followed by The A Team.
At every stop there were scores of people selling things, holding baskets and boxes of snacks, drinks and useful stuff like whistles and towels up to the windows.
Our driver was pretty solid although he didn’t have a lot of respect for speed bumps… auch! And that, together with having a mother and child in the seat next to me, made sleeping impossible. The little girl liked my iPad, but when she all of a sudden were deleting my emails, I had to reclaim it!
We drove through a few bigger towns on the way… Arusha, Kondoa – which was home to the fantastically named Climax Hotel – and we reached the sister capital city of Dodoma at 4pm. Ten hours down… Sore bum! With just an hour before reaching Iringa, the little girl’s brother vomited all over his mother and me! 🤢 Lowlight of the day!!
But otherwise it was quite an uneventful journey – I spent most of the time listening to music whilst looking at the country whizzing by…thinking.
And with the days seemingly flying by, I guess it’s inevitable that my thoughts have more often been turning to London. I wonder how I’ll feel about being back in the city and back at work… so many of the things that mattered before, don’t any more and there are a few things that matter a hell of a lot more now than they ever did. It has been important to have the time and space to really reflect on what makes me happy.
I have learnt so much about myself – about what I am capable of (and what I am not!), about my willingness to take risks, to be spontaneous & vulnerable and generally about my priorities in life. And I hope, I have also become a better person…
BETINA IN AFRICA 