Mon 1st Apr. Had a relaxing start to the day. Walked to the matatu stand. Was a bit early so stopped for chai na andazi. My 09:00 left after 10:00.. Uneventful 7 hours to Taveta. Stopped at Mtito Andei where I had 2 samosas and a tea for lunch. I had a front seat so had a very good close up view of an elephant on the side of the road on the Tsavo section.
Met Joseph for drinks at Matumu bar.
Tues 2nd. I had nothing planned so I decided to cycle up to the border and cross to Holili for Kiti moto. I was very lucky and missed a torrential downpour after I reached Holili and after I got back to Taveta.
I met my friend Michael at Leah’s bar…not planned, so a nice surprise..
Wednesday to Saturday were just normal routines. I cleaned my room. I washed clothes and my bedsheet and was lucky that every time my washing dried before some heavy rain.
Meanwhile I was back to my usual food routine of either chapati or rice; maharage or pojo. On Friday I got drunk with Joseph over a large bottle of County. On Saturday we met to watch football at Utamaduni. Prior to that I watched some football at Matumu bar. I paid a 20bob debt from a month ago to Grace at Mwangaza (for a kiti moto I had there).
Otherwise, that was it…my normal rounds about town meeting and chatting with friends. Oh, I bought some more eye drops; the infection was almost clear. I bought 3 large bottles of County from the depot…much cheaper at 700bob each…nice to share. And changed 5,000ksh to Tsh. One gets 21Tsh to every 1Ksh now; a few months ago it was only around 17:1.
Sun Apr 7th. Before 09:00 I was at the border and cleared immigration just after 09:00. I walked up the road to the stage; a dala dala was already half full and within half an we were on our way. Hour and a half to Moshi. ..longer than usual mainly because of a 20 min stop by traffic police; the issue took longer to resolve than usual.
At least I arrived in Moshi in late morning. Fresh was closed due to Ramadan so I went to Aroma Coffee for a masala chai. From there I went to Kindoroko to check in. My ‘special’ room 102 wasn’t ready yet so I left my rucksack and went to carry out my tasks. Drew out money. Got 5,000bob’s worth of Airtel Internet bundles. Went to a couple of travel agents to ask about flights to Mafia. I thought I would be checking prices, but was surprised to be told there were no flights between Moshi/Arusha and Mafia Island. Oh well my decision was made for me and I would have to take the road route after all. Bought a bottle of water. Bought 2 bananas as I was getting quite hungry. I checked that Kaka’s would be open later; in fact being Sunday early afternoon, it was already open.
Back to my room 102. I showered then went to the Police Mess about 15:45. Catherine joined me an hour later. But by 5:15 I had to head for Kaka’s; on the way I stopped in a mini supermarket near the Stand and bought a good sized bag of chevda for 3,000 which I thought was a good price.
Arrived Kaka’s at 5:30 as the premiere league match was starting. So I sat upstairs watching football and enjoying my tandoori chicken when eventually it arrived. Nice evening. I got to Awara bar around 8:00 when the Spurs game was kicking off. I watched the whole match and walked around the corner to the hotel at about 10pm.
After much deliberation I decided to go to Arusha and go anticlockwise to Mbeya and L Nyasa and Lindi, and on to Mafia. I didn’t fancy a long bus ride to Dar and ending up at the Magufuli terminal and then reaching Riki Hill by late afternoon. On top of that I would have to get across Dar to the Stage from where dala dalas head south. Then arriving at Bungu and getting a shared taxi to Nyamisati and probably having to stay there the night and catch the morning ferry. All too complicated. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep and not having to get going particularly early.
Mon 8th. The Kindoroko is becoming more meagre…perhaps I was the only guest. Just enough cereals, and stupidly, the dispenser was facing back to front. The toaster switch was facing the wall…minor things!!
It was drizzling slightly, so used my umbrella on the short walk to the stand. I went for the 4,000bob coaster rather than the 5,000 bus !! Slightly uncomfortable ( a bit of a squeeze) on the fold down aisle seat, until I was able to switch to a window seat about half way to Arusha. Annoying 20 minutes police roadblock stop made the trip longer than necessary but still arrived by late morning.
I checked into the Williams Inn Htl at 25,000. I got confirmation from Steve (tours) that he was around and quick marched to Shoppers for a quick catch-up. I had a masala chai then went to where the bus booking offices are and bought a Machame bus ticket to Iringa for 46,000 (about 15 Gbp).
Returned to the hotel; the shower passed the test of strength and hint of warmth. Off I went out again…I bought 2 samosas from a street stall; a big water; a 10,000 internet bundle top up; and drew out 600,000 (200Gbp), so have funds to last a while.
I contacted Edgar and said I’d be at Cold Pub by 4pm. I got the thumbs up from him. However it was 2 and a half hours before he turned up at the Pub. I relaxed with a couple of beers until he arrived; nice to see him but we only had a rushed 30 minutes to chat.
We left Cold Pub together, then I went up towards my hotel. But first I visited Slope bar where I went with Terry last month. Now that I know what I’m looking for (Terry pointed out who was doing what), the prostitutes are very obvious. Have never stayed in a part of a town like that one in Arusha. It makes for a lively evening out. From there I went to the other bar..Mrinas?..before heading back to Williams Inn just after 8pm. A nice break in Arusha before my bus trip to Iringa.