Iringa!

30 August 2008

Dar es Salaam to Iringa

Today we started the nest leg of our journey in Tanzania, our independent travel. I am still finding it hard to believe that we are starting travel. It feels like just yesterday I arrived in Tanzania and was afraid to go buy a banana in the market and today I start traveling. My group which is composed of Liz, Siri, Sara, Stacey and I are headed to Iringa. Iringa is supposedly a six to seven bus hour ride from Dar es Salaam, but due to T.F.T. the ride took nine hours. I thought that it was going to be really long and take forever to get there, but it went surprisingly fast. The bus stopped a few times in order to use the restrooms and get dinner. On our dinner stop we all had a hard time deciding whether or not to get food. We spent so much time in making the decision by the time we got the food it was time to get back on the bus. Luckily, the conductor of the bus realized that he was missing five people . . . we are very hard to miss. The drive was through the mountains and the outskirts of a national park. The mountains were covered in dead trees, which was such a contrast to the green foliage near the river. By the national park we got to see some elephants crossing the road and a few giraffes off in the distance. We arrived in Iringa after the sun had started to set so we had to hurry and find our hotel before it was completely dark. We ended up staying at the Lutheran Center for 5,000 shillings per person a night (roughly $4.50 USD). Since the Rough Guide had been published they renovated so they wanted to charge us 35,000 shillings a night for a room, but the receptionist was very helpful and told us that we should try to bargain with her and we were able to talk her down. I was so surprised at how inexpensive a hotel was. The room was really nice, three big queen sized beds and even warm water.

31 August 2008

Iringa

I am officially turning into a Tanzanian, or so Liz, and Stacey say so. I have this issue of staying awake. I am usually asleep by 9:00pm and get up at 6:30am. This is so different from when I am at home and only get a few hours of sleep a night or staying up till early hours in the morning and not waking up until the afternoon. I really like this new schedule, I feel like I can get more done in a day and overall feel more healthy and happy. I hope that I will be able to continue this when I get back to the United States, but I highly doubt that I will be able to just because the culture is so different. Anyways, the first thing we did this morning was try to find breakfast, this turned into somewhat of a challenge because it was Sunday and a lot of the places in the guide book were closed. We ended up walking around town until we found a Salama café a small cozy café that was open. They served the best chapatti I have had so far during my time in Tanzania. After breakfast we headed to the market, where this time unlike the first time in Arusha, I was not over whelmed and I had a good conversation with one of the vendors about all the different spices and how they were used. We continued walking through the different districts of town. Discovering it was broken up into separate areas for the fruit vendors, fabric, auto/household goods. Iringa reminds me of a small town in the United States it is so welcoming and relaxing. In the afternoon we decided to hike up to Gangilonga rock which is where an old chief used to go and meditate. According to the hand book all you have to do is start walking towards one end of town past the grain silos and you will see it “nestled in between two mountain peaks.” The two mountains ended up being more like hills and the rock was just that . . . a rock. We were not even sure if we were headed to the right rock since nothing is marked with signs, so we just started walking in the direction we thought it was. Impressively we all made it to the top. The only reason why I say this is impressive is because we were all wearing skirts and flip flops. The view from the top was amazing, it looked over the entire town of Iringa. From this point we could see the Iringa was actually nestled into the mountains. We stayed on the top of the rock for a few hours listening to some middle school aged boys rap hit songs in English. It was very random and kind of strange having the different cultures work their way together. Dinner was also an adventure, we kept looking for a certain hotel, but were unable to find it so we ended up at a Mexican/African/Italian eat out of take in restaurant. I ordered chicken curry and after waiting about twenty minuets we heard some squaking coming from the kitchen. All eyes turned on me and Liz since we were the ones who ordered chicken. Needless to say dinner was very fresh and delicious. Rest in peace chicken curry. . .

1 September 2008

Iringa

Stacey and I woke up this morning at 6:30 to go for a run. It was an amazing run!!! We ended up running through the suburbs of Iringa as all the children were heading to school and as the sun was starting to rise. It was a bit chilly because we are in the mountains and further away from Dar es Salaam. Today was the souvenir day, where we spent way to much money buying gifts for other people and ourselves. The prices in Irigna were some of the best that we have seen way better than Arusha. In Arusha it felt like we were getting the tourist prices and here in Iringa it was more of the everyday price. Granted it is still not as cheep as local Tanzanians can get things, but it was more reasonable and as Gemma told us at the Maasai market, “Try to bargain, but remember that extra few shillings means more to them than it does to you.” It does not bother me too much to have to pay a little bit more as long it is not the Muzungu prices and if after having conversations with the shop keepers and getting to know them I have no issue. We were privileged in the afternoon to be able to get a tour at a place called Nemma’s Craft Workshop. It was created with the intention as an outreach program in order to give people with disabilities in the Iringa area a vocation and means of living. They now have people coming from all over Tanzania who want to be part of this project. If someone has a disability their choices become very limited. Neema’s provides them with training in a specific craft, such as beading, weaving, and paper making. The profits that are made by the items sold goes back to the people who are working. They also have a small café where most of the waiters and waitresses are deaf so you fill out a card with what you would like and they bring you what you ordered. The center is aimed at more of the tourists, but when I bought jewelry or carrot cake from them I knew that the money was actually going back to them and I did not mind spending a few extra dollars to help out a good cause.