mzungu, meat & madness

Today was our first town tour of Moshi. Abi was our personal guide and collected us from the hostel at 9am. This was our first time stepping into the world of Africa, as the night before we didn’t see anything and went straight to bed. The first time experiencing a town in Africa cannot be described with words. You feel like a fish out of water with everyone staring at you and you don’t know what to say, feel or do. Africa is what you read about, hear about and expect: dirt roads, hundreds of fruits and vegetable stands, children everywhere, dust, exhaust and beggars. However, Tanzania is definitely the more “developed” countries in Africa. I expected there to be less clothing, less cars and more poverty. Don’t get me wrong, poverty engulfs this place, but not to the extreme as I thought.

Moshi is a small town but has everything you need to “survive.” Abi informed us with the ins and outs and where everything is. Although I felt like a lost puppy wandering around this foreign town, by an hour or so I got the hang of it. By the 12^th time I heard “mzungu” (meaning white person) yelled at us you kind of begin to feel “welcomed” and recognized. To this day, I still don’t know if mzungu is a good or bad term for us but I’ll take it, it’s reversed racism over here, which I don’t quite understand. It would be like us seeing a black person in America and yelling out “black person” on the streets. It’s baffling, but you must learn to go with it. The best part about cruising the streets of Africa is seeing all of the t-shirts everybody wears. My top 3 favorite: Obama’s face, a little boy wearing a shirt saying “Hustler” and a man wearing a Syracuse t-shirt. Winning.

Abi walked us around and showed us some great local places to get food and drinks. I experienced my first mango/banana smoothie, which they literally hacked down a tree in front of me in order to get the fresh fruits. After, he took us to the local market where everyone buys food. He first asked us, “are you vegetarians?” “No.” And now I understand why he must ask this question. The minute you enter this market you feel like you are residing INSIDE of an actual animal. I cannot even begin to explain, express or identify the animals that were slaughtered and hanging above, around and underneath us. It’s not the meat that made me sick; it was the number of flies that were nesting on them. In those 4 minutes of walking through the meat district I don’t think I took one breath of air. I can confidently call myself a vegetarian after that experience. Other than the meat, the amount of fruit, vegetables, beans and rice that were in this market was mind blowing and you get a sense of fresh (no, I didn’t say safe) food in Africa. The best part about the markets and streets of Africa are the locals carrying around chickens upside down or in baskets on their bicycles as they cluck away.

Over the next couple of days we became situated and familiar with Moshi. A bunch of us from the hostel explored town and start to mingle with the locals. They are extremely friendly and only want to talk about Obama. Little children are fascinated by us being white and want to hold your hand in the streets; either that or they are trying to mug me in a sweet way. I have already identified about 16 children that will be checked at customs at the airport and soon to be residents of Boxford, Massachusetts.

Friday was the royal wedding. We wanted to watch and celebrate the right way so we bought some champagne and went to Amanda’s house (the owner). Although we practically had to hold the TV antennas at a 45-degree angle in order to get SOME reception, we got the overall feel of the wedding. As we were anxiously waiting this history-making kiss, the power went out. Yes, at 3pm on a perfectly sunny day, we lost power. This is Africa.

Saturday, April 30 we ventured to Arusha, which is a large city about 2 hours away from Moshi. We took a “bus” for the journey, which cost us a whole $2.00. Keep in mind this bus LEGALLY fit 5 people however in Africa they have a different mindset. I think these Tanzanians have competitions to see who can fit the most human beings in one bus and also compete to see who can arrive to the destination the fastest. I can count on both hands how many times I thought the bus was going to flip and/or lost the transmission due to the fact we went 106mph over speed bumps. To top the experience off, its about 85 degrees with a 95% humidity rate and showers and deodorant are absent. If your lucky a woman will even pass her baby over to you as you voluntarily babysit for the 2-hour trip to Arusha.

Arusha is the Boston of Tanzania, bigger and more hectic than Moshi. It felt as if I was in China with all of the air pollution. I think I went through about 5 pairs of contact lenses, 12 litres of water and atleast 4 oxygen tanks in order to successfully catch my breath. We went to a local African craft market, which sold authentic African crafts (go figure, right) including paintings, masks, wooden carvings, jewelry etc, all for under $10.00. The streets are hectic, pedestrians DO NOT have the right away and they love haggling the mzungus. Definitely a great experience to see a bigger city but makes you appreciate the quiet lifestyle in Moshi. Yes, I came home to Moshi and hugged the nearest fruit stand.