Internet access has been a challenge, and that is part of the reason for a delay in posting this blog entry - other parts include availability of time, being just a little weary from travel, and needing some time to process all I've seen, felt, heard, and experienced since my last entry.
On Wednesday, we departed Dar es Salaam for Tanga. We expected a 9-hour journey by bus; it ended up being 10 hours. I could say that the time flew by, but it did not. After traveling ~2 hours up the Bagamoyo Road, we discovered that a bridge (or perhaps the approach to the bridge; not sure) was out. We had to turn around, go a fair portion of the way back to Dar, then cut west to get to the motorway. The road conditions alternate from paved, supporting up to 120 kph (80 mph) speeds, to bone-rattling potholes for miles at a time, causing our driver to regularly change sides of the road to avoid holes that could have damaged the bus (even crawling along). There is a bright side to this journey (that we will make twice more south, and once more north): it affords an incredible view of life in Tanzania at eye-level.
The land is quite flat at the Dar es Salaam start of the journey, is dotted by valleys with streams (with people farming nearby, bathing in the streams, and populated by brilliantly-colored red birds), and becomes increasingly hilly - even mountainous off to the northwest - as we approach the port city of Tanga. The soil went from a dusty red to a Georgia-clay color, to a rich brick red, to a brownish red.
Villages have various combinations of a few common elements:
- A cellular phone tower (with electricity, of course, while the homes around it did not)
- A store where you can transfer money via cellphone (more about that later)
- A hair salon
- Food stands with tomatoes, peppers, cashews, oranges, coconuts, passionfruit, etc.
- Structures (homes) made of sticks and mud, occasionally from blocks of mud formed into cinder-block-sized elements
- Speed traps - sometimes a police presence with a battery-operated radar gun, often not.
- Chickens (often), goats (ubiquitous), cows, turkeys, and ducks (rarely) roaming the side of the road, sometimes being tended by herders, sometimes not. One cow had a meeting with a semi; it appeared to have ended not well for either of the parties.
- Subsistence farming, or occasionally larger planted fields.
- A school (kids in school uniforms; school is available but not compulsory)
- A mosque & perhaps a madrasa
The women, often carrying large, unwieldy loads of a bucket, bags of vegetables, or boxes balanced perfectly (and unheld) on their heads (while walking) have vivid, colorful clothing. Men appear more plainly dressed.
We stopped for a couple of "comfort" breaks and lunch (including a comfort break at the side of the road just for me).
We got to the hotel just before 7PM, got checked in, had a nice welcome drink (that had passionfruit juice in it: yum), dropped our bags in our rooms, and went to the restaurant for a buffet dinner.
While we had internet access when we arrived, there was apparently a power failure (they happen occasionally throughout the day) at the internet service provider in town, and we lost connectivity for about 18 hours.
Thursday was spent with some local government leadership (hospitality is huge here - so welcoming) and then our local hosts. We had lunch overlooking the Indian Ocean, learning so much more about the realities of business - and life - here (including the aforementioned cost of a goat - about $3). Dinner was with the larger team back at the hotel.
We spent Friday morning at the Tanga Port (part of the Tanzania Port Authority), hearing from their leadership about the infrastructure challenges faced, and how they are moving things forward by frank dialog with all the stakeholders in the Port Improvement Association. Lunch at the hotel (we placed our order around 11:45 it came to the table close to 2), and then time to work individually and as a team, trying to put together our observations so far, and plan our recommendations. We went to a (the) local grocery store and open market (fruit & vegetables on the right, abbatoir on the left, chickens and a bunny in cages in the middle), and also picked up our weekly recharges for our cellphones (about $3.10 for 210 minutes of domestic voice, unlimited SMS, and 1.5GB of data). I hope to get back to the city market (and look through the local library) and take some pictures to post here.
The number of flies here - everywhere, especially while dining outside - is surprising and comes as a shock, being accustomed to very different situations at restaurants and hotels. People here just take it in stride. They spray the room for mosquitoes (and other crawlies) at turn-down service. The air conditioning in the rooms is "essential" for us Westerners; the difference between needs and wants, however, is not lost on me having seen so much this week.
I had some stomach issues yesterday (much better this morning) so I did not join the team for dinner last evening, opting to sleep a bit and stay "closer to home".
I will create a separate entry - perhaps by the pool in a bit - to relate some family history shared with us by a local farmer. Moving & fascinating.
Thank you for your interest ... I'll stay in touch.
#ibmcsc Tanzania
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