Different cities

We arrived at Kili airport last Wednesday after a very short night of sleep, but it was a beautiful flight (prop plane and all, no worries) and a great arrival. We got off the plane and it was cool, wet, and smelled amazing and grassy and clean. Dar gets pretty dusty, though there's nothing offensive about it. But the northern highlands are, and have been, coveted land for good reason.

We got a free shuttle to Moshi, a town at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro about 50 km from the airport. [I have to say km because that's what everyone told me, sorry.] It's prosperous from coffee planting, and also a heavily religious area, says the guidebook and historians, but my first impression was that it was relaxed, friendly, cleaner than Dar. And cool, finally. We found the tourist coffee shop and had a great lunch, and then I took off for my meeting at the KCMC. I thought that this hospital was a long-running medical center with strong connections to Germany, but it turns out it was founded in the 1970s and sure, German doctors work there, too, but...not so great for the history research. It was a good experience, and I'm very glad that I got out of the city and did some work, but a bit disheartening. Every institution has a different imprint, and way of doing things, and this one was very rigid.

Luckily, Moshi was so nice. And I gave it a good try, so I could feel less guilty about vacation. Kolz managed to meet everyone in the market and make lots of friends & helpers, so by the time I got back to town, he had the shops figured out and knew where to try for soccer jerseys, everything. And this with minimal Swahili, it was awesome. We had a great time choosing cloth for a dress for me, and looking at jerseys, walking around and taking pictures. Moshi is so small compared to Dar, it was comfortable just to wander. We had a nice dinner with a group of grad students & researchers, and it was good to show Kolz the sort of interaction which has made my time here so valuable and productive. Such nice folks, and one lives literally caddy-corner to us in NY!

Moshi was also memorable because of our hostel (again, Lutheran lodgings - they were everywhere!). It was at first glance palatial and awesome - we had a sitting room! - but then ended up being a bit crazy. VERY cold water and skeeters, but still nice. At 4:30 am, we were awakened by the call to prayer, a very deep-voiced muezzin that made for a disorienting alarm-clock. I hadn't known there was a mosque nearby...but it was actually sort of soothing, in the pre-dawn. I liked that it must happen most days, it gave a sense of rhythm to things for me. We've been traveling so much that in retrospect, those little things are very nice. We decided to give up trying for more sleep after call to prayer #2, and the nearby rooster. But the safari company was coming to fetch us very early - 7:30 - so it was no problem.

That takes us up to Kolz's post about the safari which was totally incredible...and we'll catch up with Zanzibar, too...