Exploring Arusha

On Wednesday we ventured out to explore the city of Arusha and Ryan got his first experience of Tanzanian city life. Our first stop was the ATM and Shoprite, also known as wazungu central (wazungu is akin to ‘gringo’ and means ‘westerner’). After successfully getting money and wandering around refrigerated food items, we ventured off into ‘real Arusha’ to get the list of supplies we realized we needed, such as shower flip-flops, washcloths and a cell phone. Day 1 in Tanzania was a success and we accomplished all of our goals and then some! At sunset, we watched the traffic from our hotel balcony, and took some pictures of the street at rush hour. We also ventured up to the roof, which has an amazing view of Mt. Meru framed by Jacaranda trees in bloom. Today, Ryan was introduced to Tanzanian rice and chicken as well as one of my personal favorites, bitter lemon soda and Konyagi (something like gin).

On Day 2, we went further from our hotel in Arusha, and explored more of the side streets, as well as the ‘fancy’ area. (not to scare you mom and dad, but it’s a little ways from our hotel.) We also found an internet café with reasonably fast wireless. Score! Our biggest success today was getting tickets to Haydom for Saturday! Thank goodness for Crystal and her detailed instructions; we never could have done it without her. (like, I’m sure, many things to come on this trip!) We also found some great Indian food, topped off with some Tusker and Kilimanjaro beer.

After two days, we’re getting more used to being a constant spectacle, and fending off ‘rafiki’ (friends) who just want to show us their paintings, shoes, safari trips, pirated DVDs, etc that they are selling. When venturing into a very non-wazungu market, one guy didn’t even want to sell us anything, he just wanted to be seen walking around with us. (This was really weird to both Ryan and I, neither one of us are what you would call ‘cool’). We’re having fun, but both Ryan and I are excited to leave Arusha and get to Haydom soon!

-Betsy