You haven’t experienced Africa until you’ve peed in front of 20 people. [10/1/11]

I’m a bit overwhelmed right now.  Our adventure to the Usambara Mountains has been…well…an adventure to say the least.  It began yesterday (Friday) with my trip to Mwenge, where I got pick pocketed and lost my student ID, bus ticket, and $100.  Luckily, my passport and credit cards were not with me so they were not stolen.  I called Paulina and had her talk to the bus company so that I would be able to still go to Lushoto even without a ticket.  I was a bit bummed about the lost money, but at least it wasn’t anything more valuable like my passport!  I had my wallet in my backpack and had just taken it out to purchase a shirt at Mwenge.  After I put it back in my backpack, I went to walk back to the bus stop and when I got on the bus, my backpack was unzipped and someone had taken my wallet. 

Well anyway, I made it to Usambara so no worries.  We left the house this morning at 5:30 am by taxi and then proceeded to go to Ubungo to the bus station.  Good thing the taxi driver helped us find the bus or else we would have never gotten here!  The bus left at 7:00 am and we didn’t arrive in Lushoto until 9 hours later.  I’ll give you an idea of what the busride was like.  First of all, picture a run down tour bus with no luggage storage underneath.  That meant that all of our luggage had to be stowed in the racks above or below our feet.  Then, imagine that every seat on the bus is full.  Now add about a dozen 50 kg bags of rice and corn in the aisle way.  Then stack people on top of the rice and corn.  Oh, and don’t forget about the bugs that come with the corn-they like to crawl all up and down your legs.  It wasn’t the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever experienced, but it was definitely an adventure.  And at one point, we stopped to go to the bathroom in the middle of nowhere and everyone proceeded to run into the bushes to pee.  Well, I didn’t have to go, but Carla and Zoe did.  They came back and said, “well, you haven’t experienced Africa until you’ve peed in front of 20 people”.  Apparently there weren’t very many bushes where everyone was peeing. 

When we finally reached Lushoto, we were all happy to get off the bus.  We said goodbyes to the other four girls who were with us and then headed off to find our hostal.  It was pouring down rain and I immediately bought an umbrella from a little boy selling them on the street.  A man helped us find our hostal, which was completely full and had no rooms for us despite the fact that we booked in advance.  Oh well.  They showed us a different hostal for the same price and we took it immediately.  Let’s just say that this makes Hall Three look luxurious.  Our room is small, with concrete beds, two tables, and a window.  We have only one mosquito net (don’t worry, they are getting us another tomorrow) and we conveniently have only one pillow and one sheet for the two of us.  Good thing we brought sleeping bags!  Our floor is a constant swamp due to the rain this evening.  Apparently rain is typical during the evenings here.  And we have squat toilets and no shower…well…I guess we have a bucket shower but it’s a BYOB (bring your own bucket) type.  Colleen and I settled in (there’s not much unpacking to do when you don’t have anywhere to put things) and then headed off into the town to buy some toilet paper, water, bananas, and snacks.  Hopefully we will survive! Hah.  We are both feeling a little homesick right now.  I think that happens whenever we go to a new place.  It’s really weird to be on our own.  We are so used to being in a group.  I can tell we are going to have a lot of down time here and I will probably get a good start on my quilt.  We are thinking of booking a tour or two for the following days and are excited to see the rainforest and such. 

Swahili Word of the Day: Mvua [mmm-voo-ah] = rain