it was difficult to pull ourselves out of bed at 4:30, but we quickly dressed, did an inventory of our baggage (too many items!), and went to eat the breakfast the staff had prepared early just for us. (The honey crepes were the best thing we had had at Sunset.) Andrew appeared right on time at 5:30 and we were off to the bus station. This time it wasn’t so difficult to find out bus, so we were easily loaded and ready to go at 6:00 a.m.
The bus driver pulled out right on time and for the first very hilly stretch of road drove like the proverbial bat out of hell. At the point the road is only two lanes, but because of the steep inclines there was almost always a third land for the traffic coming up hill. Our driver used the full three lanes to weave back and forth so as to take the curves at a higher speed. I had to hang on, and every time we went over a speed bump, I thought I would be flung to the ceiling. Fortunately, this wild driving did not last the entire trip, and once we had descended the hills outside of Iringa, the driver slowed to a normal speed, which he maintained for the rest of the trip.
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| Some cornfields looked great |
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| New housing |
It was nearly impossible to doze because of the many speed bumps, but I’m sure I nodded off from time to time. It was great to see all the baobab trees again, and I tried to look for baby trees to see if they are still regenerating. However, we passed by too quickly for me to be sure of what I may have seen. We saw the vineyards outside Dodoma again, and when we pulled into the Dodoma bus station, some of the market women were selling grapes. Of course, John had to buy some from a boy who came onto the bus with grapes to sell.
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| Dodoma bus station |
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| Grape selle |
All along the road, our trip was regularly interrupted by police stops and passengers who got on to ride the bus for short distances. Adding short ride passengers caused some occasional overcrowding, with people riding in the door way and up by the driver.
Vendors such as the fish lady near the reservoir, or young boys selling warm soft drinks, nuts, and potato chips hopped on and off as we continued along our route. The whole passenger system seemed pretty porous. Each vender slipped the driver or bus attendant a sample of his/her wares, and nothing more was required.
After 9 hours on the road, as we approached Babati, the driver turned into the same rest stop we had been at on our way to Iringa. Even though I knew that there would only be squat toilets, I decided to go to the women’s restroom. It was reasonably clean, but the earthy sweet odor of excrement was a hard punch to the nose. I entered a stall and decided I would be best off if I wedged myself between the water barrel (for washing) and the front wall. Strategically positioned, I made something similar to a deep curtsy and proceeded. Straightening up again took a bit of struggle, but the whole operation was a great success.
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| Bus stop with restrooms and food. |
John went off to the fast food shop at this stop and bought us some chipsies and kuku. We had each eaten about 6 cookies and two wedges of horrible Laughing Cow much earlier, so now we were really hungry. Even though they were cold and needed salt, the chipsies tasted delicious. The kuku was more problematic: it was very greasy and super tough. Getting a bite of meat was a battle. Eventually, I gnawed my way through one thigh.
Babati was our last stop at a bus station, and more people got on for Arusha. We were on time to arrive in Arusha at 6:00 pm. However, as we approached the city, traffic increased significantly, and we were caught in a big jam. We eventually reached the bus lot sometime after 6:30. Ray had been waiting for us, so once we found each other in the chaos among the buses, he loaded us into his taxi and brought us back to Kundayo. We are very fortunate to have someone as loyal and helpful as Ray watching out for us.
We ordered dinner from the Kundayo restaurant and and dumped all of our dirty clothes on the floor. After dinner, I sent many of our clothes to be laundered. Then, we took showers and crashed in bed. In spite of feeling exhausted, we were very happy we had gone to Iringa, and also happy to be safely back at Kundayo.
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