Mbeya
Here in Tanzania, there are really only two seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. The rainy season can begin in November or December, but doesn’t come to full force until late January until March. So, during the rainy season, the dirt roads are basically mud puddles and it is dangerous to travel, so Cara and I are traveling now.
Our first trip outside of Imiliwaha and Lugarawa was to the city of Mbeya, which is north of Njombe and larger than our little city. We meet up with Charlie, Ben, Anna, and Leonart in Njombe and took the trip up to Mbeya together. To get there took about 3 hours. We really had no plan once we got there—it was just another city to see. We were also accompanied by a Br. Emmanuel from Hanga, who I believe lived there before becoming a monk. We stayed at a Benedictine monk guest house, which was basically living in a palace, according to African standards. The house was relatively new and of course the monks were unbelievably hospitable. After eating lunch, we were ready to see the city, since we were able to arrive in the early afternoon. Since the monk’s guest house is sort of on the outskirts of the city, we had to drive. There was really only one vehicle available, which was a little pick up truck and we numbered 9, so we go African style—5 people inside the truck and 4 people sitting in the back end. And let me tell you, we got starred at like you wouldn’t believe—6 total wazongo (white people) piled in a pick up truck.
That first night, we just walked around this little city, which is large, but very spread out. We made a poor shop keeper lady, scoop 9 ice cream cones, when she probably scooped and average of one a month for the past five years. There are also many illegal DVD venders, which we stopped to see. We got bombarded with local artists, who carry their store in a backpack. I was finally able to pick up some African art, a little landscape made out of banana leaves. We also came across this store of African stuff, where tourists usually go nuts for, which we did. The owner of this shop was definitely a Bob Marly Jamaican, complete with knit African skull cap, long tunic with jeans and some pretty awesome dreadlocks. We got our tourist splurge out of the way and were hungry. For dinner we found the most remarkable restaurant—a pizza and burger joint!! The owner and his wife had lived in Canada for some time and knew exactly what sort of eatery to start for the tourists. Grant it, it was not a Burger King or a Meister Burger, but it definitely tasted good!! That night, we had a movie night! Loving movies, this was just what I needed. We sat down with good old Toy Story.
The second day, we went to the only real thing to see in Mbeya—the 8th largest meteorite in the world. So, we pile again into the pick-up truck (I couldn’t resist being in the back, it’s great feeling the wind in your hair as you’re flying down the road) and we drive and Hour and a Half to see a rock! Yes, a large black rock in the middle of a forest, which we stayed to look at for a grand total of 20 minutes. The ride itself was more exciting, but we now can say we’ve seen the 8th largest meteorite in the world. The rest of the day, we walked around the city again and ate out at a place that looked Mexican, but really only served a chicken curry and spaghetti. And like everything else African, the meal took its merry little time. I think we waited about an hour for our food, but we are slowly but surely learning extreme patience and to never expect things in a timely manner. We also came across a lot of wedding on Saturday. You can always tell you are witnessing a wedding, at least in Mbeya, because you see a car decked out with ribbons and then there is a truck following with a live band inside, playing as they drive down and around the town—pretty cool.
Our third day was Sunday, so we went to the cathedral for Mass and the priest was nice enough to tell us, in English, the main message of the sermon—which is a lot more than we usually get. More walking around the town—the people got pretty use to us in the three days we were there. The monks also drove us up to get a good view of the city, because Mbeya is sort of in a valley, with surrounding hills. For lunch we found awesome restaurant number 2—we had been walking a lot and were sweaty, but we walked into the Mbeya hotel for lunch. We were the only ones there and it was pretty fancy and the menu was huge!! It included Milk Shakes, so we all ordered one—these took about 30 minutes to make and an additional hour for our order. But it was worth it!! It was Indian cuisine and was so good!
That basically ends our excursion to Mbeya—we traveled back with the usual chickens on the bus and made it safely back to Imiliwaha and ready to get back to work!!
Leave a Reply