The road to Arusha was great, the 5 hour ride went by fast thanks to our new friend and temporary guide, Maria. We’ve known her for just a day now and she has probably saved us close to $700 and so much stress. In fact, we made an on-bus audible and changed our destination from Arusha to a town another hour from there named Moshi, in the foothills of Kilamanjaro.
First, Maria, who is she? Where did we find her?
Sitting across the aisle from us is a woman: white, about our age, and, it turns out, from Portland Oregon. Some quick stats on Maria.
- Been in East Africa for 9 months now
- Is a naturpathic doctor
- Is returning to Moshi from northeast Kenya where she went to see the refugee camp and basically meet people and do what she could to make them happy
- Refugee camp est. pop = 300,000 ppl with about 1,500 arriving each day from Somalia due to the drought and famine
- Teaches yoga at the guest house she eventually sets us up at
- Works in a small village helping people at a clinic through her homeopathic ways
- Very experienced in East Africa ways. Turns out this bus we are on, the Impala, is the safest bus that travels this road from Nairobi to Arusha because of the drivers, they don’t fly down the road overtaking any bike, car, or bus in their way. (Many thanks to the previous guest house for arranging this)
- Has a lot of information she shares with us and we have interesting conversations
- We become fast friends
The Impala has a route that begins and ends at a five star hotels in Nairobi and Arusha, respectively. Arusha is a main hub for safaris, and though we initially made a plan to get off there, spend the night and arrange a safari, Maria convinced us that since Arusha is notorious for robberies and pickpocketers, perhaps worse than “Nairobbery,” we should follow her to Moshi, a smaller town in the foothills of Mt Kilamanjaro. She set us up in a simple, clean place for $25/night, and put us in touch with her roommate, a Slovak woman who, together with a Tasmanian man, runs Kilamanjaro hikes and safaris.
So we settle in Moshi, the Kilimanjaro Coffee Lounge, to be exact, it’s a combination coffee lounge and guest house, and Maria’s Yoga Studio. Moshi is what I would call an African town, somewhere between a city and a village. There is a main street, dubbed “double way” because cars have two lanes to go each direction. There are some side streets with outside veggie stands and open storefronts that sell luggage, shoes, tailoring. There are stores for phones and other electronics and equipment as well. Buildings don’t really exceed three stories.
Maria called her driver, Baraka, and asked him to pick us up and then drive us to her place to pick her up, and then we would drive to a bar together. When Baraka answered in English, Maria gave him the instructions in English. Something was lost in communication because Baraka did not show. Scared to venture off the steps of our guest house because it was night, we asked one of the guys working at the time if we could purchase units for his phone and call Baraka’s number which Maria left. The guy runs off into the night and returns with the minutes. Baraka is “far away.” We then request our new helper to fetch us a cab. He disappears again and comes back in the passenger seat of a cab. We arrive at the Glacier.
The Galcier is pretty much an open area. In the corner was a shelter where the band was set up, between the bar and the open kitchen under. Most people mingled by the bar. We sat in the open field area at red plastic Coca Cola tables and chairs. There were two projectors on either end of the open space showing soccer highlights. They served us some pretty good curry.
So far the food has been much better than expected, though we didn’t expect much. Of note: although there is a “menu” you are served whatever is being prepared that evening. The ride to Glacier felt like we were driving through the suburbs of New Jersey. Tall shrubs and walls behind which are gated homes. Another example of the disparity of wealth.
At the Glacier the live music is simple. They pepper their setlist with Bob Marley, traditional African reggae, and some solid early 90s tunes. They also did a raging “In the Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight,” I will now have that song in my head instead of Paul Simon’s “African Skies.” Shaggy, Hello by Lionel Richie, “And I’m on My Way,” oh it was great. After the band finished the DJ took over with a 90s dance party. There was a disco ball of sorts shining circle colorful patterns on the dance floor. Despite the song selection and there being no more than 8 people on the floor at a time, the patrons were moving well. Turns out, if you take an East African out of the bush and throw him on the dance floor you’d think he were a Janet Jackson backup dancer. People here move so well.
Swahili Word of the Day
“Keepie leftie” – roundabout
They drive on the left side of the road here.
