The car ride was long and especially stressful before dawn because there is only one road to Moshi, and it is only one narrow lane on either side, and the trucks often take the lion's share of road. But once the sun rose it was better and we made frequent stops, and we saw a lot of African scenery. For example, we saw a beautiful sunrise over some traditional houses made out of mudbrick and straw, much like the ones we saw yesterday at the Village Museum! Hellen said that despite the fact that these homes have to be rebuilt every three years, people still live here because they cannot afford homes made out of concrete or wood. We also saw the giant baobaob trees -which look like ghoulish haunted trees- coming out of the red earth, as well as Acacia trees (think Lion King and you'll be able to picture it), and those big termite hills that are the homes of colonies of termites.
We had breakfast at the priest's residence at a church in a small village, where Hellen knew the priest. It was a refreshing stop, and Hellen got to rest her eyes for a couple of minutes before we resumed our journey.
We did a surprising amount of 'shopping' en route. First, about 3 hours into the trip, our car was surrounded by orange vendors who sprinted alongside us until Hellen pulled over and bought 3 bags. Next, we saw a man standing again on the side of the road holding up bunches of catfish tied together at the mouth by a palm leaf. Again, we pulled over and bought some for dinner. These were tied to the front grill of the car, and Hellen and Eric (her brother who was accompanying us) assured us they'd be well cleaned. We also bought tomatos and onions at the side of the road, and as we were approaching Moshi, we bought several loaves of bread from a crowd of boys pushing it through the car windows. Karla and I thought this whole process was hilarious.
What wasn't so funny was the car trouble that followed. First, when we stopped in town for rice, we couldn't get the car to start. Hellen figured out that someone had stolen the starter plugs, so we had to find a mechanic and buy new ones. Next, when we were on the road again, the radiator started overheating, so we had to dump bottled water into the radiator every 20 minutes or so for the rest of the ride.
This last leg of the trip was very very bumpy, albeit scenic, but Alicia started to feel nauseous because of the bumps, as well as the smell of gas (which had spilled in the car) and fish (which we'd moved into the car when the radiator had started to go). But we finally arrived in the small village of Ubetu safe and sound.
As it was just about dusk when we arrived, we all scurried around trying to get dinner on the table. At this time, Karla and I realized that there was no electricity and no running water here!! So we lit kerosene lamps, and helped gut the fish with Eric by candlelight. Oh. And went to the 'bathroom' which makes an old-timey outhouse look like modern technology (think pit with walls around it). Before bed, we had to take showers to get all the dust of the day off...so Hellen boiled water and poured it into a plastic bucket, then we took turns going into the small room with a drain to splash all the dirt off our bodies. Hellen laughed when Alicia asked for confirmation that she was doing it right! Needless to say, we got to bed relatively early!
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