Post Tanzanian Recollections (Part 1)

As you might have noticed I've added a lot of posts recently. Most of these have been a belated attempt to transcribe my recent travels. Since I was writing them all together over the course of the last few weeks they tend to be a bit scattered and sometimes overlap and don't always follow a consecutive order. I've tried to organize these into a somewhat temporal, event-minded scheme. This 'Post Tanzanian' series will hopefully cover the days following my time in Tanzania and Preceding my stay at the Zimpeto base in Maputo. Also at the time of my editing this it is very later at night so I haven't cleaned it up as much as I probably should. (Begin blog)


I'm not sure how far back to include in this post, I haven't really written anything about my journey since I've came to Africa and it's all been gaining momentum such that I'm having a lot of trouble catching up. I'm so far behind myself. Oh well, this entry I will start two days ago when I left Arusha with Jesse Borden and concluded my adventures in Tanzania (which of course I will try to find time to document as well (Edit: I have documented much of this now and it can be found in the rest of the blog)) Jesse and I bussed for about 7 hours till we got to Nairobi Kenya where we would both be catching planes out of the country the next day, Jesse being headed for Amsterdam where he would be speaking with his parents at a 24/7 prayer conference before heading back to Santa Barbara to live and work near to that wonderful Westmont community, and me being headed for South Africa where I would rendezvous before heading back to Mozambique to finish my voluntary term of service here in Africa. In Nairobi Jesse and I parted. Jesse went to visit his brother Collin who was ending his first month at a boarding school just north of Nairobi and I stayed in the city at a lively backpackers hostel called "Upper Hill Campground" for about 9 dollars. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a friendly budget accommodation. It was good to see Jesse. His family is wonderful and I feel better about the world knowing they exist.

When I first got to Tanzania I arrived terribly ill (a blessing upon the Borden family for their caring for me) with fever and eventually a malicious intestinal flue, my struggle with which earned me a rather painful case of Piles. I saw a doctor and he gave me some meds that seemed to do the trick and within 4 days I was good as new, though a bit skinnier. However my anal bane returned a few days before my departure while I was adventuring on the coast, 12 hours outside of Arusha. The next three days consisted of nearly 30 hours of travel, 19 of which were on bumpy Africa highways in ratty Africa buses. My hemorrhoid hemorrhaged (is that possible?) during the first 2 hours of travel. Despite the unending pain and discomfort, It was actually a very nice trip, one which I could (edit: and now have) fill at least 3 full pages with details.

At the hostel in Nairobi they were completely full but they put up an extra tent for me. I put my stuff in the tent and went to find an atm so I could pay for my taxi to the airport the next day and an internet cafe so I could contact the people I'd be working for in Maputo and also try to arrange a ride from the airport to the guest house in Nelspruit I'd be staying at the next day. I took a matatu (Kenya's word for the cheap little vans packed to the brim with people that serve as East Africa's main source of public transportation) to the place recommended by my host and found myself inside a very nice mall, much like something you'd find in any western country except for the guards walking around with AK 47s. I got some cash and used the internet, although I didn't find a ride from the airport in Johannesburg to Nelspruit, and on my way out I spotted a book store and had to take a peak (I'd already read all the books I brought with me to Tanzania) and ended up walking out with a new copy of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (I have a copy at home but never got around to it) and a used copy of a book called Quantum Society or something like that, as well as a $20 hole in my rapidly dwindling budget (I think I've spent more $4,000 since I've been in Africa, not including the tickets to get here. I came thinking I wouldn't need more than $2000). I'm very happy with both choices so far. I walked the 5k back to the Hostel where I watched a relatively new movie by Woody Allen, the title of which I was never informed, with a British guest at the hostel returning from her climb up Kilimanjaro. I can't believe I haven't seen all of Woody Allen's movies yet. This one was about two girls who have very different, very stereotypical opinions on love but end up both falling for the same stereotypical, mysteriously romantic yet pained, foreign, artistic figure. It was a portrait more than a story. It had something of a twist. I thought it was brilliant.

Rachel was the name of the girl I watched the movie with. During the course of the night I was struck by the notion that she'd like to have a fling, maybe even with me. I have long fantasized about having flings, particularly flings with beautiful strangers in beautiful places...

(Edit: the rest of this particular section of this blog has been deemed sensitive and has been moved to my private blog where I post sensitive materials about myself and other people. To gain access to this blog you will have to apply via email)

At the airport I discovered that my plane was scheduled to leave an hour earlier than my ticket suggested. They acted surprised when I told them I had not been informed. luckily I had come extra early because my taxi driver misheard me when I told him what time I was to leave and picked me up half an hour earlier than I was expecting him (6am). I was actually thankful for this change because even though I missed out on an hour of Ana Karenina, it meant that I might have a chance to contact the shuttle company when I arrived and arrange a ride to nelspruit before dark. On the plane I had a whole row (3 seats) to myself. Because I was the only passenger with this luxury there was some strange solidarity-inspired guilt that initially prevented my from indulging myself upon this couch that someone's absence graciously supplied, however my the anguish of my hemorrhoid quickly overcame this senselessly noble self-deprivation.

When we landed I finally got a hold of the shuttle company and arranged a ride to nelspruit. However they didn't have the early shuttle that I was hoping to get and I was faced with the very real possibility of having to walk across town at night with a heavy pack, a laptop and a hemorrhoid. I didn't know the number of the guest house I was supposed to stay at, or where it was in relation to the shuttle stop, and for some reason my phone wouldn't call any of the Mozambican people that might be able to give me the number. On the shuttle, a guy originally from nelspruit but moved to the UK and was engaged to a woman there and who was wearing cool shoes that he said lasted him 11 years and cost him 170 Pounds tried to help me find the place with his iphone. I was hoping when we got to Nelspruit he would give me a ride. He didn't. On the shuttle, as it began to get dark and I felt worried about the future I meditated Buddha style (I read a book about Buddha written by Deepak Chopra (sp?) while I was in Tnz, and then gave it to a kid in Ushango whose family fed me alot and who helped me find andazi for breakfast and octopus for dinner and marijuana for later) I let all my fears of all the possible things that could happen flow through me and I let myself imagine them and all the worst possible scenarios and I just let them be and found myself within them and faced them so to speak and then I felt ok, because no matter what happens, I am. This meditation style also helped me deal with what had become by this time fairly intense discomfort arising from my hemorrhoid (the positions I tried to sit in on the shuttle made the lady beside me noticeably uncomfortable). I let the pain be and realized that I was experiencing pain, as did many many other humans beings, many of which were suffering far greater than I, and I explored this universal human experience of suffering and I knew that out of this I would become greater than before. At the shuttle stop as I realized that I was on my own and everyone was grabbing their bags and leaving with the friends and relatives that come to pick them up, I was just about to ask out loud if anyone knew of someplace nearby to stay when a pretty blond girl dressed rather stylishly came up to me and asked a question.