Here's an extra long post for all those readers out there...
Today we went to the Masaai market. The Masaai wear a lot of jewelry, and they wear decorative fabric. All of them have huge holes in their ears. They are very interesting people.
I bought some way sweet shoes made out of old car tires for 3 dollars.
I bought some way sweet shoes made out of old car tires for 3 dollars.
We also got on a bus to go back to Dodoma. We were going to get Shabiby tickets, (which is the nicest bus here in Tanzania) but they were sold out. If the Shabiby bus was in the United States, it would be a pretty low class bus. But here, it is the most luxerious bus. All of the business men ride on it.
So instead we got tickets on the Al-Mushoom. Wow, it was the dirtiest, smelliest, bummiest bus ever. And I think everyone already knew that, because it took three hours to fill with people. None of these busses would even consider leaving with only a half full bus... No, they need to have people standing in the aisles before they leave. So there we sat, for three hours, waiting to leave. The drive itself was only three and a half hours, so we could have been in Dodoma already by the time we actually moved.
So instead we got tickets on the Al-Mushoom. Wow, it was the dirtiest, smelliest, bummiest bus ever. And I think everyone already knew that, because it took three hours to fill with people. None of these busses would even consider leaving with only a half full bus... No, they need to have people standing in the aisles before they leave. So there we sat, for three hours, waiting to leave. The drive itself was only three and a half hours, so we could have been in Dodoma already by the time we actually moved.
Meanwhile, there are people everywhere trying to sell us stuff. Underwear, loaves of bread, perfume, baskets, you name it. They even allow sellers to get on the bus and walk down the aisle. We were constantly bombarded with random junk. "sista, sista, buy some socks!"
You may not believe it, but this bus ride got worse. It was around 9:00 pm, and suddenly the lights in the bus turned on. Two of the bus attendants were surrounding this man who seemed to be drunk. They were searching his stuff, checking his pockets, looking all around the seats... I was very confused at the time, but we figured later that the drunk man had stole someones cell phone, and they were looking for it. Finally they found it, and their suspicions were confirmed: This man was a criminal. Suddenly, one of the bus attendants slapped the drunk man hard. Then the other started punching him, and the guy whose cell phone was stolen started stomping on him and kicking him. And this was only two rows in front of us! I was really scared, and I was shaking all over. They just kept beating this man up. But the bus drove on towards Dodoma. They took the drunk guy to the front of the bus, and they were going to turn him in to the police once we got there.
After 7 hours on that bus, we finally made it safe to our purple house. I was so tired and I was still shaking from the incident on the bus. It was quite an adventure.
After 7 hours on that bus, we finally made it safe to our purple house. I was so tired and I was still shaking from the incident on the bus. It was quite an adventure.