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Vodacom: We’re here for you

“You have a friend in Tanzania”

 

 

Transition Day

Last Day Together For Our Group of Six

 

Woke up early and sat on the balcony before meeting everyone for breakfast.  (Cloudy today with no views of Kili.) This is the last day our group is together, Jane leaves in the evening, Roger, Mick and Sharon on Tuesday, and Marsh and I travel to Zanzibar on Tuesday.  Jane decides to relax by the pool while the rest of us walk into town.  A few hundred yards from the Springlands entrance there is a small curio shop run by a rasta-looking guy.  Every time we go by he’s dancing and yelling at us to come in, “looking is free”.  Mick always tells him, later, later, on the way back etc.  He’s told him this like 4 or 5 times, so the pressure is on to at some point go inside.  The kids all come out to say Jambo and sometimes ask for money.  We’re used to this by now.  As we got close to town there’s a stalled van that a couple of guys are attempting to push start.  Marsh, Roger and Mick go over to help and they get it going. 

 

They may not ever ask for directions, but they're excellent in a mechanical crisis...

 

 In town we stopped at the bank and a pharmacy for Roger, who wanted to find Allegra and an antibiotic.  We all had offered him similar stuff to Allegra but he really wanted it specifically.  The pharmacy had a generic version but they didn’t have the antibiotic. 

 

We headed into the market area with the usual assortment of sales guys surrounding us.  Sharon and I wanted to visit a couple of fabric shops and as we went into the first one, the guys wanted to come in with us.  One did and tried to take over bargaining for us.  We kept telling him that we wanted to deal directly with the women in the shop.  He was completely annoying and we left the first shop because of him, and high prices.  At the next one, we told him to back off or we wouldn’t buy anything!  Ended up with three pieces between us for about 21000 shillings.  Sharon was still looking for Maasai blankets, but we didn’t see any in the market.  Caught up with Mick, Roger and Marsh who were watching one of the local men riding a bike hooked up to run a generator.  Sparks flying everywhere, but it worked. 

 

Visited our favorite fruit and vegetable stand where Sharon bought a couple of avocados and we took a few more photos, almost creating another international incident! 

 

 

As we headed out of the market to main street, I noticed a coffee house that looked brand new.  We decided to check it out and discovered this “oasis” of calm.  Lattes, smoothies, fresh sandwiches, pastries, an assortment of souvenirs including postcards and bulk coffee.  Three local women were working, this was the third day they were open.  We found out later that the owner, from Germany, had been living at Springlands for the past three months while getting the shop built out.  At the coffee house we met three young women from Holland who were spending three months in Moshi doing medical research.  We all agreed that this place was a good addition to life in Moshi.  I have to admit that it was nice to have a few moments of western culture.

 

 

We continued to walk around town; Marsh was looking for an ATM, and ended up at an outdoor restaurant where Mick and Marsh ordered some food including french fries, which took forever to get.  Even I was getting bored waiting and I love to people watch, which this place was good for.

 

 

 We eventually started heading back to Springlands, Sharon and I were walking ahead of the guys.  I look back at one point and see Mick carrying a large sign.  Sharon and I give each other one of those raised eyebrow looks-“what now?”  The guys walk up with this sign which turns out to be for Vodacom.  They had noticed that it was being put up outside of one of the shops and they decide to buy it for me.  Mick negotiates a price; I gathered that the local guys were just a little surprised by these crazy Americans wanting a Vodacom sign. (Now who's causing international incidents?)  Anyway, I am the owner of this large oval sign – hilarious!  (It is hanging in my office.  Vodacom’s slogan is “we’re here for you” and the sign says this in Swahili.  It makes me laugh.)

 

Sharon and I discovered one shop with Maasai fabrics.  She picked one out and we named a price, but they didn’t like our offer.  We said thanks and walked on.  About five minutes later one of the shop guys runs up to Sharon with the blanket in a plastic bag and says OK to her price.  Like I’ve said before, these deals always seem to work out.  And, luckily for Mick, curio shop dude was away from his post when we walked by, so he was spared once again!

 

Reached Springlands where we found Jane and sat down in the bar area.  We met a group of South Africans celebrating their successful summit climb the day before.  Madil also showed up to have a drink with us and then it was time for Jane to leave.  We took a bunch of final group photos and now we’re down to 5…Somehow lost track of Madil during the goodbyes with Jane…  Sat down for dinner and as usual, the appetizer was the best part.  Sharon looked at me and said “you’re pretty much over these dinners, aren’t you?!”  She was right, eating for fuel.  Right after we sat down, Dismas arrived and we invited him to join us.  He sat and talked with us but refused dinner, even though we kept offering.  (There might be some Zara company rule about this.)  We mentioned to Dismas that Jane had put together a bag of gear for him and it should be at the reception desk.  Well, it was nowhere to be found and Maria, who works at the desk said she hadn’t seen it.  Somehow it disappeared.  Oops…who knows?  Mick had a few extra things which he gave to Dismas; I think this helped alleviate an awkward situation. 

 

Dismas is so sweet and gracious.  He told us “thank you for letting me share your table tonight.”  He loved flirting with the wait staff too J.  At the end of dinner the South African group, who were celebrating a birthday, passed around a cake.  It was the only sweet baked item we had at Springlands.  Even Dismas had a piece!  After dinner, Marsh and I said our goodbyes to Mick, Sharon and Roger.  We were leaving for Zanzibar at 5:30 AM the next morning.  Madil showed up again, said he came back specifically to say goodbye to our group, and wanted us to know “that now you have a friend in Tanzania.”  Yes, we are blessed with hospitality and friendship from these wonderful folks. 

 

 

Next up:  Zanzibar, but give me some time to get my journal transcribed and uploaded.  Check back soon and thanks for reading!  Here's a preview:

 

Sunrise

 

 

Stone Town Fish Market

 

Stone Town

 

 

 

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