Good-bye Zanzibar, welcome Tampere (and Germany!)

Apologies for not updating for some time. My last weeks and days in Zanzibar were frankly just too hectic: trying to photocopy, write down, interview and otherwise absorb as much information as possible. On the research process and exhilirating interview experiences I will write something later in Finnish - let's just say that it involved dirty jokes and phrases such as "Patria o muerte, venceremos!"...

Thus I left Z'bar on Wednesday, with my new, heavy bag full of books and papers. I left most of my stuff at a friend's place in Dar so that exploring Tanzania would be a little less painful. Unfortunately I only have one week for my little tour, because I have to be (well, I don't HAVE TO be, but I kind of want to...) back in Dar for the Finnish independence day on the 6th of December, since all Finnish ex-pats are invited for the reception at the ambassador's residence.

After leaving Z'bar I stayed one night in Dar and continued then to Bagamoyo again. Mainly because it is close enough (just one hour by bus from Dar) and also one of the few places you can still get transport after 10am (most buses basicly everywhere leave before 9am). I had still some sights to visit there, too - I saw Kaole ruins with a mosque dating either 7th or 12th-13th century (it is not easy to be an archeologist or what !?) together with several tombs of eminent Muslims around and after that time. The well near the mosque is told to hold blessed water, maji ya baraka, and one of the tombs had incense and coins inside, left there as offerings. I was being told by the guide that even president Julius Kambarage Nyerere had been there asking for a blessing before the independence of Tanganyika (in 1964 changing its name into Tanzania, after forming the Union with Zanzibar). My little bicycle trip (10 kms or so) to Kaole demonstrated that three months is apparently not enough to form a protective tan against the rays of African sun, because during those two hours of cycling I managed to burn myself. Nordic skin is really not meant to stay here...

After one night in Dar, on Saturday I really took off. I would like to describe yesterday as a day of minor disappointments. The first was that I didn't get a bus to Lushoto as I was hoping for. I had read about the infernal bus station in Dar, and although it was smaller than I expected, it was indeed quite frustrating. It felt more like playing a part in a farce, when half a dozen of guys are yelling at each other, all fighting over the obvious commission on the bus ticket they were trying to sell me. After a while I just sighed, refused to give my money to anyone before seeing the actual bus and went inside to wait for the end result of the quarrel. Then I decided that instead of taking some shady bus company with no brakes and a maniac driver (I'm not overexaggerating that much!) I would change my destination from Lushoto to Tanga and opt for the most appealing bus company, at least by name: Scandinavia Express. The bus itself wasn't that disappointing though, but I didn't quite see the "semi luxury" that was promised...But hey, I did get two seats for myself + free water bottle and crackers!

The driver was being extraordinarily slow - there must've been something wrong with the bus - so we arrived in Tanga almost six hours later (was supposed to take 4-5 hours). I misread my map in the guide book and didn't thus quite find the places on the map, reading it from the wrong side of the railway tracks. Also, all the inexpensive hotels in the centre of town seemed to be full, because dozens of football players were practising there since two weeks. I managed to get a room from the third place I asked, from MK Inn (forgot to ask what those MK stand for), which must be one of the tallest and ugliest buildings in whole of Tanga. After finding a place to stay, I needed some food. Which was again a somewhat disappointing experience. Being tired and hungry, I opted for a thali in Patwas Restaurant, supposedly an Indian place. What I got looked and tasted mistakingly like Finnish pea soup with rice. Which would be fine, if you weren's paying 5000 TSH (3 euros, double the price for local Tanzanian food) and expecting to have a spicy Indian dish. Pouring the remainders of the chilli sauce botttle on top of the plate didn't really change the taste. Yep, it was pea soup.

At this point I should probably explain the title of this post - to me Tanga somehow looks like Tampere of Tanzania. Tanga is supposed to be the 3rd biggest town in Tanzania (a bit like Tampere in Finland?), it has straight, surfaced streets, little shops, factories, but it is very calm. Although the lakes are replaced by the Indian Ocean and mustamakkara by Indian food and chicken & chips. And it is humid with + 30 degrees Celsius...but still, it felt like Tampere to me! I also went out in the evening to a club called La Casa Chica. Didn't see the football players - or I don't know if would recognise them anyway without socks and shorts - but then I met some crazy South Africans, Scandinavians and a white Swahili ("my father is from Pemba, my mother from Mombasa"). So today I am a bit tired :)

As for the Germany, just a brief comment: I managed to get to Lushoto today finally, after 5 hours of travelling. I expected a lot from Lushoto - that it would be hilly, green and cold. My expectations were more than fulfilled, I am totally in love with this place! It feels so refreshing after sweating on the coast for three months, people are genuinely nice, there are lots of flowers everywhere and...it is just nice. The German aspect comes from the houses, many of which look very pretty, clean, and are made of bricks - haven't seen that in other places. During German colonial rule Lushoto was called Wilhelmstaal, and was apparently quite important then. But anyway, I'm liking it, and staying here at least until Tuesday!