Rabbits, Chickens, and a Man in a Royal Blue Suit

 Soap operas are the same all over the world. I’m sitting in a darkened dining room, with no other customers, drinking some Masala chai and watching television with three young servers. Every time someone cries on the TV, I ask them “now, why is she crying?!” They just laugh and give me the basics of the plot, like “it’s her relationship.” “Of course it is, I say. It is always the relationship.”

Luis and I woke up early this morning, still a little groggy but adrenalin-powered to face our first full day. We had a buffet-style breakfast at the hotel: eggs, bacon, potatoes, breads, fruit, and cereal – all standard fare for a Western breakfast – but also baked beans in a tomato sauce, root vegetables (yams and something else) and a thin wheat crepe fried in oil or butter. It was tasty and the coffee was good. Thank god for good coffee.

Out of the window I noticed a white rabbit nibbling on some grass. In true Alice-style, I jumped up and ran after it. It turns out there is an entire rabbit colony living on the hotel grounds. They get fed collard greens by the staff and allow you to get fairly close. The tiny ones are kept inside a hutch – five baby rabbits – and I stood there for a while feeding them pieces of collard. So soft! What a wonderful surprise.

After breakfast we piled into a bus with a group of hotel guests for a shopping tour and ride around Arusha town with our driver from last night, Emanuel. This group is leaving for the mountain in the morning, and Luis was able to chat with them a bit about gear and strategy. Driving around in the light, we could see the streets full of people – women walking with bunches of bananas perched on their heads, men waiting at motorcycle taxis, and workers pushing large carts with construction materials. Driving on the left side of the road is a little disconcerting, especially when it’s common for trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians, goats…to cross right in front of you at any time. (Photo below: Emanuel, our driver, on the left)

Our first stop was the Cultural Heritage Center – a compound of shops heavy on the shopping and light on the heritage. But we didn’t mind at all, as we went into store after store of fantastic and colorful handcrafted items. My favorite was the Maasai Village shop, where a woman was demonstrating beadwork. My favorite purchase there was a pair of leather strap earrings, anchored by a large metal spiral. The strap is at least ¾” wide, and fits through a woman’s pierced ear, while the metal acts as a weight to stretch the lobe.

Our second stop was a second compound of shops and demonstration areas, called Shanga. This NGO provides employment for disabled adults in crafts: glass blowing, beading and making glass beads, recycling aluminum, weaving, and sewing. Each purchase comes in a bag made on site from newspapers. I ordered a cold, refreshing pressed ginger drink with lemon in the small posh café. Apparently, George Clooney – yes that one – visited last year with Amal. Ooh.

After a bumpy but short ride through downtown Arusha, we agreed that we all wanted local food for lunch. The van pulled into the MILESTONE RESTAURANT where we were only one of two tables of mzungus (non-Africans) in the place. Emanuel introduced us to the maître-d – a compact and very dapper man in a royal blue suit. He walked us past the kitchen to show us the barbecue first before seating us. We ate “family style” a meal of soup, chicken, plantains, goat, greens, French fries and ugali. 

Ugali is the basic starch here (in addition to potatoes which also seem very common). It’s like a dry mound of grits, but even finer – maybe the consistency is more like powdered mashed potatoes. The technique for eating ugali consists of picking some up with your right hand – always the right hand – rolling it around to make a circle, squishing the circle, and using it to scoop up whatever stewy goodness it is served with. Several times during the meal a man delivering 4-5 live chickens in each hand walked through the patio into the other open section of the restaurant. I guess you can call this truly “farm to table.” We stared wild-eyed and immediately pulled out our cameras. It goes without saying that none of the locals batted an eye. Our "2.5 hour tour" turned into a 5 hour tour, and we all enjoyed it.

I’m going out of my way to talk to everyone I can. I’ve learned the names of all the staff that have helped me today, the Tanzanian handshake, and a bunch of Swahili words. Emanuel says I’m “chummy” and that is “what he likes about me.” J How distracting to only talk about your cameras, and surfing in Hermosa Beach, and all your past hiking experiences when you have suddenly been immersed in a completely different way of life and there is so much to understand! I guess it’s my anthropologists’ compulsion – to find out everything I can about everything I can. Importantly, I want to connect with everyone I can in whatever way I can.