February 27, 2009
Moshi – Arrived from Dar es Salaam today. Twenty Peace Corps volunteers are coming up to run the Kilimanjaro marathon, a big event. One volunteer booked rooms for all of us at a hotel, the YMCA, back in December; she also confirmed two weeks ago and again once this last week. Of course they had forgotten us and given up our rooms, so this volunteer (Leiha Costa) spent two hours arguing. The clerk smiled and didn’t help us, but eventually the manager showed up and like magic, extra beds appeared.
Arusha and Moshi are the two big tourist centers in Tanzania; the road between Dar es Salaam and these two northern cities is well paved, the bus lines are luxurious. The scenery is gorgeous, desert and scrubland interspersed with large sisal plantations and occasional rocky outcrops. The crowded, decrepit villages which mark the entirety of the Mtwara-Masasi area are mostly absent. Haven’t seen much of Moshi itself but so far it feels like Kisumu without bicycle taxis. Kilimanjaro is covered in clouds.