Barjamot to ??? - Day 349

Date: August 2nd, 2010
Distance: 12km plus cheating by truck(s).
Country: Tanzania

Left Barjamot early in the morning. Megan, thanks for letting me stay. I had such a wonderful time. I'll have some good food here for you.

I was taking a dala-dala (bigger than a van but smaller than a bus, also 4WD) to Babati. It was supposed to leave at 4:30 AM. When I got there it was me, a couple of women and a bunch of school kids getting a ride to the next town. I think it would have been out on time if the battery wasn't dead. We tried to push start the thing for a bit, but 6 kids one woman and me wasn't enough. So the driver ran off for a bit, I thought he was getting a mechanic. Instead he came back with a tractor. Even that took a couple of tries as the rope kept coming loose. (I was afraid that they were going to pull the bumper of the dala-dala.) On the third try the thing started and we were on our way.

I stopped in Babati for some breakfast and then went out to look for a truck to Arusha. I didn't want to take another bus. The last bus trip was that bad. Eventually I found a truck was happy to take me. I was glad for the ride but it was slow. It was only a couple of hours before dark when we got to Arusha.

I rode through town and got around most of the traffic. On the other side I found a driver who was going to Moshi. I thought I could take a bus from there. As it turned out the driver was taking his little truck all the way to Dar. So I figured I would go along with him. In talking with Joseph, the driver, I learned that he takes chickens to Arusha just about every week. On the return trip though he is always looking for cargo. He also had his own complaints about the speed bumps. It really doesn't matter what speed you go at, they rattle the vehicle way too much.

We did pick up some cargo in a little town along the route. It was just two bags of fish though and it wasn't going very far. After we dropped that off we stopped at a little place outside of Same for food. After dinner Joseph said he and his mechanic were going to rest for a couple of hours. I wasn't quite sure where they were going to stay. It turns out they were going to sleep in the truck. So I unrolled my sleeping pad and slept in the bed of the truck. It wasn't bad actually. Life brings you to weird places.

-Dravis