I've now participated in two events unique to the Tanzanian and/or East African experience....daladalas and nyama choma.
Daladalas are old Toyota vans and you see them all over the place here in Moshi. They are usually crammed to the brim with mamas, babas, bwanas, bibis, boys, girls, nuns and sometimes even chickens (live chickens). You stand at the daladala stand, wait for it to slow down, then you, along with at least 5-10 other people try to cram your way onto an already full bus. You have to put all common "North American" sense aside along with visions of being hurling out of a moving bus and just jump right on. Somehow everyone manages to squish their way in and squish their way out and the daladala driver (and his assistant) manage to keep track, without tickets or tokens, who has paid and who hasn't. It's the cheapest ride around...(300 Schillings = 30 cents) and you can get to just about anywhere. You knock really hard on the window and the bus will stop to let you out. The main problem I can see is being able to see where you are going when you are standing up in a bus, hanging on to a bar (or Jen's arm) for dear life, with half of your body hanging out of the door. So far so good though..although I read in my Rough Guide to Tanzania last night that the Moshi-Arusha highway (the one we will be on most of the time) is the most dangerous in Tanzania. It doesn't surprise me...the roads here are mostly potholes.
However even potholes come with their advantages. Pat told me about one enterprising individual who lives near Seminar Block (our dormitory) has a wheelbarrow full of dirt which he uses to fill in the pot holes in the road. He then sets up rocks and charges passing cars a "toll" to go by. Here's a ministry of transportation that actually gets things done! Although I did ask Pat if he fills the same holes all day, or if he fills the holes, collects the tax, then at the end of the night collects his dirt, goes home, and starts all over again the next day. This remains to be seen...I'll have to watch out for him.
Last night, I finally tried "nyama choma" at the Green Garden Bar (right by the university). Nyama Choma is char-grilled meat, often accompanied with grilled plantains and chili sauce. Traditionally the meat is beef, but they were only serving chicken and goat while we were there. You have to go over to the booth where they grill the meat to order, and as we were trying to decide between goat and chicken, I looked down and saw a goat's tail on the counter...and decided right then and there I wanted chicken. Although the presence of the tail relates to the freshness of the meat, so that was reassuring.
We had a great time, trying to eat the chicken, and trying to identify which part we were eating. (They chop it up into bite-sized pieces and bring it to your table on a platter) Somehow (thanks Pat!) we got it into our heads that one of the unidentifiable pieces was the head...and even though they never serve the head...I got scared at least twice into thinking a certain piece was the head (Check facebook for photos). The meat was tasty (there are no spices added it's just grilled), the service was there (although slow....everything is more laid back here and it took almost 1.5 hours to get served), and we had a lot of laughs eating the chicken. What a bunch of weirdos :)
Daladalas are old Toyota vans and you see them all over the place here in Moshi. They are usually crammed to the brim with mamas, babas, bwanas, bibis, boys, girls, nuns and sometimes even chickens (live chickens). You stand at the daladala stand, wait for it to slow down, then you, along with at least 5-10 other people try to cram your way onto an already full bus. You have to put all common "North American" sense aside along with visions of being hurling out of a moving bus and just jump right on. Somehow everyone manages to squish their way in and squish their way out and the daladala driver (and his assistant) manage to keep track, without tickets or tokens, who has paid and who hasn't. It's the cheapest ride around...(300 Schillings = 30 cents) and you can get to just about anywhere. You knock really hard on the window and the bus will stop to let you out. The main problem I can see is being able to see where you are going when you are standing up in a bus, hanging on to a bar (or Jen's arm) for dear life, with half of your body hanging out of the door. So far so good though..although I read in my Rough Guide to Tanzania last night that the Moshi-Arusha highway (the one we will be on most of the time) is the most dangerous in Tanzania. It doesn't surprise me...the roads here are mostly potholes.
However even potholes come with their advantages. Pat told me about one enterprising individual who lives near Seminar Block (our dormitory) has a wheelbarrow full of dirt which he uses to fill in the pot holes in the road. He then sets up rocks and charges passing cars a "toll" to go by. Here's a ministry of transportation that actually gets things done! Although I did ask Pat if he fills the same holes all day, or if he fills the holes, collects the tax, then at the end of the night collects his dirt, goes home, and starts all over again the next day. This remains to be seen...I'll have to watch out for him.
Last night, I finally tried "nyama choma" at the Green Garden Bar (right by the university). Nyama Choma is char-grilled meat, often accompanied with grilled plantains and chili sauce. Traditionally the meat is beef, but they were only serving chicken and goat while we were there. You have to go over to the booth where they grill the meat to order, and as we were trying to decide between goat and chicken, I looked down and saw a goat's tail on the counter...and decided right then and there I wanted chicken. Although the presence of the tail relates to the freshness of the meat, so that was reassuring.
We had a great time, trying to eat the chicken, and trying to identify which part we were eating. (They chop it up into bite-sized pieces and bring it to your table on a platter) Somehow (thanks Pat!) we got it into our heads that one of the unidentifiable pieces was the head...and even though they never serve the head...I got scared at least twice into thinking a certain piece was the head (Check facebook for photos). The meat was tasty (there are no spices added it's just grilled), the service was there (although slow....everything is more laid back here and it took almost 1.5 hours to get served), and we had a lot of laughs eating the chicken. What a bunch of weirdos :)
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