It's Already Been a Whole Month

This is the "street" that I live on

It has been a little while since my last blog post as I have been getting settled and have not had all that much to report. Rubya is a small place, not a lot happens here. The main event of the week is the market on Sunday. Going to the market is not like popping into Loblaws. The market has your basic items – some veggies, fruits, rice, beans, eggs if you get there early etc. There are also a lot of random items. A quick glance will not give you an idea of one’s inventory, you really need to stop and take a look. If you’re looking for kitchenware for example you may have to go to multiple vendors. The first vendor may have forks but no spoons, the next one might have spoons and mugs, and the next might have a tea pot. If you want a knife, good luck to you. They’re hard to come by. I’m not sure how people manage to cut things.  

On the way to the market in Rubya

Now for any items other than the very basic, one must travel into Bukoba which is the capital of the Kegera region (where I am). Bukoba is about 80km away from Rubya and takes about 2 hours to get to. Getting there is not comfortable.There is a taxi stand near my home and there are generally a few cars and piki pikis (motorcycles) there to take people about – that’s right, even motorcycles qualify as taxis here. I haven’t done any price shopping on the piki piki rides as I am definitely NOT interested as they get into accidents all the time, so I’m not sure how the prices compare to the cars. Either way though, a piki piki can take not one, but two passengers. No, they are not specially designed motorcycles with an extra seat or anything. They are second had Chinese bikes that look like they might fall apart if challenged by a bump in the road. More passengers equals more money, so if they can squeeze one on, they will. The cars are also mostly second hand and do not look to be in the best condition. In order to get to Bukoba the first step is getting a ride with a shared taxi into Muleba, this takes about an hour. When you arrive at the taxi you will have to wait to depart until it is full, that or pay for the extra seat(s). Much like the piki piki, more passengers equals more money. Four people in the back seat and 2 people sitting in the front along with the driver would qualify for the car to get on its way. Now there are apparently traffic laws in Tanzania and I’m told that they are enforced from time to time. Because of this the shared taxi will often take back roads that are unpaved and full of pot holes rather than the main road in order to avoid police. Durring my first shared taxi experience our driver spotted a police officer so he pulled over to the side of the road and one of the front seat passengers was booted out. They must have discussed this prior (my Swahili is still quite weak, so I have no idea what is discussed most of the time) because about 10 minutes later we looped around and picked him up again.  The taxi will not go out of its way to drop you off, but it will stop wherever you like. Durring my first shared taxi experience the car stopped and I thought ‘thank goodness, someone is getting off.... I hope it’s the not-so-fresh smelling person’. 

Weekday market in Rubya

 Boy was I in for a surprise..... the driver was stopping to pick someone up! Now I will remind you, there were currently FOUR of us in the backseat and THREE in the front seat and we were picking up one more! The eighth person piled into the front seat with the driver and was almost sitting on his lap. The car was a manual. I have no idea how the driver managed because as far as I could see there was absolutely no way for him to maneuver both of his feet to control the pedals and the clutch. What a relief it was to get out of that car.... and into a dala dala. The dala dala from Muleba to Bukoba also takes about an hour. The dala dala vans have seating for about 15 or so people. Guess how many people actually ride on one? At least 25-35 I would say. It is ridiculous how they pack people in. And if there isn’t enough room then someone will just have to ride hanging out of the door. The secret here is to get in the front seat with the driver.... that way there will be only one person sitting next to you and there won’t be butts and armpits shoved into your face as they cram extra passengers on. The dala dala to Bukoba stops A LOT...... and just when you think that they cannot cram any more people in, the driver will stop to pick up 5 more. Safety is not a number one priority when it comes to transportation here in Tanzania.

Random huge bird in Bukoba

Once finally arriving in Bukoba you can do some shopping, dine in one of the restaurants or grab a cold beer. Many Tanzanian’s drink their beer warm (I suppose this is likely because not everyone has a fridge or electricity so they are used to drinking it warm) so in some places cold beer actually is not available. While the shopping in Bukoba still leaves much to be desired, I am happy to report that I found the liquor store and it sells nice South African wine.  I haven’t yet had an opportunity to spend the night in Bukoba but there are several hotels that offer luxuries such as hot water at very affordable prices. For two reasons I have a feeling that I will be in Bukoba, despite the long journey, quite often; firstly, there is not a lot to do in Rubya and I’m sure it will generally be a welcomed treat to have a nice hot shower and also somewhere to go. Secondly, if I want to eat then I really need to do a fair chunk of my shopping there and seeing as there isn’t a lot of room on the dala dala or in the taxi, there are limits on the amount of stuff I can bring back. Oh..... and I guess I should change that to three reasons!.... Wine! (of which there is none in Rubya.) 

Despite the long and uncomfortable journey to Bukoba, it is nice to visit there as it is a nice town and there are also quite a few other VSO volunteers in the area who head to Bukoba on weekends. It is also a necessity to visit as I really do need to buy things there. One of the things that I have discovered since being here is that nothing is easy in Africa, everything takes 10 times longer than it would at home.  And on that note.... I think it’s time for me to get back to boiling water.

Miss you all,

V