It's Grasshopper Season!

So it’s currently rainy season here in Tanzania, and more rain equals more grasshoppers. The locals are wild about grasshoppers..... as a tasty snack. They buy them by the bag full, or bucket full and rip off their little green wings and legs while they are still alive and then they deep-fry them.  They seriously love them here. I was in Bukoba for the weekend and they were for sale everywhere. You can buy live ones, or already prepared ones. I thought about trying one, but I didn’t... but the rains aren’t over yet so who knows, maybe I will still work up the courage to sample one. The rainy season also means that there are other bugs that come out. Really big ones. The bugs here are enormous.  I’m not really sure why grasshoppers are favoured over other possibly tasty creepy crawlies, but they are. 

It was a nice weekend in Bukoba. I had a chance to do some shopping as well as to enjoy the sun a bit while hanging out by the pool and having a cold beer. There might not be a tonne of things to do in Bukoba, but I would say that hanging out by the pool and getting slightly day-drunk is a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Although I did not purchase any grasshoppers, I did come back with some wine as well as some cheese – two items that are not available in Rubya where I live. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so rather than writing a long blog post, here are a few photos taken in Rubya and Bukoba to give you a bit of an idea of where I live and what my surroundings are like.

Miss you all,

V

This is the tree lined road that leads into Rubya

There is a gorgeous view from just about everywhere in Rubya

This is the front entrance to the hospital where I work

These guys had to move this shipping container about 100 metres... It took them all afternoon, but they were successful

Nothing is easy here...

A Tanzanian woman and her baby. Babies are always carried strapped to someone’s back, and I don’t think men ever carry babies, although it is not uncommon to see a 5 or 6 year old girl helping out her mother with the baby strapped to her back.

A huge bug hanging outside my side door

This is an almost empty bag of grasshoppers..... I tried to get a photo of it when it was full but the crowds of people wanting to purchase some prevented me from snapping one

These bags are full of grasshoppers.....

And if you don’t want to go through the hassle of preparing the grasshoppers yourself, not to worry! Just about every shop has some for sale. Yup.... those containers are full of fried grasshoppers.

The view from the pool in Bukoba where I relaxed and enjoyed some sun.