Christmas Day, Sunday 25 December
Wished each other "Merry Christmas in Africa", to the strains of Perry Como singing "Jungle Bells" from the next door neighbours … had to laugh when we heard "dashing through the snow, on a one horse open sleigh", incongruous in Australia, but 10 times more so here in tropical Arusha, Tanzania. Seeing a Santa Claus dummy outside Shop Rite a couple of days ago was bizarre, but hearing Bony M's Chrissy carols everywhere has a tinge of ridiculousness about it! Not forgetting that Christianity is big here … many mornings we've heard the muslim call to prayer as well, but not lately …
Anyway, off to the kitchen, to get things underway before the heat, and before Stella givers us the deathstare for trespassing in her kitchen, haha. Added mayonnaise to the coleslaw and peas and onions and mayonnaise to the potato salad. Then it was time to start chopping up pineapple, watermelon, apple for the fruit salad, empty a tin of sliced peaches into it, sliced bananas, topped with diced up strawberry jelly that had set overnight. We had heaps of bananas, watermelon and pineapple left over to make up a big platter of fruit. Stella couldn't help herself and was assisting in all of this … as well as slicing up cucumber and tomatoes for a simple salad. In the meantime, Daudi started up the charcoal cooker in the open area in front of the kitchen, and Diana put the large pot containing the makandi - the masai and bean dish - on that cooker, which needs a couple of hours or so. We had finished our bit, and it was time to grab the Chrissy cards with money enclosed for Stella, Diana and Daudi, which was greeted with much happiness, hugs and kisses. Adijai is not well, and Judy is at church, so they'll get theirs later on. Time for our brekky, which we had in the grassed area in front of reception. Stella and Diana's job was the get the rice, spinach, and chicken prepared for a hopeful 1pm lunch party. Another bright, sunny day, and we're hoping perhaps it might be a cooler day, but methinks not! Heard that the chicken was boiled - frozen, not let to thaw out first! - then deep fried in oil - erkkkkkkkk! Not going to be tempted, even though I can't remember when we last ate decent chicken … probably in a tagine in Morocco, which now seems forever ago, a distant dream …
We finished our brekky, put the bowls and utensils in the kitchen, time for our showers. Adijai arrived later on, with rashes on her arms, she had to go to hospital for treatment - Sheryl gave her her card and pressie, but Adijai will not be here for lunch. Checked on emails, and in the meantime Judy had arrived from church - Sheryl said she was all dressed up and looked great. Stacey rang a little after 11am, and Sheryl had a chat with Reece as well as Lockie, and I had a short chat with Stacey - seems Melbourne is having huge thunderstorms while we are sweltering! A while later we found Judy in the lounge and we gave her her card and pressie and wished her Merry Christmas - she was delighted.
We needed to get a couple more tables out onto the grassed area, plus more chairs, so we organised that. The heat was increasing, as was the humidity. Stella had by then asked us to load the tables with all the food, as it was pretty much ready, and we grabbed our salads from our fridge. We sat under the umbrella, trying to stay cool, and waited for our guests to arrive.
Towards 1pm Loveness and Samwel arrived, greeting eachother warmly. I decided to change back into my shorts and crocs, as it was just too damn hot. The children - Grace, Wilsum, Irene, Daudi, Abduli and Godfrey - arrived with Joyce, then Elizabeth and her friend Judy [who always seems to look so sad] , later Dora and Hilda [Peter Makemo's eldest]. Water was put on the tables, later some sodas which I opened and poured out for whoever wanted them. After a while we decided we needed to get people eating so we took off the cling wrap and pot covers and invited everyone to help themselves. Tall Doudi arrived, along with Ali, a friend, whom we've met a couple of times before. James was quite late, and arrived with his cousin.
So music was playing, people were eating and drinking, it was a little on the subdued side, but the plates were piled high so noone was going hungry today, especially Loveness, who Sheryl swears must have returned for 2nds and 3rds, each plate as full as the last! Have noticed the men especially pile their plates high when eating at a buffet, I guess they need to fill their bellies when they can. Here the children eat everything without complaint, or being fussy as we know so many Aussie kids to be - no choice here, either you eat what's put in front of you, or you go hungry!
At one point, after most people had had their fill, James asked what was next for the ceremony, as if this was a big, formal occasion, as if we needed to make a speech, so we turned down the music and Sheryl welcomed everyone, thanked the Otakef staff for their huge help today, and with James as interpreter, said something like we hope 2012 will be a lot easier for the extremely hard working Joyce and Samwel, etc. Samwel then stood up - again James interpreted - and made a good, long speech, thanking us, welcoming us, saying we've been the only ones to assist NOCET, etc, to much applause.
We all settled down to relaxing, chatting, playing with the children, dancing - the young ladies Judy and Hilda showing a form of Tanzanian "line-dance" - taking photos - the children and young ladies delighted in "posing", asking us to take yet another photo and laugh and giggle at seeing the result on the camera screen; took footage of the kids doing the limbo. Isaac and his wife and young baby daughter arrived just as we were putting the salads into our fridge, but they had some of the food that was on the tables.
Time wore on, and James asked if there were any other formalities for the afternoon - no, haha, I said this was just a simple Christmas lunch, mainly for the children, and not a formal occasion - and we took all the food away, seeing that pretty much everyone had stopped eating, as well as the dishes and cutlery, pots, etc. We did the dishes in the kitchen, 2 sodas arrived with Stella, saying they were from Isaac. Finished the dishes, dried them, put as much of the crockery, cutlery, pots and pans away as possible; there was heaps of rice and makandi left over, as well as some chicken - I know what we'll be having for the rest of the week for dinner, haha! Also some fruit from the platter left over as well. Secretly hope the Otakef staff eat as much of that as possible for their lunches and dinners …
We returned, and took some pix for the website, and people started to leave. The kids, Joyce, Samwel and Loveness were last to leave, and we escorted them a short distance past the next door neighbours houses before saying our goodbyes. The extra tables and chairs had been returned to the laundryroom earlier on, so we didn't have anything else to do. Saw Judy and asked about drinks and how much we needed to pay - 2 large waters [TZS1200], 2 small waters [TZS600] and 24 x sodas [@ TZS700 each] = TZS20,400 [about AUD12.50!]. How cheap was that?! The 2nd crate of cold sodas was on Isaac. Lolly bags to Diana and Judy, as we had some left over.
We said our goodnight to Judy and Diana, and a few people left in the grassed area, to our room to have our lolly bags and cuppas. We were too full and decided not to have any dinner.
Monday, Boxing Day — Just like in Australia, it was a day of rest and getting over the day before! We decided we weren't going to move from Otakef, for noone and for nothing! have woken up with sunburn to my face and head.
A slow day, a light breakfast, and the day started off cool and overcast but it soon started to heat up as the sun burnt off the cloud. We caught up on emails and Sheryl did some work on the NOCET budget, trying to pin down what's what with school fees and uniforms, based on the latest info on the children fully and partially supported by NOCET. I also backed up the latest pix and videos, then chose pix to upload to Facebook as we've been asked by some people to do so as they are very curious. It took ages, and I also added captions to those pix.
Whilst I was finishing up Sheryl went with Judy to chose our next room, and started to move things in. I helped and then we also managed to move the fridge, and set up the room nicely. We now have a western toilet, but the globe in the bathroom doesn't work - tried replacing it with a few others, but they didn't work either - Judy will organise to buy a new one later on this afternoon. We relaxed more.
Time for lunch after 1pm, we had most of the leftover salads from yesterday, sharing with Judy on the grassed area. Nothing much to report on for the afternoon, just tried to keep cool and not do very much. Had dinner, again with Judy, reheated beans and maize on french toast - we braved the kitchen and Stella to make the french toast, tried to tempt Stella and Daudi to try it, but they didn't look all that convinced it was edible, haha.
Wednesday 28 December 2011
Monday 26 December 2011
Second week in Arusha
When we attended church on Saturday, we were invited to a wedding on the following day, which was quite an honour, seeing as we are just "mzungu strangers". Samwel arrived not long after noon, in order to guide us to the church, and were quite early, as there weren't many people there. We were introduced to some ladies and a young man, and we chatted as best we could with them. Another beautiful sunny day, with clouds building. The wedding was to start at 1pm, at the front of the church was a table with white satin tablecloth, and 4 highbacked chairs, with white satin seatcovers, the backs tied with maroon ribbon. The church benches were lined up along the long edges of the church, 3 rows each side.
There was a man playing/practicing on a keyboard, and after a while, some young men huddled him around singing. We all waited and waited, the choir, most of whom sung yesterday, went thru 4 or 5 songs, while the bride arrived and sat in her car, and everyone wondered what was going on: found out we were waiting on the pastor to arrive. A little girl, daughter of one of the lady choir members joined us, and we kept her entertained, and she was delightful as she sang along with the songs in a little high-pitched voice, she was gorgeous.
At around 5pm, some 4 hours later, the wedding ceremony proceeded. A kind of wedding march was played on the keyboards, first 2 boys in little black suits, side by side, slowly stepped in, first one foot, then the other, each holding a n embroidered pillow, then 2 sets of 2 young girls sprinkling glitter on the floor, then 3 bridesmaids, singly, then 2 teenage girls holding cans of spray foam stuff that they sprayed every now and then. Then 3 bridesmaids stepped in, holding small bouquets of flowers which they waved from side to side in time with the music, accompanied by 3 groomsmen, each holding a white handkerchief, which they waved from side to side too. The colour of the wedding was aqua and white, all the girls and ladies were dressed in combinations of those colours, aqua dresses with small white jackets; the groomsmen in dark grey trousers, satin aqua shirts, white ties, dark grey vests. Once all had arrived, they split themselves in 2 lines on opposite sides of the church, in front of the benches, stepping and waving their flowers/handkerchiefs. It was then time for the bride and matron of honour to enter from the rear of the church, and for the groom and best man to enter from the front side of the church.
We felt so sorry for the bride, to have to have stayed in the car all those hours, but she looked great, in her traditional big white wedding dress and veil and large bouquet of flowers. The groom and best man were in dark grey suits, white shirts, aqua ties. matron of honour in a white dress and jacket. All of the groomsmen were also part of the choir, so they were kept busy! Once everyone had arrived, the ceremony commenced, with a long service, then all the official stuff, so after an hour or so we had a married couple, with happy parents, family and friends and mzungo onlookers who were relieved that the wedding actually went ahead! All the guests got themselves walking or in cars to head off to the party, we didn't attend as it was getting late - and dark - for other reasons as well. A long, drawnout day, tired we returned to our hotel for r+r and dinner, and an early night.
On Monday we spent a couple of hours at the Orphanage, teaching some basic English greetings and breaking up the learning with some games. There were 2 extra boys who joined in, one 12, the other 13, who came in on their holiday time for extra English learning. We returned to the hotel at 12 for a meeting with Samwel, Peter and James, to go thru the monthly expenses for the Orphanage, and to see if rent at a bigger, better house is affordable, taking into account any fundraising we are able to generate. It took much to-ing and fro-ing, with peter and James acting as prompts and interpreters for Samwel. Finally we got there, and it looks like it's a good possibility.
The next thing to do was to take a look at the 2 houses Samwel has found - a few phone calls needed to be made, and soon we were driving towards Mount Meru Hotel, which is c1.5km closer in to the city than the Otakef, and 10 minutes later we found ourselves in a "nicer" neighbourhood, with many larger houses behind gated and walled compounds. We parked the car, and soon 2 men arrived with the key, and took a look at the house: 3 bedrooms [one a master with ensuite], a kitchen with benches, tiled floors, a decent sized living area, a toilet/shower, electricity, running water [a water tank outside], a small storeroom under the tank, and a grassed area, plenty of space to grow vegies, or for the kids to play; shops not far away, it's quiet, no thru traffic, etc. Not bad, the present renters still had stuff in there, so once fully out would need a clean and tidy and if NOCET decided to rent it, the kids and Joyce will not know themselves! The other positives is that this house is close to Samwel, Joyce, Dora and Elizabeth's house, as well as the church, closer to the city.
We thanked the 2 gentlemen and headed off to another house, which was about 20 minutes away, again in a nicer neighbourhood. This house was bigger: 4 bedrooms [master with ensuite] all with plenty of cupboards, kitchen with pantry, large living area, a second toilet/shower, close to shops and transport; "garden" area all gravelled, with a small grassed area. We found out the first house was TZS300,000/month, this second house TZS400,000/month. The second house has far more potential for expansion, but being so far away from Samwel's house, church and city, would mean transport costs each day, and lots of travel time. Again, we thanked the gentlemen that came to open up for us, and headed off. As the budget looked at rent being TZS400,000, we pretty much came to the conclusion it was far better to rent the cheaper house, which had the other location benefits, so in fact NOCET would be far better off that way.
Our next stop was Peter's house, where we are all invited to an early dinner. It was a further 20 minutes away, heading into lush vegetation, passing by banana and coffee plantations, with fantastic views to the cloud-topped Mt Meru, which dominates the skyline behind Arusha. Peter's house is less than a kilometer from Arusha National Park, and we were told that giraffes are often seen not far away. We were warmly welcomed by Peter's sister Eunice, and Peter's children Faith, Joash and Hilda, as well as another lady who is a pastor's wife and her children, and finally Monica, Peter's wife. They have a nice house, with plenty of garden space, with chooks and vegies, and obviously have more money as they have a nice tv and stereo sound system.
A wonderful, bountiful buffet dinner was prepared, with chicken, potatoes, irish potato leaves with onion, beans, roti, rice with carrots … yum! We all dug in, especially the men. We had fun with Faith and Joash, who quickly overcame their shyness, both enjoying cuddles and tickles and being made a fuss of. It was a very enjoyable time spent with these people, who are very hospitable, and we were made to feel part of the family. The good thing is, by the end of our time there, Samwel had called the agent for the first house and said they'll take the house - looks like a contract will be drawn up in Swahili and English tomorrow, and NOCET will need to pay 4 months rent in advance - there is no bond required, rent is paid every 4 months. Tomorrow Peter and Monica travel to Dar Es Salaam for a medical appointment as Monica suffers from bad asthma, so they'll be away around 3 days.
Tuesday was a big day for us. Firstly we went to NOCET to do some more English and games with the children. Just before the children were given lunch, we left, to return to the hotel, to wait for Samwel and James; Loveness came with us [don't know why]. We had some cool drinks while we waited. Once Samwel and James arrived - more drinks - we methodically went through the monthly expenses for NOCET, and, after quite a long drawnout process, came to the conclusion that it was indeed possible for the orphanage to move to the first house we inspected yesterday, especially if our sponsors in Australia were guaranteed.
We needed to go to an ATM to draw the last of the fundraising cash, before heading off to the house to meet with the agents, to go thru the lease with a finetoothed comb, ask questions about the lease, sign the papers, be witnessed, hand over the 4 months rent in advance, have it counted a number of times, etc, etc … the end result being that, over a number of days, the owner/agent will undertake various repairs and painting to ensure the house is in good condition, that the current tenants move out all their belongings and clean the house, that the final electricity and water bills be paid, so that by the end of December, early January, NOCET can move in. As mentioned before, a comfortable house, with glass in the windows, tiled floors, with running water, electricity, 3 toilets, 2 showers and a bath, a garden, in a nice quiet area … the children will be so excited to be living in a home! I wonder if for some, it will be their first true home environment.
We finally headed for home around 3pm, tired and exhausted by all of the thinking and questions and procedures … we had a little rest, before deciding to walk c1.5 kms down the road to the local small supermarket, where we bought a few things for us. It was good to see our "neighbourhood", to walk down the roads we've driven along each day, especially the incredibly rutted one between the tarred Arusha-Moshi Rd and our hotel, which feels like forever when we're crawling up and down the hill, but is probably only 100m!
Walking down the hill, and on our return, children and others called out to us, hellos, greetings, welcomes, or just smiles and waves. We decided we really need some time to ourselves, after an incredibly hectic 1-and-a-half weeks here. We want to relax and take our time tomorrow, maybe work on the text content of the NOCET website, maybe a walk, whatever. We also want to do some Christmas shopping too, small gifts for the children as well as some other people, maybe brave the city on Thursday?
Wednesday was great, a good, slow day, we took our time with what we wanted to do: relaxed brekky, cleaned the room, put in some washing to be done, emails, text for the NOCET website; we made our lunch, with some croissants, tomato and cheese; more work on the website in the afternoon. It was good not to have to think too much and deal with anyone else; it was also good to relax and spend some time chatting with Judy, the manager here, tell her more about Australia, etc. Forgot to mention she's looking for a husband, and because of her hours here, practically 24/7, she isn't able to meet anyone. We worked on her CV, hoping she may in time land a job at a better hotel, where she may have more chance to meet people - currently we are the only guests here, and hardly anyone turns up - and have more of a 9-5 hours so can be free to go out and meet people. She's 26, speaks reasonably good English, and wants a good man in her life. Any takers?
Speaking about stories, we also found out recently that Elizabeth, who lives at Samwel's house, was orphaned at 5. Her parents were family friends of Samwel and Joyce's. They took her in, and so Dora sees Elizabeth as her sister. Elizabeth is herself a mother, that young Wilsum at the orphanage is her son - he's about 18 months old. Both Dora and Elizabeth want to complete their last year at High School in 2012, and both hope to study courses at Uni in 2013.
And why do mobiles seem to be ubiquitous here? Well, infrastructure of course, or the limitations of it, that is. Easier and cheaper to use mobiles than to instal landlines. It seems only business and government use landlines, most people use mobiles. It's relatively cheap to text, and expensive to make calls. It's funny - ie, bizarre really - how people we may never see again want our number, and for us to add them into our mobile's contacts!
One of the delicious dishes we had at Peter's house earlier this week was called matembele - sweet potato leaves - which are first boiled in a little water, then, fry onion with a little oil and salt, and there you have it, something that looks like spinach, and is yummy! Got to say, that foodwise, it's pretty much cheap and cheerful here, unlike Morocco, where it seems spices and flavour are really important. Understandable, when people have little money to spend on food. We have tasted probably the most delicious pineapple ever here, yummmmm!
Thursday — Both Samwel and James arrived, and it took ages to go thru the website content, with constant to-ing and fro-ing between the 2 of them, and Samwel taking calls, etc. Then it was time to go thru the list of what kids are full time and part time care. It worked out that there are in fact 18 kids on the books, that relatives of 3 of the part time supported children contribute TZS10,000/month. Once that list was sorted time to head off into the city to go to the ATM, but I left the ANZ card back at the hotel, which was very silly of me! Duh! Headed to Milk and Honey Cafe for lunch, which we paid for [less than TZS25000 for the 4 of us]. During lunch found out that Elizabeth's parents were Samwel's brother and sister-in-law, so Elizabeth is Samwel's niece!
We also asked about what was happening for Christmas, what they usually do for Christmas, etc, and once more it was like trying to pin down mercury, conversation to and from between Samwel and James. Noone seems to have given it any more thought, like it was up to us, and bringing up again the idea we had way early that perhaps we go top a park, or national park, which raises the problem of getting people to the place, hiring a van, etc. So, Sheryl suggested asking isaac if we could hold it at Otakef. Samwel called Isaac and it's a goer, we have an OK. So, we said we would buy some food, and perhaps Joyce roast/fry a chicken, etc. That's where it was left when we finished lunch.
To NOCET, great to see the kids again, helped Joyce cart water from c500m away from the orphanage - she had a 20 litre container, Sheryl and I 10 litre ones each, James came to watch! Joyce had to pay - coins - then we walked back home, with Joyce putting her container on her head, 20 kilos! Bloody hell, she does that trip 5 times a day! While I played with the kids, Sheryl was undertaking some discussions with Samwel, James and Joyce. We left c5 or so, but there was another flurry of ideas and notions and "proposals" from James about Christmas, such a huge kefuffle about a simple party! James again trying to work out what Joyce needs to do, etc. It can be REALLY quite wearing and frustrating, and annoying. In the car I said to chillax, it's only a party, not an agenda item for an important meeting! All we need is a chicken roasted or fried, simple as that! Back to the hotel with James, so tired.
Dinner, and long chat with Judy, about Christmas lunch being held at Otakef, food shopping, costs, etc. Judy seems happy about the whole arrangement, and we said all Otakef staff to come too, so could be up to 13 adults and 6 children. We went thru what we need to buy, to cook, etc, looking at it happening at 1pm. Looks like we're going shopping at the market neat Shop Rite with James and either Judy or Stella tomorrow after 10:30am. Came up with a shopping list, which includes purchasing 4 live chooks, and for their slaughter and prep for Sunday lunch! Sheryl prepared a text to Samwel to say food and cooking is taken care of, that Joyce needs to do nothing for the lunch.
We talked about the contrast of relative lifestyles and cost of living between Australia and Tanzania, that our dollar can buy so much more here. For example, we had lunch in the cafe in the city with Samwel and James, and with 4 mains and 4 juices plus tip it was TZS25000 = c.AUD13. We talked about the madness of Christmas for the average Australian, just how much is spent on gifts and food and drink, which Judy couldn't grasp - I told her if we plonked her in the middle of a Westfield shopping centre on any day of the week before Christmas to see the shopping frenzy, her head would simply explode with disbelief! Remembering Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, where the majority of people here live on less than AUD2 per day … being mindful that Judy is on less than AUD100 a month …
Friday — Brekky, then Sheryl wrote up shopping list. James arrived c10:30, once I was ready, Judy had changed into civvies - not her Otakef clothes - we headed off to the petrol station down the road to use the atm - all the notes issued were TZS5000 - so by the time I took out what I needed my pocket was bulging! Off to Shop Rite, where we parked the car, then walked over to the market, over the very busy road, the market also teeming with people, buying, looking, selling, large handcarts, some people riding thru on bikes and motorbikes, a cacophony of sights and sounds, as well as smells … again, nothing like the markets of Morocco, the range of food here is limited to the major vegies and grain and fruits, as well as clothes.
Most of the vegie stalls sold the same range of vegies, like potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, carrots, silverbeet, spinach, cabbage, that's pretty much it. The fruits were mainly pineapple, watermelon, apples, paw paw, bananas, mangoes, coconut … there were small shops selling spices, but in packets, not piled up in beautiful displays as we saw in Morocco, no big stalls selling cakes, pastries, olives, dates, etc … we know we were thoroughly "spoilt" in Morocco - I guess the standard of living maybe was higher there, and perhaps had a history of more of a range of foods and spices than here in poor Tanzania.
Not that I'm comparing in a critical way, but it's quite obvious a difference we're seeing. Anyway, we wandered from seller to seller, picking up vegies as we went - always a negotiation between James and Judy, which took a while, then the purchase - followed by a couple of young boys with their plastic bags. We were supplied a bag by one of the sellers, and bought a big yellow bag from one of the boys, as we were going to carry all our purchases ourselves …
We reached the chicken-seller part of the market - along a wall were coops for chooks, covered with a roof, birds of different sizes. We were there to select 5 birds, and arrange for their slaughter and preparation. The selection took ages and ages - we are getting used to the fact that here everything that needs doing is a slow, drawn out process, which gives you time to stop and look around and maybe swap greetings with the bag-boys and others, etc - finally, after what seemed 30-40 minutes, 5 chooks were chosen - we wanted 5 biggies as we need to feed some 20 people on Sunday, and so the buyer needs to hold them upside down to assess their weight, while the chook might protest a little and then settle to their new position in life … around the corner, out of sight - plus I didn't want to see anything that involved blood and guts - the chooks were quickly killed and the plucking commenced, and then passed onto another man to wash and fully pluck, then another guy washed and gutted them and chopped the feet off - guts going into a bucket for sale - then the birds were placed into a bag for us to carry off … that's that for the chooks! Nothing like selecting a tray from the meat department at Coles or Woolies!
We then purchased some rice, beans and maize, and then onto the fruit stalls, and Judy received a call from her hotel to add to her purchases, so after an age we finally staggered out of the market, back to the car with many bags of produce, lumped them into the boot. We still had the supermarket shopping to do, which took a good while as well, so while James and I were out front with the chooks, the ladies were inside.
Finally done, we piled the groceries into the boot, and walked over to a nearby cafe, set in a grouping of very Western retail shops, to have a late lunch at around 2, 2:30pm. The owner, an Indian lady, spoke to us for a short while as we heard her mention "Melbourne" to a white lady and she noticed her prick up our ears to that word. Sandwiches and drinks for lunch, then the ladies went window-shopping while James had some more to eat and I had my first cappuccino in weeks!
The ladies returned, Sheryl saying there was a lady running a bookshop that comes from Canberra! The Western shops obviously cater for all the mzungu that go shopping at Shop Rite, which is a very Western style supermarket. Many whiteys were around, shopping, eating at the this and other cafes, etc.
We then had to steel ourselves for leaving the parking area, to attempt the right-hand turn onto the main street outside, with a t-junction almost immediately adjacent to the supermarket entry … and you know what I've written about the almost lawless, mad traffic of Arsuha … you have to cater for anyone doing anything walking by foot, on bike and motorbike, pushing or pulling a cart, dalla-dalla, cars, lorries, buses, coming at you in all directions, 2 lanes or more each way even though it's only meant to be 1 lane each way! It took quite a while, with much patience with a dose of assertion and people letting you in [which is rare, but thoroughly appreciated. being close to 3:30 or so, it was pretty much peak hour, so we crawled along this main road towards the inner city, again with people attempting crazy manoeuvers, with great skill, almost breathless with their audacity!
As we were halfway along this road, Judy suddenly announced she needed to buy a charcoal cooker from the inner-city market, so with a suppressed heavy sigh - knowing we had another long wait ahead of us, and more crazy traffic and a crush of people to get thru - we found a park on a side-street, and while Judy and James went off, Sheryl and I sat in the slowly heating car, windows down, looking at the humanity walking by, with the occasional seller trying to entice us to buy potatoes, world maps, or other produce. It seemed like forever, we were hot and bothered, but after at least 30-40 minutes, J+J returned, packed the cooker into the boot, got into the car, airconditioning on at full blast, we backed out and crawled along the road with a mass of people all around the car, slowly moving apart as we progressed, then a left turn, then another, then another to return to the main road, and crawled again … and once we were out of the main city grid, traffic thinned and we were able to move at a faster pace, onwards and onwards to our hotel.
Once at Otakef, we unpacked the car, most of the vegies going into our room fridge, the chooks in the freezer in the kitchen, groceries in our room, in a corner. We were exhausted and needed a cool drink, switched the fan on and collapsed. OMG! Cannot believe it took so long, such great effort, to get that shopping done, it was past 4:30, 5pm by then! We needed to be cooling off and be alone, we had had enough of long drawn-out negotiations and conversation, and the struggle to get simple things achieved! We decided to have tomorrow as a rest day, not go to church, as we will need to organise Christmas cards - which Sheryl bought at a shop near Shop Rite - as well as lolly bags for the children, and prepare and/or make the coleslaw and potato salads, and I want to make jelly for the kids too - maybe some of the adults will want to try it too.
The great thing about having the party at the hotel is that there is a small grassed area with 2 tables and chairs shaded by large umbrellas, adjacent to the hotel lounge/reception - where we usually have brekky and dinner - which has 2 tables and chairs and various armchairs and other seats; there is a fridge laden with cold soda drinks and water; the office has a boom box stereo so we can have music on the day; a toilet round the corner … just hope for a little cooler day as it's so warm and sunny here. Stella and Diana will cook the chooks for us, as well as make the masai beans and maize, and the spinach with carrot dish as well. Should be a good, simple, hearty lunch, with rice, our salads, nibbles, drinks, etc, and Joyce doesn't have to lift a finger [thank goodness]! So, round 12:30, 1pm on Sunday we'll be here surrounded by our Tanzanian friends and some orphans, thinking of home, family and friends …
We thank everyone for your good wishes and support in words, love, kindnesses, emails, messages, as well as financially towards NOCET. You can rest assured the funds that has been raised for NOCET has been wisely spent, and immensely appreciated by all associated with the orphanage organisation. Our Aussie dollar buys perhaps 4-5 times what it does back home in Australia, so a little goes a long way here in Tanzania.
Anyway, during the late afternoon we rested, checked and wrote emails, and then James left c6:30 - he hopes to go visit his aunt tomorrow afternoon and stay the night before returning for the Chrissy lunch. Dinner was the hotel's version of Supergett [brand of spaghetti pasta] Bolognese - we'll have to show them a more western version of it before we leave, as they don't have garlic, tomatoes or tomato paste in their version, probably because they don't know what it should actually taste like, and maybe costs too much, and might also be too rich for their taste … we'll see!
Saturday — Lots of noise, as usual with most mornings, cars being washed, conversations, phone ringing, shouts, humming, whistling, etc. So, off to the kitchen, found our brekky was ready, and so loaded up the tray, to our room, enjoying our meal in quiet. Stella came in with some pieces of mango, and noticed a jar of passionfruit jam Sheryl had bought in yesterday's shop, and she started to undo the tie and paper covering of the lid … then she left … when she later returned, I offered her the jar and spoon to try the jam, and she took the brekky tray as well as a spoon of the jam …
I had made a 2nd cup of coffee, and when I went to the kitchen to return the cup, Doudi, who was washing the 4WD, gesticulated and said something I understood to be mean him to clean my runners, so I said OK, and collected them for him. He cleaned my runners earlier this week of all the gunge and dirt that had collected over the weeks I'd been wearing them in Bhutan, Istanbul, Malta, Morocco and now Tanzania, and they almost looked like new, for TZS3000 [less than AUD2]. Happy to pay him for that. We also hand over a big bucket with our washing to the young ladies, and the day or 2 after they are returned to us cleaned and ironed, and for less than AUD10 - why not? a little luxury for us, and some income for the hotel. We continue to be pretty much the only guests, with occasional people staying here 1 or 2 nights. We think there are also "liaisons" here, but that seems to be on a hush-hush needs-to-know basis … I'm sure we'll find out more goss before we leave, but we wonder how this hotel can possibly stay in business if almost noone stays here! It's still early days, having opened in July, and they aim to advertise on radio - which is very popular and big here, as not many have tvs … makes sense.
Forgot to mention, when we had dinner at Peter's house, there was a Nigerian movie on their tv - seems that they have a big film industry there, and it's called Nollywood, haha! The movie was terrible, but hey, if they love it, then why not!
Sandwiches for lunch, then we started on the salads in the kitchen, with Stella hovering - it was an effort to keep her away, haha, she seriously can't let go of her kitchen for the crazy mzungu! Washed and peeled the potatoes, Sheryl chopped up cabbage and carrot for the coleslaw, and she cubed the potatoes. Put a pot on the stove top electric plate, but it was taking forever so asked Stella to light up one of the burners, and that was doing much better. She needed to put on some lunch for themselves and so started taking over the kitchen and stove, Sheryl gave up, there was not much else she could anyway, so she left. Stella put on ugali and deep fried a fish and got me to grate some tomatoes for some sauce stuff she was making; she also reheated some spinach stuff that had been sitting in a pot on the stove, for at least 2 nights [unthinkable not to refrigerate it in Australia], and she moved the pot of boiling potato cubes from burner to burner.
She put a pot of maize flour on the hotplate I had been using and burnt the bottom off the pot and the flour went everywhere - this is what happens when someone else uses your kitchen and mucks up your routine. There is no "please" and "thankyou" and "excuse me" if they want anything, or to almost push you aside so they can do something or get somewhere - it doesn't feel right, but that's how it is. It's difficult not to feel a little upset by that, but that's what we westerners are taught and are used to. Suffice to say, the kitchen started looking like a bomb had hit it, haha, oil splatters everywhere, melted bottom of plastic jug and maize flour on the stove top, and then we needed to empty the maize kernels onto a wicker bowl to sort out small stone and other extra bits out of the maize, and once all the bits were methodically taken out, Stella then sifted the maize in the basket, blowing on the maize to get rid of dust, etc, all going on the floor. I was then asked to put the maize kernels in a pot to rinse them. Then the same with the beans, the floor looking even worse after all that. The maize and beans were then put into a much bigger pot and covered with water, and stored in a cupboard under the sink for the night. Then it was time to sift the rice of extra bits, and once done, stored away in a bag ready for tomorrow. Sheryl returned by the time the potatoes were ready, drained them and put them in a large bowl to cool.
I swept the floor and got rid of the rubbish, so at least we weren't walking on detritus, and helped clean the stove top, and we washed as much of the dishes and cooking utensils as we could. No, there isn't any hot water, not dishwashing detergent: it is done with cold water, and a bar of soap and a piece of old scourer. Once we were done we covered the coleslaw [sans mayonnaise] and potatoes with cling wrap - yes, we found that in a shop down the hill - and stored that in our fridge in our room. Stella then started on the chooks - since we bought those top quality birds and had them prepared for us, they'd been dragged to Shop Rite dripping blood, then stored in a cafe fridge while we had lunch after our market and Shop Rite shopping, then lumped in the boot of the car while we waited for a charcoal cooker to be bought, then stored in the freezer … now Stella was tearing the bodies apart with her bare hands and hacking them to pieces using a quickly blunting kitchen knife - no cleaver or bone scissors here - with bits of flesh and bone sprayed all over the place. I couldn't believe she didn't wait till the chooks had defrosted! They do things very differently here, haha! Once the birds had been chopped up and put in a tub, they were returned to the freezer. I stayed for a while to watch how the birds were being reduced to nothing resembling what we'd call KFC portions, resolving not to bother eating any chicken at tomorrow's lunch, and left Stella and Diana to it, as Loveness and Samwel arrived, all spruced up from church, so we walked over to the outside tables and sat down and chatted away. Samwel said that Peter and Monica's children - Hilda, Joash and Faith - as well as Peter's sister Eunice, were coming to tomorrow's lunch, also 3 children from his and Joyce's next door, so 7 extra people now! … oh well, as the story goes "and a little bit more" …
They left as it was growing dark, and we walked them down the hill to a laneway, with some of the neighbourhood children saying hello and "how are you" and us having a bit of fun … we parted ways with Samwel and Loveness, walked past the children and said "hi" and 'bye" and "I'm fine, how are you" … we could still hear them as we turned the corner for the hotel …
To the lounge for a cold drink and relax, chatted with Judy. While Sheryl was away she had made up lolly bags for the 6 children, with one spare. We'd ordered dinner so it was just a case of relaxing in the meantime. Seeing as more children were coming, we needed to use up the rest of the spare lollies and even the bags contents out - lucky Sheryl had bought more lolly bags than we needed, but then she knew there would be extras! Like most nights when Judy has joined us for dinner, we talked away for a couple of hours. We needed to return to our room to write in the Christmas cards and enclose some cash as presents.
Big day tomorrow!
There was a man playing/practicing on a keyboard, and after a while, some young men huddled him around singing. We all waited and waited, the choir, most of whom sung yesterday, went thru 4 or 5 songs, while the bride arrived and sat in her car, and everyone wondered what was going on: found out we were waiting on the pastor to arrive. A little girl, daughter of one of the lady choir members joined us, and we kept her entertained, and she was delightful as she sang along with the songs in a little high-pitched voice, she was gorgeous.
At around 5pm, some 4 hours later, the wedding ceremony proceeded. A kind of wedding march was played on the keyboards, first 2 boys in little black suits, side by side, slowly stepped in, first one foot, then the other, each holding a n embroidered pillow, then 2 sets of 2 young girls sprinkling glitter on the floor, then 3 bridesmaids, singly, then 2 teenage girls holding cans of spray foam stuff that they sprayed every now and then. Then 3 bridesmaids stepped in, holding small bouquets of flowers which they waved from side to side in time with the music, accompanied by 3 groomsmen, each holding a white handkerchief, which they waved from side to side too. The colour of the wedding was aqua and white, all the girls and ladies were dressed in combinations of those colours, aqua dresses with small white jackets; the groomsmen in dark grey trousers, satin aqua shirts, white ties, dark grey vests. Once all had arrived, they split themselves in 2 lines on opposite sides of the church, in front of the benches, stepping and waving their flowers/handkerchiefs. It was then time for the bride and matron of honour to enter from the rear of the church, and for the groom and best man to enter from the front side of the church.
We felt so sorry for the bride, to have to have stayed in the car all those hours, but she looked great, in her traditional big white wedding dress and veil and large bouquet of flowers. The groom and best man were in dark grey suits, white shirts, aqua ties. matron of honour in a white dress and jacket. All of the groomsmen were also part of the choir, so they were kept busy! Once everyone had arrived, the ceremony commenced, with a long service, then all the official stuff, so after an hour or so we had a married couple, with happy parents, family and friends and mzungo onlookers who were relieved that the wedding actually went ahead! All the guests got themselves walking or in cars to head off to the party, we didn't attend as it was getting late - and dark - for other reasons as well. A long, drawnout day, tired we returned to our hotel for r+r and dinner, and an early night.
On Monday we spent a couple of hours at the Orphanage, teaching some basic English greetings and breaking up the learning with some games. There were 2 extra boys who joined in, one 12, the other 13, who came in on their holiday time for extra English learning. We returned to the hotel at 12 for a meeting with Samwel, Peter and James, to go thru the monthly expenses for the Orphanage, and to see if rent at a bigger, better house is affordable, taking into account any fundraising we are able to generate. It took much to-ing and fro-ing, with peter and James acting as prompts and interpreters for Samwel. Finally we got there, and it looks like it's a good possibility.
The next thing to do was to take a look at the 2 houses Samwel has found - a few phone calls needed to be made, and soon we were driving towards Mount Meru Hotel, which is c1.5km closer in to the city than the Otakef, and 10 minutes later we found ourselves in a "nicer" neighbourhood, with many larger houses behind gated and walled compounds. We parked the car, and soon 2 men arrived with the key, and took a look at the house: 3 bedrooms [one a master with ensuite], a kitchen with benches, tiled floors, a decent sized living area, a toilet/shower, electricity, running water [a water tank outside], a small storeroom under the tank, and a grassed area, plenty of space to grow vegies, or for the kids to play; shops not far away, it's quiet, no thru traffic, etc. Not bad, the present renters still had stuff in there, so once fully out would need a clean and tidy and if NOCET decided to rent it, the kids and Joyce will not know themselves! The other positives is that this house is close to Samwel, Joyce, Dora and Elizabeth's house, as well as the church, closer to the city.
We thanked the 2 gentlemen and headed off to another house, which was about 20 minutes away, again in a nicer neighbourhood. This house was bigger: 4 bedrooms [master with ensuite] all with plenty of cupboards, kitchen with pantry, large living area, a second toilet/shower, close to shops and transport; "garden" area all gravelled, with a small grassed area. We found out the first house was TZS300,000/month, this second house TZS400,000/month. The second house has far more potential for expansion, but being so far away from Samwel's house, church and city, would mean transport costs each day, and lots of travel time. Again, we thanked the gentlemen that came to open up for us, and headed off. As the budget looked at rent being TZS400,000, we pretty much came to the conclusion it was far better to rent the cheaper house, which had the other location benefits, so in fact NOCET would be far better off that way.
Our next stop was Peter's house, where we are all invited to an early dinner. It was a further 20 minutes away, heading into lush vegetation, passing by banana and coffee plantations, with fantastic views to the cloud-topped Mt Meru, which dominates the skyline behind Arusha. Peter's house is less than a kilometer from Arusha National Park, and we were told that giraffes are often seen not far away. We were warmly welcomed by Peter's sister Eunice, and Peter's children Faith, Joash and Hilda, as well as another lady who is a pastor's wife and her children, and finally Monica, Peter's wife. They have a nice house, with plenty of garden space, with chooks and vegies, and obviously have more money as they have a nice tv and stereo sound system.
A wonderful, bountiful buffet dinner was prepared, with chicken, potatoes, irish potato leaves with onion, beans, roti, rice with carrots … yum! We all dug in, especially the men. We had fun with Faith and Joash, who quickly overcame their shyness, both enjoying cuddles and tickles and being made a fuss of. It was a very enjoyable time spent with these people, who are very hospitable, and we were made to feel part of the family. The good thing is, by the end of our time there, Samwel had called the agent for the first house and said they'll take the house - looks like a contract will be drawn up in Swahili and English tomorrow, and NOCET will need to pay 4 months rent in advance - there is no bond required, rent is paid every 4 months. Tomorrow Peter and Monica travel to Dar Es Salaam for a medical appointment as Monica suffers from bad asthma, so they'll be away around 3 days.
Tuesday was a big day for us. Firstly we went to NOCET to do some more English and games with the children. Just before the children were given lunch, we left, to return to the hotel, to wait for Samwel and James; Loveness came with us [don't know why]. We had some cool drinks while we waited. Once Samwel and James arrived - more drinks - we methodically went through the monthly expenses for NOCET, and, after quite a long drawnout process, came to the conclusion that it was indeed possible for the orphanage to move to the first house we inspected yesterday, especially if our sponsors in Australia were guaranteed.
We needed to go to an ATM to draw the last of the fundraising cash, before heading off to the house to meet with the agents, to go thru the lease with a finetoothed comb, ask questions about the lease, sign the papers, be witnessed, hand over the 4 months rent in advance, have it counted a number of times, etc, etc … the end result being that, over a number of days, the owner/agent will undertake various repairs and painting to ensure the house is in good condition, that the current tenants move out all their belongings and clean the house, that the final electricity and water bills be paid, so that by the end of December, early January, NOCET can move in. As mentioned before, a comfortable house, with glass in the windows, tiled floors, with running water, electricity, 3 toilets, 2 showers and a bath, a garden, in a nice quiet area … the children will be so excited to be living in a home! I wonder if for some, it will be their first true home environment.
We finally headed for home around 3pm, tired and exhausted by all of the thinking and questions and procedures … we had a little rest, before deciding to walk c1.5 kms down the road to the local small supermarket, where we bought a few things for us. It was good to see our "neighbourhood", to walk down the roads we've driven along each day, especially the incredibly rutted one between the tarred Arusha-Moshi Rd and our hotel, which feels like forever when we're crawling up and down the hill, but is probably only 100m!
Walking down the hill, and on our return, children and others called out to us, hellos, greetings, welcomes, or just smiles and waves. We decided we really need some time to ourselves, after an incredibly hectic 1-and-a-half weeks here. We want to relax and take our time tomorrow, maybe work on the text content of the NOCET website, maybe a walk, whatever. We also want to do some Christmas shopping too, small gifts for the children as well as some other people, maybe brave the city on Thursday?
Wednesday was great, a good, slow day, we took our time with what we wanted to do: relaxed brekky, cleaned the room, put in some washing to be done, emails, text for the NOCET website; we made our lunch, with some croissants, tomato and cheese; more work on the website in the afternoon. It was good not to have to think too much and deal with anyone else; it was also good to relax and spend some time chatting with Judy, the manager here, tell her more about Australia, etc. Forgot to mention she's looking for a husband, and because of her hours here, practically 24/7, she isn't able to meet anyone. We worked on her CV, hoping she may in time land a job at a better hotel, where she may have more chance to meet people - currently we are the only guests here, and hardly anyone turns up - and have more of a 9-5 hours so can be free to go out and meet people. She's 26, speaks reasonably good English, and wants a good man in her life. Any takers?
Speaking about stories, we also found out recently that Elizabeth, who lives at Samwel's house, was orphaned at 5. Her parents were family friends of Samwel and Joyce's. They took her in, and so Dora sees Elizabeth as her sister. Elizabeth is herself a mother, that young Wilsum at the orphanage is her son - he's about 18 months old. Both Dora and Elizabeth want to complete their last year at High School in 2012, and both hope to study courses at Uni in 2013.
And why do mobiles seem to be ubiquitous here? Well, infrastructure of course, or the limitations of it, that is. Easier and cheaper to use mobiles than to instal landlines. It seems only business and government use landlines, most people use mobiles. It's relatively cheap to text, and expensive to make calls. It's funny - ie, bizarre really - how people we may never see again want our number, and for us to add them into our mobile's contacts!
One of the delicious dishes we had at Peter's house earlier this week was called matembele - sweet potato leaves - which are first boiled in a little water, then, fry onion with a little oil and salt, and there you have it, something that looks like spinach, and is yummy! Got to say, that foodwise, it's pretty much cheap and cheerful here, unlike Morocco, where it seems spices and flavour are really important. Understandable, when people have little money to spend on food. We have tasted probably the most delicious pineapple ever here, yummmmm!
Thursday — Both Samwel and James arrived, and it took ages to go thru the website content, with constant to-ing and fro-ing between the 2 of them, and Samwel taking calls, etc. Then it was time to go thru the list of what kids are full time and part time care. It worked out that there are in fact 18 kids on the books, that relatives of 3 of the part time supported children contribute TZS10,000/month. Once that list was sorted time to head off into the city to go to the ATM, but I left the ANZ card back at the hotel, which was very silly of me! Duh! Headed to Milk and Honey Cafe for lunch, which we paid for [less than TZS25000 for the 4 of us]. During lunch found out that Elizabeth's parents were Samwel's brother and sister-in-law, so Elizabeth is Samwel's niece!
We also asked about what was happening for Christmas, what they usually do for Christmas, etc, and once more it was like trying to pin down mercury, conversation to and from between Samwel and James. Noone seems to have given it any more thought, like it was up to us, and bringing up again the idea we had way early that perhaps we go top a park, or national park, which raises the problem of getting people to the place, hiring a van, etc. So, Sheryl suggested asking isaac if we could hold it at Otakef. Samwel called Isaac and it's a goer, we have an OK. So, we said we would buy some food, and perhaps Joyce roast/fry a chicken, etc. That's where it was left when we finished lunch.
To NOCET, great to see the kids again, helped Joyce cart water from c500m away from the orphanage - she had a 20 litre container, Sheryl and I 10 litre ones each, James came to watch! Joyce had to pay - coins - then we walked back home, with Joyce putting her container on her head, 20 kilos! Bloody hell, she does that trip 5 times a day! While I played with the kids, Sheryl was undertaking some discussions with Samwel, James and Joyce. We left c5 or so, but there was another flurry of ideas and notions and "proposals" from James about Christmas, such a huge kefuffle about a simple party! James again trying to work out what Joyce needs to do, etc. It can be REALLY quite wearing and frustrating, and annoying. In the car I said to chillax, it's only a party, not an agenda item for an important meeting! All we need is a chicken roasted or fried, simple as that! Back to the hotel with James, so tired.
Dinner, and long chat with Judy, about Christmas lunch being held at Otakef, food shopping, costs, etc. Judy seems happy about the whole arrangement, and we said all Otakef staff to come too, so could be up to 13 adults and 6 children. We went thru what we need to buy, to cook, etc, looking at it happening at 1pm. Looks like we're going shopping at the market neat Shop Rite with James and either Judy or Stella tomorrow after 10:30am. Came up with a shopping list, which includes purchasing 4 live chooks, and for their slaughter and prep for Sunday lunch! Sheryl prepared a text to Samwel to say food and cooking is taken care of, that Joyce needs to do nothing for the lunch.
We talked about the contrast of relative lifestyles and cost of living between Australia and Tanzania, that our dollar can buy so much more here. For example, we had lunch in the cafe in the city with Samwel and James, and with 4 mains and 4 juices plus tip it was TZS25000 = c.AUD13. We talked about the madness of Christmas for the average Australian, just how much is spent on gifts and food and drink, which Judy couldn't grasp - I told her if we plonked her in the middle of a Westfield shopping centre on any day of the week before Christmas to see the shopping frenzy, her head would simply explode with disbelief! Remembering Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, where the majority of people here live on less than AUD2 per day … being mindful that Judy is on less than AUD100 a month …
Friday — Brekky, then Sheryl wrote up shopping list. James arrived c10:30, once I was ready, Judy had changed into civvies - not her Otakef clothes - we headed off to the petrol station down the road to use the atm - all the notes issued were TZS5000 - so by the time I took out what I needed my pocket was bulging! Off to Shop Rite, where we parked the car, then walked over to the market, over the very busy road, the market also teeming with people, buying, looking, selling, large handcarts, some people riding thru on bikes and motorbikes, a cacophony of sights and sounds, as well as smells … again, nothing like the markets of Morocco, the range of food here is limited to the major vegies and grain and fruits, as well as clothes.
Most of the vegie stalls sold the same range of vegies, like potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, carrots, silverbeet, spinach, cabbage, that's pretty much it. The fruits were mainly pineapple, watermelon, apples, paw paw, bananas, mangoes, coconut … there were small shops selling spices, but in packets, not piled up in beautiful displays as we saw in Morocco, no big stalls selling cakes, pastries, olives, dates, etc … we know we were thoroughly "spoilt" in Morocco - I guess the standard of living maybe was higher there, and perhaps had a history of more of a range of foods and spices than here in poor Tanzania.
Not that I'm comparing in a critical way, but it's quite obvious a difference we're seeing. Anyway, we wandered from seller to seller, picking up vegies as we went - always a negotiation between James and Judy, which took a while, then the purchase - followed by a couple of young boys with their plastic bags. We were supplied a bag by one of the sellers, and bought a big yellow bag from one of the boys, as we were going to carry all our purchases ourselves …
We reached the chicken-seller part of the market - along a wall were coops for chooks, covered with a roof, birds of different sizes. We were there to select 5 birds, and arrange for their slaughter and preparation. The selection took ages and ages - we are getting used to the fact that here everything that needs doing is a slow, drawn out process, which gives you time to stop and look around and maybe swap greetings with the bag-boys and others, etc - finally, after what seemed 30-40 minutes, 5 chooks were chosen - we wanted 5 biggies as we need to feed some 20 people on Sunday, and so the buyer needs to hold them upside down to assess their weight, while the chook might protest a little and then settle to their new position in life … around the corner, out of sight - plus I didn't want to see anything that involved blood and guts - the chooks were quickly killed and the plucking commenced, and then passed onto another man to wash and fully pluck, then another guy washed and gutted them and chopped the feet off - guts going into a bucket for sale - then the birds were placed into a bag for us to carry off … that's that for the chooks! Nothing like selecting a tray from the meat department at Coles or Woolies!
We then purchased some rice, beans and maize, and then onto the fruit stalls, and Judy received a call from her hotel to add to her purchases, so after an age we finally staggered out of the market, back to the car with many bags of produce, lumped them into the boot. We still had the supermarket shopping to do, which took a good while as well, so while James and I were out front with the chooks, the ladies were inside.
Finally done, we piled the groceries into the boot, and walked over to a nearby cafe, set in a grouping of very Western retail shops, to have a late lunch at around 2, 2:30pm. The owner, an Indian lady, spoke to us for a short while as we heard her mention "Melbourne" to a white lady and she noticed her prick up our ears to that word. Sandwiches and drinks for lunch, then the ladies went window-shopping while James had some more to eat and I had my first cappuccino in weeks!
The ladies returned, Sheryl saying there was a lady running a bookshop that comes from Canberra! The Western shops obviously cater for all the mzungu that go shopping at Shop Rite, which is a very Western style supermarket. Many whiteys were around, shopping, eating at the this and other cafes, etc.
We then had to steel ourselves for leaving the parking area, to attempt the right-hand turn onto the main street outside, with a t-junction almost immediately adjacent to the supermarket entry … and you know what I've written about the almost lawless, mad traffic of Arsuha … you have to cater for anyone doing anything walking by foot, on bike and motorbike, pushing or pulling a cart, dalla-dalla, cars, lorries, buses, coming at you in all directions, 2 lanes or more each way even though it's only meant to be 1 lane each way! It took quite a while, with much patience with a dose of assertion and people letting you in [which is rare, but thoroughly appreciated. being close to 3:30 or so, it was pretty much peak hour, so we crawled along this main road towards the inner city, again with people attempting crazy manoeuvers, with great skill, almost breathless with their audacity!
As we were halfway along this road, Judy suddenly announced she needed to buy a charcoal cooker from the inner-city market, so with a suppressed heavy sigh - knowing we had another long wait ahead of us, and more crazy traffic and a crush of people to get thru - we found a park on a side-street, and while Judy and James went off, Sheryl and I sat in the slowly heating car, windows down, looking at the humanity walking by, with the occasional seller trying to entice us to buy potatoes, world maps, or other produce. It seemed like forever, we were hot and bothered, but after at least 30-40 minutes, J+J returned, packed the cooker into the boot, got into the car, airconditioning on at full blast, we backed out and crawled along the road with a mass of people all around the car, slowly moving apart as we progressed, then a left turn, then another, then another to return to the main road, and crawled again … and once we were out of the main city grid, traffic thinned and we were able to move at a faster pace, onwards and onwards to our hotel.
Once at Otakef, we unpacked the car, most of the vegies going into our room fridge, the chooks in the freezer in the kitchen, groceries in our room, in a corner. We were exhausted and needed a cool drink, switched the fan on and collapsed. OMG! Cannot believe it took so long, such great effort, to get that shopping done, it was past 4:30, 5pm by then! We needed to be cooling off and be alone, we had had enough of long drawn-out negotiations and conversation, and the struggle to get simple things achieved! We decided to have tomorrow as a rest day, not go to church, as we will need to organise Christmas cards - which Sheryl bought at a shop near Shop Rite - as well as lolly bags for the children, and prepare and/or make the coleslaw and potato salads, and I want to make jelly for the kids too - maybe some of the adults will want to try it too.
The great thing about having the party at the hotel is that there is a small grassed area with 2 tables and chairs shaded by large umbrellas, adjacent to the hotel lounge/reception - where we usually have brekky and dinner - which has 2 tables and chairs and various armchairs and other seats; there is a fridge laden with cold soda drinks and water; the office has a boom box stereo so we can have music on the day; a toilet round the corner … just hope for a little cooler day as it's so warm and sunny here. Stella and Diana will cook the chooks for us, as well as make the masai beans and maize, and the spinach with carrot dish as well. Should be a good, simple, hearty lunch, with rice, our salads, nibbles, drinks, etc, and Joyce doesn't have to lift a finger [thank goodness]! So, round 12:30, 1pm on Sunday we'll be here surrounded by our Tanzanian friends and some orphans, thinking of home, family and friends …
We thank everyone for your good wishes and support in words, love, kindnesses, emails, messages, as well as financially towards NOCET. You can rest assured the funds that has been raised for NOCET has been wisely spent, and immensely appreciated by all associated with the orphanage organisation. Our Aussie dollar buys perhaps 4-5 times what it does back home in Australia, so a little goes a long way here in Tanzania.
Anyway, during the late afternoon we rested, checked and wrote emails, and then James left c6:30 - he hopes to go visit his aunt tomorrow afternoon and stay the night before returning for the Chrissy lunch. Dinner was the hotel's version of Supergett [brand of spaghetti pasta] Bolognese - we'll have to show them a more western version of it before we leave, as they don't have garlic, tomatoes or tomato paste in their version, probably because they don't know what it should actually taste like, and maybe costs too much, and might also be too rich for their taste … we'll see!
Saturday — Lots of noise, as usual with most mornings, cars being washed, conversations, phone ringing, shouts, humming, whistling, etc. So, off to the kitchen, found our brekky was ready, and so loaded up the tray, to our room, enjoying our meal in quiet. Stella came in with some pieces of mango, and noticed a jar of passionfruit jam Sheryl had bought in yesterday's shop, and she started to undo the tie and paper covering of the lid … then she left … when she later returned, I offered her the jar and spoon to try the jam, and she took the brekky tray as well as a spoon of the jam …
I had made a 2nd cup of coffee, and when I went to the kitchen to return the cup, Doudi, who was washing the 4WD, gesticulated and said something I understood to be mean him to clean my runners, so I said OK, and collected them for him. He cleaned my runners earlier this week of all the gunge and dirt that had collected over the weeks I'd been wearing them in Bhutan, Istanbul, Malta, Morocco and now Tanzania, and they almost looked like new, for TZS3000 [less than AUD2]. Happy to pay him for that. We also hand over a big bucket with our washing to the young ladies, and the day or 2 after they are returned to us cleaned and ironed, and for less than AUD10 - why not? a little luxury for us, and some income for the hotel. We continue to be pretty much the only guests, with occasional people staying here 1 or 2 nights. We think there are also "liaisons" here, but that seems to be on a hush-hush needs-to-know basis … I'm sure we'll find out more goss before we leave, but we wonder how this hotel can possibly stay in business if almost noone stays here! It's still early days, having opened in July, and they aim to advertise on radio - which is very popular and big here, as not many have tvs … makes sense.
Forgot to mention, when we had dinner at Peter's house, there was a Nigerian movie on their tv - seems that they have a big film industry there, and it's called Nollywood, haha! The movie was terrible, but hey, if they love it, then why not!
Sandwiches for lunch, then we started on the salads in the kitchen, with Stella hovering - it was an effort to keep her away, haha, she seriously can't let go of her kitchen for the crazy mzungu! Washed and peeled the potatoes, Sheryl chopped up cabbage and carrot for the coleslaw, and she cubed the potatoes. Put a pot on the stove top electric plate, but it was taking forever so asked Stella to light up one of the burners, and that was doing much better. She needed to put on some lunch for themselves and so started taking over the kitchen and stove, Sheryl gave up, there was not much else she could anyway, so she left. Stella put on ugali and deep fried a fish and got me to grate some tomatoes for some sauce stuff she was making; she also reheated some spinach stuff that had been sitting in a pot on the stove, for at least 2 nights [unthinkable not to refrigerate it in Australia], and she moved the pot of boiling potato cubes from burner to burner.
She put a pot of maize flour on the hotplate I had been using and burnt the bottom off the pot and the flour went everywhere - this is what happens when someone else uses your kitchen and mucks up your routine. There is no "please" and "thankyou" and "excuse me" if they want anything, or to almost push you aside so they can do something or get somewhere - it doesn't feel right, but that's how it is. It's difficult not to feel a little upset by that, but that's what we westerners are taught and are used to. Suffice to say, the kitchen started looking like a bomb had hit it, haha, oil splatters everywhere, melted bottom of plastic jug and maize flour on the stove top, and then we needed to empty the maize kernels onto a wicker bowl to sort out small stone and other extra bits out of the maize, and once all the bits were methodically taken out, Stella then sifted the maize in the basket, blowing on the maize to get rid of dust, etc, all going on the floor. I was then asked to put the maize kernels in a pot to rinse them. Then the same with the beans, the floor looking even worse after all that. The maize and beans were then put into a much bigger pot and covered with water, and stored in a cupboard under the sink for the night. Then it was time to sift the rice of extra bits, and once done, stored away in a bag ready for tomorrow. Sheryl returned by the time the potatoes were ready, drained them and put them in a large bowl to cool.
I swept the floor and got rid of the rubbish, so at least we weren't walking on detritus, and helped clean the stove top, and we washed as much of the dishes and cooking utensils as we could. No, there isn't any hot water, not dishwashing detergent: it is done with cold water, and a bar of soap and a piece of old scourer. Once we were done we covered the coleslaw [sans mayonnaise] and potatoes with cling wrap - yes, we found that in a shop down the hill - and stored that in our fridge in our room. Stella then started on the chooks - since we bought those top quality birds and had them prepared for us, they'd been dragged to Shop Rite dripping blood, then stored in a cafe fridge while we had lunch after our market and Shop Rite shopping, then lumped in the boot of the car while we waited for a charcoal cooker to be bought, then stored in the freezer … now Stella was tearing the bodies apart with her bare hands and hacking them to pieces using a quickly blunting kitchen knife - no cleaver or bone scissors here - with bits of flesh and bone sprayed all over the place. I couldn't believe she didn't wait till the chooks had defrosted! They do things very differently here, haha! Once the birds had been chopped up and put in a tub, they were returned to the freezer. I stayed for a while to watch how the birds were being reduced to nothing resembling what we'd call KFC portions, resolving not to bother eating any chicken at tomorrow's lunch, and left Stella and Diana to it, as Loveness and Samwel arrived, all spruced up from church, so we walked over to the outside tables and sat down and chatted away. Samwel said that Peter and Monica's children - Hilda, Joash and Faith - as well as Peter's sister Eunice, were coming to tomorrow's lunch, also 3 children from his and Joyce's next door, so 7 extra people now! … oh well, as the story goes "and a little bit more" …
They left as it was growing dark, and we walked them down the hill to a laneway, with some of the neighbourhood children saying hello and "how are you" and us having a bit of fun … we parted ways with Samwel and Loveness, walked past the children and said "hi" and 'bye" and "I'm fine, how are you" … we could still hear them as we turned the corner for the hotel …
To the lounge for a cold drink and relax, chatted with Judy. While Sheryl was away she had made up lolly bags for the 6 children, with one spare. We'd ordered dinner so it was just a case of relaxing in the meantime. Seeing as more children were coming, we needed to use up the rest of the spare lollies and even the bags contents out - lucky Sheryl had bought more lolly bags than we needed, but then she knew there would be extras! Like most nights when Judy has joined us for dinner, we talked away for a couple of hours. We needed to return to our room to write in the Christmas cards and enclose some cash as presents.
Big day tomorrow!
Sunday 18 December 2011
First week in Arusha - 11 to 17 December
We met our NOCET contacts, Peter and Samwel, in the lobby of Mount Meru Hotel on 11 December. It was great to see Peter once again, as well as to finally meet Samwel. We asked the conceirge, Michael, if he had any success with finding our luggage - apparently the search continues, and we have left Peter's mobile number for contact. So, we continue to wear the same clothes we've had since Casablanca - the weather is sunny and warm, so it won't be long before we will need a change of clothes!
We loaded our small pile of belongings in the boot of a car, and Peter drove us to where we'll be staying, the Otakef Hotel, which was a surprise, as we were led to believe we'd be staying in a small rented house. We're there for the full month, at "mates rates", USD250 – it was sobering to realise one night at Mount Meru Hotel cost us more than an entire month at Otakef Hotel! We have a small room, maybe 3 x 3 metres, which includes a queen size bed, a small table and 2 chairs, a one-seater sofa chair, and our own bathroom with a shower - with hot and cold pipes! - sink, and a squat toilet that has a cistern as well as a cold water spray hose. We will also have a fridge, which will be delivered later on … even better! We will also have access to the kitchen if we want to cook our own "Australian meals", and access to the washing machine to do our own washing, our own small home away from home!
One of the "normalities" of life here is that you can't always rely on there being electricity - on our first night at Otakef, when we were exhausted and overwhelmed by everything, the electricity went our around 8pm. A generator started up after a while, but didn't stay on for long. We borrowed a "Loop", a rechargable flourescent light - it wasn't fully charged, and went out after c15 minutes, so we were feeling quite despondent for a while! In the first week here the electricity has been out a few times, but manage to get everything charged up during the day while we are away.
Once we settled our belongings in, we were then driven to the building where NOCET is housed, maybe a kilometre along the Moshi road, which is tarred, with the occasional speed hump, then onto an unmade, rutted dirt road, fringed with tiny little shops selling all kinds of things like fruit and vegetables, clothes, drinks, stock feed, etc. It was a bumpy ride of a few hundred metres. It was great to finally see the sign in front of a short row of 5 rooms housed under one roof. Here NOCET is housed in 2 rented rooms, each smaller than the size of our hotel room. One room is where the 6 children and matron sleep, office and storeroom! The other room is the classroom, which is also where the children eat, and bits and pieces are stored as well.
On one end are 2 rooms which families rent, at the other end, a room used for a stockfeed business. A rather humbling experience to see this place: a patch of grass in front of the rooms, sheltered by wood and plastic "fence" which in places is not really a fence, and between it and the building is a patch of sloping hardened dirt, where the children can play. The simple building is sitting on a concrete base with a porch area. Each room has a metal door and a window, no glass.
The classroom has 2 x 3 rows of school desks and benches, each row can seat 3 children 'comfortably', no drawer or tubs underneath … we're talking desks we may have used in the 1950s! The teacher, Miss Loveness, has a small desk in the corner, with hardly any space for herself, as the desk is covered in piles of scrappy looking old grubby exercise books. She has a little shelf under her desk with a section of an English-Swahili dictionary of c30 pages, a few pencils and more old exercise books. The walls are painted while, and are also grubby where children have drawn with pencils, as well as brown horizontal grubby stripes where heads have rubbed the walls.
There is no power socket, and the light globe fitting in the ceiling doesn't have a globe in it. No technology of any kind in this room! A few sticks in an old plastic bag in the corner next to the teacher's desk act as pointers as well as for punishment. On the walls are a few hand-drawn posters, with an illustrated ABC, basic world map [with New Zealand up around the area of the Barrier Reef!], etc. That's it, that's the classroom, no better than the most basic classrooms we saw in Bhutan or Morocco.
We're in school holiday time, so most of the orphans are with family, we learnt that half a dozen orphans actually live and sleep here full-time; some of the children have now progressed onto secondary school. We had lunch with the children, and there were more than 6, and it looks like other children from neighbouring houses are fed and looked after as well. Samwel's wife is the "matron" of the children and lives there pretty much fulltime, even though she and Samwel have 4 children themselves. A couple of young ladies also pop by to assist with the cooking, one of them, Elizabeth is sassy, lots of fun.
So, these kids have nothing, their clothes are dirty and grubby, they need a wash, as do the kids themselves, on first meeting were quite shy, and when we asked their names you could barely hear them. They looked at us as if to suss us out, and rightly so I think. Here are a couple of mzungu, what are they here for, what do they want with us? There were about a dozen children there the first day, and so we just introduced ourselves and smiled a lot and just be as friendly as possible. A few of them warmed to us a little bit more as the afternoon progressed … it'll take time for both the children and ourselves to get to know eachother and form bonds. Their teacher, Loveness, speaks reasonable English, sometimes difficult to make ourselves understood, and vice versa, but she seems friendly and happy to have us there. She's 29 and hoping to get married next August.
A young man arrived, called James, and he's a volunteer volunteer coordinator for NOCET. His English, like Peter's, is very good. Like Samwel and Peter, James is very keen to work out what we can do to assist NOCET get stronger, to attract volunteers and funding. Over the first few days, we had many long discussions with these men: how NOCET came to be, what each "director's" responsibilities are, what needs to be done, their future plans, etc, etc … the list goes on and on, and I'm afraid I'm suffering from information - and perhaps cultural - overload!
What can I say about these men, Samwel and Peter in particular. These are good men, passionate about the children's welfare. They are proud of what they have achieved these past few years, and want to take it to the next level, and seem to be struggling to work out how that can be achieved. But we don't want to "take over" in any way, to be like the foreign powers of old who came in to Africa and stripped it bare, treated the Africans like "stupid darkies". We want to understand where NOCET's at, and give them concrete, achievable ideas, a plan, and maybe we have some contacts that can assist, particularly at Ujamaa Hostel and perhaps with the School of St Jude.
It was Samwel who started up NOCET, and, with James' help as translator, one evening he told us the story of how his own children played with neighbourhood children, and having them come over noticed that some looked quite bedraggled, and on asking them why, found out that some came from incredibly disadvantaged backgrounds, that some were orphans, so fed them, and thought how could he properly help them. Samwel came to the conclusion that he would have to fund an "orphanage" from his own pocket - he is a doctor, and has a small laboratory where his staff undertake blood-testing. Not sure how he came to meet Peter, and James, but they, along with others, are Directors of NOCET, which is a registered NGO. So, NOCET rents those 2 small rooms, but have plans to move to a bigger house early next year, with more room, a bigger yard, with better conditions and facilities, again with room for a school, and hopefully rooms for future volunteers.
NOCET appears not to have any outside sources of funding. They have made an application for a grant from the government, which is where James has come in, as he was the creator of that 13 page document Sheryl received by email a few weeks before our departure in early November. Sheryl has undertaken some fundraising through friends and Eastwood PS. And that's it! From Samwel business pocket comes money for rent, food, clothing, schooling, fuel, wages, etc. Peter is a 7th Day Adventist Pastor, without a parish at present - he's expecting to be allocated a parish presently - and is called upon to officiate at ceremonies and other church events, and we wonder if the Church as a whole, or any parishioners he preaches to, or ministers to, contribute funds, food, clothing, etc. As mentioned before, James is a volunteer, kind of on "work experience" at present - he's looking to land a fulltime job, but takes on contract work for the time being - Samwel's wife Joyce volunteers, as does Dora, one of their children. There appears to be a deal with neighbouring houses for water to be supplied to NOCET as there is no tap - is that why some of the neighbouring children get minded and fed? So many questions …
Back to our digs, we have also been supplied a car for the month, at mates rates, USD20/day, which we were totally unaware of prior to our arrival. Luckily it's an automatic, and Sheryl has her drivers licence with her - I left mine at home thinking I wouldn't need it and that my passport was adequate ID for anything. Suffice to say, it was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. And, being passengers in that car and seeing the traffic from that perspective, it did fill Sheryl with no small amount of dread to know these guys were expecting her/us to make full use of that car and drive ourselves around! Peter drove us around the first couple of days, and his driving is not terribly good, and we found out that James' driving was quite bad, so, with a couple of Tanzanian backseat drivers, Sheryl took the wheel after a couple of days, and slowly and steadily started to get a feel of the roads and traffic of Arusha.
Aside from the main roads in and out of Arusha, and the main roads of the grid of the city centre itself, all other roads appear to be unmade, ungraded, including those in the city itself. For example, if in Melbourne, all the roads in the city grid are tarred with footpaths on either side - well, in Arusha it's like only the Flinders, Spring, Lonsdale, Russell Streets, etc, are tarred, and all the rest are dirt, with stones, ruts, litter, hardly any formal parking arrangements as such, few traffic lights, no parking meters, footpaths on either sides of main tarred roads. But parking is policed by officials in fluoro vests, who place a small docket under a windscreen wiper, and you need to pay TZS200 (about 12c) for an hour. Young men will also guide you into a spot and look after your car, as well as guide you out of your spot for about the same amount of tip.
Arusha city streets are a hodge-podge of big shops, little shops, stalls, cars, motorbikes, dalla-dalla [mini-bus public transport], small trucks, big trucks, lorries, handcarts, bicycles, pedestrians, touts, street vendors, etc all vying for space and trade. It can appear to be quite chaotic when driving, you need to hold your nerve, the dalla-dallas are fast and weave in and out and around you and eachother and so it's incredibly difficult to make right hand turns, especially at t-junctions because you have a tide of metal and humans coming at you from all directions, and if you are hesitant or slow you will get passed from around and behind you as well as being tooted, so you need to pull out, block traffic coming from your right, then get a space into the traffic coming from your left, sometimes with putting your had up in the stop signal, and usually you will be let in. It's hair-raising! It seems to work, but you know how to play the game. If the same situation was happening in Melbourne, there would be no end of tooting and shaking of fists and frankly, road rage, and it would not work, as we have so many rules to abide by!
A sobering statistic we heard though is that about 13 people are killed every day in Tanzania thru traffic accidents. And it was brought home to us a few days ago when a saddened Peter told us that 2 people were killed and 10 badly injured the night before, 2 mini-buses collided, one of them returning from a wedding, a pastor's wife was one of those killed, the pastor had to be taken to Nairobi the following day due to his injuries, and Peter knew these people. He was to leave for Dar Es Salaam for a few days to conduct the funeral service for the pastor's wife.
So far, so good, Sheryl is taking it slow and steady, getting used to how it works - and we haven't seen any accidents, but plenty of close calls. The drivers here are fearless, especially the dalla-dallas and motorcycles. To be blunt, the dalla-dallas are a curse, they are terrible, cause so many problems as they have a total disregard for anything else on the road except their own concern. We have been overtaken plenty of times with oncoming traffic laving little space and you wonder what the overtaker was thinking, but it somehow works …
So, we've had meetings and discussions and talks, to see where these guys from NOCET are coming from, work out how best we can give them assistance, now and into the future. They have big ideas, but don't quite know how to move forward. They want to help more children, they want to move to bigger and better premises, they want to attract volunteers and attract funding … but how? Yes, they've submitted a proposal to the government - what if nothing comes of that? Samwel is using funds from his business to fund NOCET - what if something happens to him, god forbid? And we aren't talking huge amounts of money either: currently the 2 rooms cost TZS60,000 per month rent, which is about AUD35. They are hoping to find a 4 bedroom house with kitchen, toilet and electricity for TZS450,000/month = cAUD240/month.
The classroom has virtually nothing except as described earlier. So we sat with Loveness and Peter and wrote down a wishlist, and the following day we visited a wholesale stationery business and a textbook business and bought a pile of stuff: 2 boxes of white chalk, 10 packs of 12 coloured pencils, 20 exercise books, 20 cartons of 12 HB pencils, a box of sharpeners, a box of erasers, 12 rulers, pair of scissors, a box of 50 red pens, a box of 50 blue pens, a ream of A4 manilla white card, 5 large pieces of manilla poster paper, a few simple children's books, an English-Swahili dictionary, an atlas, a globe of the world, a bag of marbles, a soccer ball, a hoola hoop, all for about AUD135!
The next day we were given a shopping list for food for the kitchen. Joyce, the matron, usually does the shopping via dalla-dalla, so can only get small amounts of food every 3-4 days. We had a car, so there was the opportunity to buy in bulk. Over 2 days we visited all manner of shops and markets to buy:50 kg maize, 50 kg rice, 15 kg beans, 10 litres sunflower cooking oil, 50 kg sugar, 10 packets of salt, 1 carton of soap, 96 packets of matches, 10 litres of kerosene, wheat flour, charcoal, cocoa and vegetables, for cTZS455,000 = cAUD255, which should last them about 2–3 weeks. That stationery and food was bought with some of the funds raised by friends and Eastwood PS - you can see just how far that money, a relatively small amount, can go! Next we need to get a wishlist from Joyce for her kitchen, as she has a pathetically small grater, and not even a cutting board … the cooking is done over a small charcoal stove …
Shopping at the central market was an amazing experience, full on really. It would have been "scarey" had we attempted to do any shopping ourselves. Once the car was parked we were led into a maze of small stalls selling fruits and vegetables, hardware, anything really. We were concentrating on the food aspect, so didn't venture into anything else. As soon as you look as if you're going to buy anything, young boys with handfuls of black plastic shopping bags come up, ready to load your purchases into the bags - the stalls don't give you your fruit and vegies in a bag, and there is no self-service. So, these boys walk around with you, carrying your purchases till it's time to take them to your car, and you pay them a tip, TZS200, 300, whatever … there's not much room to squeeze past shoppers and stallholders and people carrying huge sacks of whatever it is, as well as negotiating bags and baskets in the way, etc, and mzungus are definitely a novelty, with most people taking a good look, and some saying "jambo" or "mambo" [which is cooler way of saying hello], or having short conversations. Not really like the markets we saw in Morocco … I mean, it was incredible to see the spices and dates and nougats and pastries and clothes and jewellery and ceramics and clothing, etc of the Moroccan markets … I can't imagine the markets of Tanzania have anything like that, what we saw was pretty rudimentary, basic, survival stuff … we'll have to take a better look next time we do some shopping, or have a good look before we shop with the orphanage staff.
We have had lots of "local interaction", as our Intrepid tour guide used to say to us; no matter what we are doing at the orphanage, people walking by will look, or stop and look, or smile, wave and we wave back, etc. Kids from around the neighbouring houses will have a look and maybe join is if we're kicking the soccerball, or just hang at the end of the building, just checking out what's happening. Same happens when we've walked around the local area to the orphanage, or when we're driving to and fro our hotel. One thing I've noticed while we've sat in a small grassy area opposite reception/lounge is hearing the noise of people and children of the neighbourhood, you can hear them going about their day … you don't really hear that at home, we are all so secluded and separated from eachother. It's almost the sound of a schoolyard, but quieter, it's the sound of people who live around you, and you almost feel a part of that "village".
Back to the orphanage's tiny school: seeing how little the classroom has, and knowing just how much is contributed to the School of St Jude in terms of textbooks and books, we are wondering there may be an excess that we could be given away to the orphanage. And, having a contact at Ujamaa Hostel, we thought "how do we get them to give assistance or guidance to NOCET", ie, practical advice? We set up a meeting time, on Wednesday the 14th, with Carley at Ujamaa, along with James and Samwel. Carley speaks Swahili quite well, so she was able to direct questions to both James and Samwel. She is a straight shooter, and cut through to get to how things truly are with NOCET.
Some of the conclusions/advice being:
- to define what the actual incomings and outgoings are for NOCET - how much money is actually needed for monthly operation, now, and for when they move to a bigger house
- to do what they are doing well, not try to overreach and grow too fast, too quickly, etc
- if they want to attract volunteers, there needs to be a program of activities for volunteers to be created - so they just don't show up with nothing planned for them to do
- to have an achievable plan of action for the next few years
We have to work thru this list with Peter, Samwel and James over the next 3 weeks, hoping that by the time we leave, everyone is on the same page on where NOCET is at now, where it can be in 12 month's time, 24 month's time, 36 month's time.
Carley visited the centre on 16 December, which was fantastic: the kids were scrubbed up, the rooms cleaned up. It meant a lot to Samwel, Joyce, Loveness, the children and ourselves - she was able to see the conditions, the children, to see what we were talking about.
On the 17th we actually went to a 7th Day Adventist Church, not to be converted, but more to see the community at worship, to hear Elizabeth - who has a beautiful voice - just to take in another amazing experience. Samwel came to guide us in the car, it wasn't far away from our hotel. On arrival, we saw two groups of children, older and younger, who were having bible class. We were introduced to the littlies' group, and watched them sing and being taught, the children all dressed up and gorgeous. After about half an hour a bell was rung and the people started filing into the church, and we were led to the front bench, with Samwel bringing over a lady who was going to interpret for us.
I did take my digital voice recorder with me, to record the singing. After notices we were introduced to the congregation and warmly welcomed - we had to stand up and say "thank you all" in swahili with a resounding chorus of "Amen!" -wow! The singing was beautiful, there was a simple sermon for the children - the story of the lion and the thorn in its paw - followed by a sermon to the adults, which seemed to go on and on, difficult to hear our interpreter over the din of the female pastor [poor kids who had to sit in front of one of the 3 main loudspeakers!].
Once the service was over, the choir sang once more, and then followed the church officials slowly file out, and then it was the turn of the parishioners, into the bright sunlight outside, another song sung before it was totally over and we could thank everyone who welcomed us and helped us. Afterwards we are invited to Samwel's house for lunch, a simple 2 room dwelling, part of a building of 6 rooms, with a share bathroom/toilet, not much better than the rooms at the orphanage; no electricity or running water. Painted walls, cement floor, the doorway between the rooms draped with a sheet; above our heads basic wooden framework and the tin roof, that's it! The main room had a double bed along with 2 sofas and a couple of stools, the second room was where Joyce cooked and there was a bed in there as well, plus lots of suitcases and boxes.
[A reminder - even though it's obvious - Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world]
I got to spend a little time with Dora and Elizabeth in the 2nd room, asked some more of them - Dora is the only child of S+J's that lives there, the others live elsewhere; the elder sister has 2 children, I think the older brother lives in Mara, and the younger brother lives with an aunt. Dora is 22, and wants to undertake a 2 year course in Human Resources. She doesn't think she'll be able to do so as Samwel hasn't got the money, the course costs TZS800,000 per year [c.AUD450]. Elizabeth is 21, and I asked about her parents: they are both dead, and she has 2 sisters and a brother and she doesn't know where they are [unless lost in translation], and she lives with S, J + D. James was next door, that's where he lives, and that's how he and Samwel met. Pieces of the puzzle slowly fitting in together …
A few people came and went during and post-lunch, including a very young looking 27 yo Ibrahim, who's studying IT, who had plenty of questions of us and our life and conditions of Australia, and opinions about rich taking all the money - ie, corruption at high places - that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich. Something needs to change here, the vision of the father of Tanzania, Julius Neyere, is being lost to the detriment of the general population.
We are invited to a wedding tomorrow, being met by Samwel, who will guide us to the church, so another slice of life in Arusha to be experienced by us …
We loaded our small pile of belongings in the boot of a car, and Peter drove us to where we'll be staying, the Otakef Hotel, which was a surprise, as we were led to believe we'd be staying in a small rented house. We're there for the full month, at "mates rates", USD250 – it was sobering to realise one night at Mount Meru Hotel cost us more than an entire month at Otakef Hotel! We have a small room, maybe 3 x 3 metres, which includes a queen size bed, a small table and 2 chairs, a one-seater sofa chair, and our own bathroom with a shower - with hot and cold pipes! - sink, and a squat toilet that has a cistern as well as a cold water spray hose. We will also have a fridge, which will be delivered later on … even better! We will also have access to the kitchen if we want to cook our own "Australian meals", and access to the washing machine to do our own washing, our own small home away from home!
One of the "normalities" of life here is that you can't always rely on there being electricity - on our first night at Otakef, when we were exhausted and overwhelmed by everything, the electricity went our around 8pm. A generator started up after a while, but didn't stay on for long. We borrowed a "Loop", a rechargable flourescent light - it wasn't fully charged, and went out after c15 minutes, so we were feeling quite despondent for a while! In the first week here the electricity has been out a few times, but manage to get everything charged up during the day while we are away.
Once we settled our belongings in, we were then driven to the building where NOCET is housed, maybe a kilometre along the Moshi road, which is tarred, with the occasional speed hump, then onto an unmade, rutted dirt road, fringed with tiny little shops selling all kinds of things like fruit and vegetables, clothes, drinks, stock feed, etc. It was a bumpy ride of a few hundred metres. It was great to finally see the sign in front of a short row of 5 rooms housed under one roof. Here NOCET is housed in 2 rented rooms, each smaller than the size of our hotel room. One room is where the 6 children and matron sleep, office and storeroom! The other room is the classroom, which is also where the children eat, and bits and pieces are stored as well.
On one end are 2 rooms which families rent, at the other end, a room used for a stockfeed business. A rather humbling experience to see this place: a patch of grass in front of the rooms, sheltered by wood and plastic "fence" which in places is not really a fence, and between it and the building is a patch of sloping hardened dirt, where the children can play. The simple building is sitting on a concrete base with a porch area. Each room has a metal door and a window, no glass.
The classroom has 2 x 3 rows of school desks and benches, each row can seat 3 children 'comfortably', no drawer or tubs underneath … we're talking desks we may have used in the 1950s! The teacher, Miss Loveness, has a small desk in the corner, with hardly any space for herself, as the desk is covered in piles of scrappy looking old grubby exercise books. She has a little shelf under her desk with a section of an English-Swahili dictionary of c30 pages, a few pencils and more old exercise books. The walls are painted while, and are also grubby where children have drawn with pencils, as well as brown horizontal grubby stripes where heads have rubbed the walls.
There is no power socket, and the light globe fitting in the ceiling doesn't have a globe in it. No technology of any kind in this room! A few sticks in an old plastic bag in the corner next to the teacher's desk act as pointers as well as for punishment. On the walls are a few hand-drawn posters, with an illustrated ABC, basic world map [with New Zealand up around the area of the Barrier Reef!], etc. That's it, that's the classroom, no better than the most basic classrooms we saw in Bhutan or Morocco.
We're in school holiday time, so most of the orphans are with family, we learnt that half a dozen orphans actually live and sleep here full-time; some of the children have now progressed onto secondary school. We had lunch with the children, and there were more than 6, and it looks like other children from neighbouring houses are fed and looked after as well. Samwel's wife is the "matron" of the children and lives there pretty much fulltime, even though she and Samwel have 4 children themselves. A couple of young ladies also pop by to assist with the cooking, one of them, Elizabeth is sassy, lots of fun.
So, these kids have nothing, their clothes are dirty and grubby, they need a wash, as do the kids themselves, on first meeting were quite shy, and when we asked their names you could barely hear them. They looked at us as if to suss us out, and rightly so I think. Here are a couple of mzungu, what are they here for, what do they want with us? There were about a dozen children there the first day, and so we just introduced ourselves and smiled a lot and just be as friendly as possible. A few of them warmed to us a little bit more as the afternoon progressed … it'll take time for both the children and ourselves to get to know eachother and form bonds. Their teacher, Loveness, speaks reasonable English, sometimes difficult to make ourselves understood, and vice versa, but she seems friendly and happy to have us there. She's 29 and hoping to get married next August.
A young man arrived, called James, and he's a volunteer volunteer coordinator for NOCET. His English, like Peter's, is very good. Like Samwel and Peter, James is very keen to work out what we can do to assist NOCET get stronger, to attract volunteers and funding. Over the first few days, we had many long discussions with these men: how NOCET came to be, what each "director's" responsibilities are, what needs to be done, their future plans, etc, etc … the list goes on and on, and I'm afraid I'm suffering from information - and perhaps cultural - overload!
What can I say about these men, Samwel and Peter in particular. These are good men, passionate about the children's welfare. They are proud of what they have achieved these past few years, and want to take it to the next level, and seem to be struggling to work out how that can be achieved. But we don't want to "take over" in any way, to be like the foreign powers of old who came in to Africa and stripped it bare, treated the Africans like "stupid darkies". We want to understand where NOCET's at, and give them concrete, achievable ideas, a plan, and maybe we have some contacts that can assist, particularly at Ujamaa Hostel and perhaps with the School of St Jude.
It was Samwel who started up NOCET, and, with James' help as translator, one evening he told us the story of how his own children played with neighbourhood children, and having them come over noticed that some looked quite bedraggled, and on asking them why, found out that some came from incredibly disadvantaged backgrounds, that some were orphans, so fed them, and thought how could he properly help them. Samwel came to the conclusion that he would have to fund an "orphanage" from his own pocket - he is a doctor, and has a small laboratory where his staff undertake blood-testing. Not sure how he came to meet Peter, and James, but they, along with others, are Directors of NOCET, which is a registered NGO. So, NOCET rents those 2 small rooms, but have plans to move to a bigger house early next year, with more room, a bigger yard, with better conditions and facilities, again with room for a school, and hopefully rooms for future volunteers.
NOCET appears not to have any outside sources of funding. They have made an application for a grant from the government, which is where James has come in, as he was the creator of that 13 page document Sheryl received by email a few weeks before our departure in early November. Sheryl has undertaken some fundraising through friends and Eastwood PS. And that's it! From Samwel business pocket comes money for rent, food, clothing, schooling, fuel, wages, etc. Peter is a 7th Day Adventist Pastor, without a parish at present - he's expecting to be allocated a parish presently - and is called upon to officiate at ceremonies and other church events, and we wonder if the Church as a whole, or any parishioners he preaches to, or ministers to, contribute funds, food, clothing, etc. As mentioned before, James is a volunteer, kind of on "work experience" at present - he's looking to land a fulltime job, but takes on contract work for the time being - Samwel's wife Joyce volunteers, as does Dora, one of their children. There appears to be a deal with neighbouring houses for water to be supplied to NOCET as there is no tap - is that why some of the neighbouring children get minded and fed? So many questions …
Back to our digs, we have also been supplied a car for the month, at mates rates, USD20/day, which we were totally unaware of prior to our arrival. Luckily it's an automatic, and Sheryl has her drivers licence with her - I left mine at home thinking I wouldn't need it and that my passport was adequate ID for anything. Suffice to say, it was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. And, being passengers in that car and seeing the traffic from that perspective, it did fill Sheryl with no small amount of dread to know these guys were expecting her/us to make full use of that car and drive ourselves around! Peter drove us around the first couple of days, and his driving is not terribly good, and we found out that James' driving was quite bad, so, with a couple of Tanzanian backseat drivers, Sheryl took the wheel after a couple of days, and slowly and steadily started to get a feel of the roads and traffic of Arusha.
Aside from the main roads in and out of Arusha, and the main roads of the grid of the city centre itself, all other roads appear to be unmade, ungraded, including those in the city itself. For example, if in Melbourne, all the roads in the city grid are tarred with footpaths on either side - well, in Arusha it's like only the Flinders, Spring, Lonsdale, Russell Streets, etc, are tarred, and all the rest are dirt, with stones, ruts, litter, hardly any formal parking arrangements as such, few traffic lights, no parking meters, footpaths on either sides of main tarred roads. But parking is policed by officials in fluoro vests, who place a small docket under a windscreen wiper, and you need to pay TZS200 (about 12c) for an hour. Young men will also guide you into a spot and look after your car, as well as guide you out of your spot for about the same amount of tip.
Arusha city streets are a hodge-podge of big shops, little shops, stalls, cars, motorbikes, dalla-dalla [mini-bus public transport], small trucks, big trucks, lorries, handcarts, bicycles, pedestrians, touts, street vendors, etc all vying for space and trade. It can appear to be quite chaotic when driving, you need to hold your nerve, the dalla-dallas are fast and weave in and out and around you and eachother and so it's incredibly difficult to make right hand turns, especially at t-junctions because you have a tide of metal and humans coming at you from all directions, and if you are hesitant or slow you will get passed from around and behind you as well as being tooted, so you need to pull out, block traffic coming from your right, then get a space into the traffic coming from your left, sometimes with putting your had up in the stop signal, and usually you will be let in. It's hair-raising! It seems to work, but you know how to play the game. If the same situation was happening in Melbourne, there would be no end of tooting and shaking of fists and frankly, road rage, and it would not work, as we have so many rules to abide by!
A sobering statistic we heard though is that about 13 people are killed every day in Tanzania thru traffic accidents. And it was brought home to us a few days ago when a saddened Peter told us that 2 people were killed and 10 badly injured the night before, 2 mini-buses collided, one of them returning from a wedding, a pastor's wife was one of those killed, the pastor had to be taken to Nairobi the following day due to his injuries, and Peter knew these people. He was to leave for Dar Es Salaam for a few days to conduct the funeral service for the pastor's wife.
So far, so good, Sheryl is taking it slow and steady, getting used to how it works - and we haven't seen any accidents, but plenty of close calls. The drivers here are fearless, especially the dalla-dallas and motorcycles. To be blunt, the dalla-dallas are a curse, they are terrible, cause so many problems as they have a total disregard for anything else on the road except their own concern. We have been overtaken plenty of times with oncoming traffic laving little space and you wonder what the overtaker was thinking, but it somehow works …
So, we've had meetings and discussions and talks, to see where these guys from NOCET are coming from, work out how best we can give them assistance, now and into the future. They have big ideas, but don't quite know how to move forward. They want to help more children, they want to move to bigger and better premises, they want to attract volunteers and attract funding … but how? Yes, they've submitted a proposal to the government - what if nothing comes of that? Samwel is using funds from his business to fund NOCET - what if something happens to him, god forbid? And we aren't talking huge amounts of money either: currently the 2 rooms cost TZS60,000 per month rent, which is about AUD35. They are hoping to find a 4 bedroom house with kitchen, toilet and electricity for TZS450,000/month = cAUD240/month.
The classroom has virtually nothing except as described earlier. So we sat with Loveness and Peter and wrote down a wishlist, and the following day we visited a wholesale stationery business and a textbook business and bought a pile of stuff: 2 boxes of white chalk, 10 packs of 12 coloured pencils, 20 exercise books, 20 cartons of 12 HB pencils, a box of sharpeners, a box of erasers, 12 rulers, pair of scissors, a box of 50 red pens, a box of 50 blue pens, a ream of A4 manilla white card, 5 large pieces of manilla poster paper, a few simple children's books, an English-Swahili dictionary, an atlas, a globe of the world, a bag of marbles, a soccer ball, a hoola hoop, all for about AUD135!
The next day we were given a shopping list for food for the kitchen. Joyce, the matron, usually does the shopping via dalla-dalla, so can only get small amounts of food every 3-4 days. We had a car, so there was the opportunity to buy in bulk. Over 2 days we visited all manner of shops and markets to buy:50 kg maize, 50 kg rice, 15 kg beans, 10 litres sunflower cooking oil, 50 kg sugar, 10 packets of salt, 1 carton of soap, 96 packets of matches, 10 litres of kerosene, wheat flour, charcoal, cocoa and vegetables, for cTZS455,000 = cAUD255, which should last them about 2–3 weeks. That stationery and food was bought with some of the funds raised by friends and Eastwood PS - you can see just how far that money, a relatively small amount, can go! Next we need to get a wishlist from Joyce for her kitchen, as she has a pathetically small grater, and not even a cutting board … the cooking is done over a small charcoal stove …
Shopping at the central market was an amazing experience, full on really. It would have been "scarey" had we attempted to do any shopping ourselves. Once the car was parked we were led into a maze of small stalls selling fruits and vegetables, hardware, anything really. We were concentrating on the food aspect, so didn't venture into anything else. As soon as you look as if you're going to buy anything, young boys with handfuls of black plastic shopping bags come up, ready to load your purchases into the bags - the stalls don't give you your fruit and vegies in a bag, and there is no self-service. So, these boys walk around with you, carrying your purchases till it's time to take them to your car, and you pay them a tip, TZS200, 300, whatever … there's not much room to squeeze past shoppers and stallholders and people carrying huge sacks of whatever it is, as well as negotiating bags and baskets in the way, etc, and mzungus are definitely a novelty, with most people taking a good look, and some saying "jambo" or "mambo" [which is cooler way of saying hello], or having short conversations. Not really like the markets we saw in Morocco … I mean, it was incredible to see the spices and dates and nougats and pastries and clothes and jewellery and ceramics and clothing, etc of the Moroccan markets … I can't imagine the markets of Tanzania have anything like that, what we saw was pretty rudimentary, basic, survival stuff … we'll have to take a better look next time we do some shopping, or have a good look before we shop with the orphanage staff.
We have had lots of "local interaction", as our Intrepid tour guide used to say to us; no matter what we are doing at the orphanage, people walking by will look, or stop and look, or smile, wave and we wave back, etc. Kids from around the neighbouring houses will have a look and maybe join is if we're kicking the soccerball, or just hang at the end of the building, just checking out what's happening. Same happens when we've walked around the local area to the orphanage, or when we're driving to and fro our hotel. One thing I've noticed while we've sat in a small grassy area opposite reception/lounge is hearing the noise of people and children of the neighbourhood, you can hear them going about their day … you don't really hear that at home, we are all so secluded and separated from eachother. It's almost the sound of a schoolyard, but quieter, it's the sound of people who live around you, and you almost feel a part of that "village".
Back to the orphanage's tiny school: seeing how little the classroom has, and knowing just how much is contributed to the School of St Jude in terms of textbooks and books, we are wondering there may be an excess that we could be given away to the orphanage. And, having a contact at Ujamaa Hostel, we thought "how do we get them to give assistance or guidance to NOCET", ie, practical advice? We set up a meeting time, on Wednesday the 14th, with Carley at Ujamaa, along with James and Samwel. Carley speaks Swahili quite well, so she was able to direct questions to both James and Samwel. She is a straight shooter, and cut through to get to how things truly are with NOCET.
Some of the conclusions/advice being:
- to define what the actual incomings and outgoings are for NOCET - how much money is actually needed for monthly operation, now, and for when they move to a bigger house
- to do what they are doing well, not try to overreach and grow too fast, too quickly, etc
- if they want to attract volunteers, there needs to be a program of activities for volunteers to be created - so they just don't show up with nothing planned for them to do
- to have an achievable plan of action for the next few years
We have to work thru this list with Peter, Samwel and James over the next 3 weeks, hoping that by the time we leave, everyone is on the same page on where NOCET is at now, where it can be in 12 month's time, 24 month's time, 36 month's time.
Carley visited the centre on 16 December, which was fantastic: the kids were scrubbed up, the rooms cleaned up. It meant a lot to Samwel, Joyce, Loveness, the children and ourselves - she was able to see the conditions, the children, to see what we were talking about.
On the 17th we actually went to a 7th Day Adventist Church, not to be converted, but more to see the community at worship, to hear Elizabeth - who has a beautiful voice - just to take in another amazing experience. Samwel came to guide us in the car, it wasn't far away from our hotel. On arrival, we saw two groups of children, older and younger, who were having bible class. We were introduced to the littlies' group, and watched them sing and being taught, the children all dressed up and gorgeous. After about half an hour a bell was rung and the people started filing into the church, and we were led to the front bench, with Samwel bringing over a lady who was going to interpret for us.
I did take my digital voice recorder with me, to record the singing. After notices we were introduced to the congregation and warmly welcomed - we had to stand up and say "thank you all" in swahili with a resounding chorus of "Amen!" -wow! The singing was beautiful, there was a simple sermon for the children - the story of the lion and the thorn in its paw - followed by a sermon to the adults, which seemed to go on and on, difficult to hear our interpreter over the din of the female pastor [poor kids who had to sit in front of one of the 3 main loudspeakers!].
Once the service was over, the choir sang once more, and then followed the church officials slowly file out, and then it was the turn of the parishioners, into the bright sunlight outside, another song sung before it was totally over and we could thank everyone who welcomed us and helped us. Afterwards we are invited to Samwel's house for lunch, a simple 2 room dwelling, part of a building of 6 rooms, with a share bathroom/toilet, not much better than the rooms at the orphanage; no electricity or running water. Painted walls, cement floor, the doorway between the rooms draped with a sheet; above our heads basic wooden framework and the tin roof, that's it! The main room had a double bed along with 2 sofas and a couple of stools, the second room was where Joyce cooked and there was a bed in there as well, plus lots of suitcases and boxes.
[A reminder - even though it's obvious - Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world]
I got to spend a little time with Dora and Elizabeth in the 2nd room, asked some more of them - Dora is the only child of S+J's that lives there, the others live elsewhere; the elder sister has 2 children, I think the older brother lives in Mara, and the younger brother lives with an aunt. Dora is 22, and wants to undertake a 2 year course in Human Resources. She doesn't think she'll be able to do so as Samwel hasn't got the money, the course costs TZS800,000 per year [c.AUD450]. Elizabeth is 21, and I asked about her parents: they are both dead, and she has 2 sisters and a brother and she doesn't know where they are [unless lost in translation], and she lives with S, J + D. James was next door, that's where he lives, and that's how he and Samwel met. Pieces of the puzzle slowly fitting in together …
A few people came and went during and post-lunch, including a very young looking 27 yo Ibrahim, who's studying IT, who had plenty of questions of us and our life and conditions of Australia, and opinions about rich taking all the money - ie, corruption at high places - that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich. Something needs to change here, the vision of the father of Tanzania, Julius Neyere, is being lost to the detriment of the general population.
We are invited to a wedding tomorrow, being met by Samwel, who will guide us to the church, so another slice of life in Arusha to be experienced by us …
Wednesday 14 December 2011
Last days in Morocco
8–9 December: Casablanca
Our time at the Gite Nadia, on the outskirts of Casablanca, was spent relaxing, catching up on emails, getting washing done, having warm showers, eating regular meals, chatting to Jacques-o the parrot, and a couple of rounds of mini-golf. The weather was nice and sunny, and generally processing our time during our Intrepid tour of Morocco. It will take some time to fully take in everything we've seen and done, sometimes it has been a stretch to remember exactly what we saw or experienced where, when and how …
On our last morning, the owner of the hotel drove us to the airport, via a back way, passing a huge property, a palace owned by a Saudi king - or something like that - didn't take us long to get to the airport. Checked our bags in, went thru all the formalities, waited, found a "fast food" court where there were heaps of smokers in the designated no smoking hall - which really pisses me off - had a bite to eat, then time to board the plane bound for Cairo. An Egypt Air flight, 3678 km, about 5.5 hours. Watched "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2". We arrived on time, just before 9pm, but it seemed to take forever to taxi somewhere, it didn't stop at a gate but on the tarmac, and we had to board a bus to take us to the terminal, and people were being painfully slow boarding the bus, it was excruciating - we had a 35 minute turnover time and we were fast running out of that time!
Finally arrived at the terminal, and we had to rush to find our departure gate, a long, fast walk to gate F9, and when we reached it, c5 mins after the flight was supposed to depart, saw that the gate was closed, asked a couple of uniformed guys if the flight had left, they said it was now departing from gate G3, so had to rush back to where we started and rush about the same long distance to G3, and we managed to get on the plane, all hot and sweaty and exhausted and I was especially irritated by all of this shemozzle! Bloody Egypt Air, and Sheryl was also worried our baggage wouldn't make it to Nairobi!
As it was, the plane sat for c15 mins after we'd arrived, so we cooled down and caught our breath. We were seated right at the back end of the plane, next to the crew kitchen and toilets area. This flight was almost the same distance as the one to Cairo, 3546 km, 5 hours duration. Were served a supper and eventually got to watch "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", and tried to get some sleep, but was very difficult as the seats wouldn't recline as much as all the others would, and people walking past us to and fro the toilet and galley, talking, etc. Tried to catch 40 winks, and wondered how we'd get on in Nairobi. Stay tuned …
Our time at the Gite Nadia, on the outskirts of Casablanca, was spent relaxing, catching up on emails, getting washing done, having warm showers, eating regular meals, chatting to Jacques-o the parrot, and a couple of rounds of mini-golf. The weather was nice and sunny, and generally processing our time during our Intrepid tour of Morocco. It will take some time to fully take in everything we've seen and done, sometimes it has been a stretch to remember exactly what we saw or experienced where, when and how …
On our last morning, the owner of the hotel drove us to the airport, via a back way, passing a huge property, a palace owned by a Saudi king - or something like that - didn't take us long to get to the airport. Checked our bags in, went thru all the formalities, waited, found a "fast food" court where there were heaps of smokers in the designated no smoking hall - which really pisses me off - had a bite to eat, then time to board the plane bound for Cairo. An Egypt Air flight, 3678 km, about 5.5 hours. Watched "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2". We arrived on time, just before 9pm, but it seemed to take forever to taxi somewhere, it didn't stop at a gate but on the tarmac, and we had to board a bus to take us to the terminal, and people were being painfully slow boarding the bus, it was excruciating - we had a 35 minute turnover time and we were fast running out of that time!
Finally arrived at the terminal, and we had to rush to find our departure gate, a long, fast walk to gate F9, and when we reached it, c5 mins after the flight was supposed to depart, saw that the gate was closed, asked a couple of uniformed guys if the flight had left, they said it was now departing from gate G3, so had to rush back to where we started and rush about the same long distance to G3, and we managed to get on the plane, all hot and sweaty and exhausted and I was especially irritated by all of this shemozzle! Bloody Egypt Air, and Sheryl was also worried our baggage wouldn't make it to Nairobi!
As it was, the plane sat for c15 mins after we'd arrived, so we cooled down and caught our breath. We were seated right at the back end of the plane, next to the crew kitchen and toilets area. This flight was almost the same distance as the one to Cairo, 3546 km, 5 hours duration. Were served a supper and eventually got to watch "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", and tried to get some sleep, but was very difficult as the seats wouldn't recline as much as all the others would, and people walking past us to and fro the toilet and galley, talking, etc. Tried to catch 40 winks, and wondered how we'd get on in Nairobi. Stay tuned …
Thursday 8 December 2011
and on to Marrakech ...
3 December
We'd decided last night that we'd just have a slacko morning and wander into the village and maybe visit the school, when Miloud explained the itinerary. Brekky was simple, egg, bread, tea and coffee, packaged juice. Brushed teeth and the water was so icy cold it hurt! Once we put on as much clothing we had, checked out the views from the terrace, a big bank of fog rose in the distance before me and gradually enveloped the village, just looking at the snowy mountains with plumes of snow being blown off their tops in the distance made me cold to the bone …
We walked over the bottom of the valley to the school, and noone was there, we entered the gates and peeped in a window of one of the buildings, it was very simple, tables and chairs, cement floor, not much on the walls, a teacher's desk and a cupboard, a few lights on the ceiling, with cds glued to crossbeams for decoration; didn't see any technology or heating whatsoever in the room. We looked at the other building too, as simple as the first, and round the corner a more brightly coloured building with "Children's World" painted around the doorway - a preschool? I looked for the toilet and found one WC whose door was open, it had small piles of pooh on the floor and the squat toilet was obviously blocked with debris. The schoolyard itself can't have been much bigger than 10 x 20 metres.
Walked a little ways into the village, then crossed over to the left side of the valley, passing by some shops, the young men enticing us to come in and "just have a look, just for a minute, no need to buy, we'll still be friends if you don't buy" - how many times have we heard that now?! Stopped at small stall, where they had some woolen hats and I was tempted to buy one as my head and ears were freezing, and a small boy appeared and we asked if he could make a coffee - yes - and so tried on some hats and had a look inside the adjoining shop, with souvenirs, jewellery, clothing, thunder eggs, fossils … had trouble working out with the boy how much the coffee was as he didn't speak any french or english, but the hat he wrote on a piece of paper was MAD100 and the coffee MAD800, which didn't make sense, the hat costing AUD12.50 and the coffee AUD100! Gave him MAD20 for the coffee, which has normally been cMAD15 everywhere, but I didn't have anything smaller and he didn't have any change … oh well, no hat for me, but by that time the sun had finally arrived and so it was bearable …
We walked further up the hill, looking to go a little further for "views" but came across a bigger 3-roomed shop, run by a very affable fellow called "Robin Hood 2", the original being in England. He told us that it was his father's shop, that he and his brother's took turns in the shop, that his wife, and mother and sister in law didn't work and that the money in his pocket was his family's money. He said that all he needed was to have a rich heart, not to be rich, that the village was his family and that everyone looked after eachother. A really friendly guy, with a big toothy smile and full of info on his and his fellow villagers' lives, that in the main everyone works to put food on the table and that was pretty much it, by farming, being guides, shops, etc. We spent quite a bit of time with him, with Sheryl buying a little souvenir as a momento of our time with RH2, then said fond farewells and wished him and his wife all the best as they were expecting their 2nd baby in 2 week's time.
Walked back to our lodgings, and after about half an hour had lunch on the terrace, mixed salad and bread as well as an omelette tagine, which was delicious. Once lunch was over, we packed up our backpacks and said our farewells to Houcine, then followed Miloud up the l;eft side of the valley, passing by RH2 - Ibrahim - and saying hi and bye, and then down winding, rocky, hairpin bends down to the village to the hotel where our big bags were stored, passing many little souvenir shops with guys trying to get us in to have a look. Good to see Hassan again, loaded up the van, with a few old men trying to sell jewellery and daggers. And soon we were on our way, destination: the coastal city of Essaouira - said as "ess-oh-wear-a". Apparently hippies discovered it in the 60s, including Jimi Hendrix, who spent some time there.
It was a tiring drive, I think we're all tired from lack of sleep and the cold from yesterday, as well as tired from the long drives we've had the last couple of days. Retraced our steps past the former Branson mansion, the continuing-to-be-built-road-with-sheer-drops, back thru to a town where we dropped in on a argan-production shop - a nut that is used to make oils for cooking as well as for cosmetics, soaps, etc - thru the grubby, litter-infested outskirts of Marrakesh, and the plains before our destination for tonight. We stopped at a truck stop for drinks, ice-cream and potato chips and facilities too.
About 5km from Essaouria we paused at a viewing point, where we could see the town and the sea, and the sinking sun. It's not a big place, Miloud estimates 80000 people, but it looked smaller. He mentioned to us that this is the last drive with Hassan, and to consider MAD150-200 per person as a tip. A short drive into the town itself, once the bags were all off, we each in turn shook hands with Hassan - with tip - and thanked him for his driving and company, then we had to walk a handful of streets to our hotel, Riad Dar el Qdima, where we allocated our rooms on the 2nd floor, and to meet in the lobby at 7pm for dinner. The stairs were spiral and narrow, and it was also dark, having problems with finding the light buttons, and a relief to get to our spacious room #7, which has a queen and a double, and a nice bathroom - yes, hot water tonight! Decided not to have a shower just yet, just to freshen up, and dumped our bags and sorted ourselves out. Sheryl went downstairs to get a toilet roll as there aren't any in our room.
Once assembled, Miloud led the way to the restaurant, which is in the old part of town, it almost felt like a part of old Europe, Malta as we drew closer to the restaurant - went up to the terrace - after shaking hands and greeting a couple of guys who I guess will be our hosts/waiters - where we would get great views of the sea if it was light, and could see part of the old fortified wall. Looks a nice venue, a quality place, and led to our table, and ordered, so much to choose from … I decided on grilled fish, Moroccan style, and Sheryl some gnocchi; I also ordered a juice of seasonal fruits, and Sheryl a Stolli … when it arrived it was just vodka in a tall glass, as she thought it was going to be a Russki, and so asked for some orange juice to be added, haha, funny! My drink was served in a big wineglass, like in Kenya/Tanzania, thick, fruity, delicious!
There was a family on the next table, and a blonde lady - well dressed - came over to them, and Miloud greeted her as well - she and her husband are the owners. Dinner was yum, really enjoyed my fish, even though the bones were a bother. There was a fellow on a keyboard, with all kinds of backing tracks for percussion, so he literally was a one-man-band ... he was great. The man from the next table got up and went over, with his young son, who looked to be about 7 or 8, and then started to dance, using his feet like a spanish dancer, in rhythm to the beat, clapping his hands in syncopation, gyrating his hips, loved watching him move, he was obviously enjoying himself. His pregnant wife joined him, and their son got Sheryl up, then Simone, and Grant, so most of the place was dancing as there weren't any other tables of people there. Loved it!
We realised it was time to get out of there as we needed to buy a phonecard, to call Stacey to wish her well for the wedding, so asked if we could get the bill and some change … once organised, we farewelled everyone, as well as the family, who were gracious, and complimented on their son and his company and good behaviour, wished them well for the new baby, the gentleman spoke quite good English and he was lovely with his farewell, welcoming us and wishing us a wonderful time for the remainder of our journey here. Retraced our steps back to the main street, the recharge shop was still open, bought a MAD100 phonecard, went over the road to find a phone … had troubles connecting, and a man next to us said that phone was no good, so we went down the road a little, and still had troubles, so we went back to the recharge shop and asked what the international number was - 00 - so we were in business … were successful, Stacey answered and we chatted to her, Dylan, and finally Lockie and a very quick minute with Reece, as a lady was waiting for the phone. In the meantime, there were a couple of fights between various teenagers on the street, the first looked to be because they were drunk … felt a little scary … back to the hotel, put our names down for brekky inhouse tomorrow morning, up to our room, had showers, bed, aaaahhhh!
4 December
At 9am we met with the others and waited a few minutes for our local guide, a lady called Rachida. We had her for a few hours this morning, as she guided us to the fishing port, to the fortified walls and towers, where there were Spanish guns still in place, thru backstreets and into the market area, to some artisans shops selling beautiful inlaid wooden objects such as secret boxes, boxes, bowls, bases, chests, tables, etc … just wonderful things … also to the silversmithing showroom next door … more wow!
Rachida was great, forthright with her knowledge and opinions, answering all our questions: at one point Morocco was roughly divided between the French and the Spanish, the French being admired as "builders" of aspects of their nation, leaving roads, infrastructure, etc, and the Spanish as "destroyers" doing what they did in South America! Similar in antipathy as the Maltese have against the Turks and the Germans. The thing about 3 generation of families living together is that it good mainly for the younger and elder generations, that is was difficult for the generation in between, especially those in their 20-30s. There is not one word in Arabic that means "privacy", as there is none for people living in multi-generational homes. It kind of felt the word - or concept - of "family" means different things to those living in simple villages and towns - that is greater inter-dependence - than for those living in larger towns and cities. The message we received yet again was the religious tolerance that has existed between Muslims, Jews and Christians over the hundreds of years of coexistence. Rachida also said Essaouira was very windy, and that in August you couldn't wear enough clothing as protection against the wind. That Morocco has huge hydro-electricity generation and exports energy to France. As in Fes markets, we saw people taking their dough to be baked in bakers' ovens, In Fes we were told you could tell the relative wealth of those people by the type of tray, cloth that covered the dough, as well as the type of flour used in the dough.
It was outside those artisan shops, opposite a very fancy hotel that we parted ways, saying thanks, a tip, Miloud having joined us said we had free time until 2:45pm tomorrow, when we have to meet at our hotel and then onto a local bus to Marrakesh.
Sheryl and I wandered back thru town, found a small cafe for a simple lunch, then kept wandering for about an hour or so, finding a restaurant that has 3 different types of pastilla, asking the young man there if they were nice - 5 star - and he said yes, so we said we'll see you tonight - wandering in busy streets and quiet ones till we found a beachside cafe for a drink, chillax, to watch bunches of young men play beach soccer, watching the waves, the kite boarders, the wind turbines opposite the bay we were in … noice!
Later, back to the hotel, to check, receive, send emails, and for me to update dairy for the last few days. We started to feel hungry after 6:30 or so, so we got ready to head off to that restaurant we found earlier today. But first we were told by the concierge that ouyr laundry had arrived and he required payment, so upstairs to get our jackets and money - MAD25 each for brekky and MAD150 for the washing = MAD200 = cAUD25.00 - cheap! Found the restaurant - Restaurant Le Mogadorean - easily, and we were the only patrons in the time we were there, realising we were probably really early as Moroccans tend to eat later than we do. The nice young man was there and greeted us, took our order, chicken pastilla for Sheryl, fruits of the sea pastilla for me, a Moroccan salad as entree, along with a mixed fruit juice for both. As per other cafes and restaurants, marinated olives with toothpicks and sliced up bread arrived with our drinks. The food was nicely presented, looked and tasted delicious, a very enjoyable meal. Afterwards, a small selection of Moroccan pastries with hot drinks. Meal was MAD290 + MAD30 tip = cAUD40! Took an extra businesscard fro Miloud, as a recommendation. Had a little walk around some of the streets, then arrived on the main street and to the phone we used last night for Sheryl to had a good, long chat with Ev.
We have to check out at 12:30pm tomorrow afternoon, to meet up with our group at 2:45 before catching a local bus to Marrakesh, so we have all the time in the world to sleep in, grab brekky, pack, etc. A nice afternoon to ourselves! yay!
5 December
No hot water this morning at all! Damn it! Got our hopes up yesterday! Packed, took our bags down for storage, then into town, a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Found a crepes place that we saw yesterday and went inside for brekky - I had nutella and banana crepe and coffee, and Sheryl the apple and cinnamon crepe and a tea. At one point noticed the blanket next to me move and an arm pop out, saw a boy's face half look at me and realised that he was sleeping there! He stirred a few times during our brekky. Paid, then off for a walk around town, trying to find the battlements we visited with Rachida yesterday, but got lost. Retraced our steps and finally got there, and actually bumped into Rachida and said a quick hello, before we walked up the ramp to the fortifications where the cannons were lined up, pointing to the sea.
At one cannon we saw a bunch of cats, in and under and around the cannon, about 7 in all, some interested in a bag of food - looked like pasta - under the cannon, others were sunning or playing. Walked back to the turret, amazed by the acoustics- standing in the middle, your voice was quite loud, this effect used as a warning by guards posted there - don't quite know how it works, but it was quite incredible. Wandered back into a big square, near the fishing boats, where we heard from Rachida yesterday that "Birds" [Alfred Hitchcock's movie] was partially shot there. Found a cafe and had a hot drink, watching the world and people go by. When done, back into the souk area, decided to go for lunch, bumped into the young man from last night's restaurant and shook hands and exchanged greetings, to a pizza joint that made pannini, hamburghers and crepes as well - the food was quite crap, but filled a spot, and we enjoyed the fizzy Orangina we love so much from our time in Paris - wish there was an agent for it in Melbourne … it's made by Schweppes - www.orangina.com.
Miloud organised an old man with a handcart to transport our bags to the bus depot, so we followed them for c10 minutes, paid him MAD20 for his troubles, loaded the heaviest bags under the bus in the luggage bay, found our seats and after c10 minutes we were off on another road trip, in a big, comfy bus with spongy suspension that tooted all in its path … we were on our way and move over! A stop at a truck stop that we visited in our van a couple of days ago for c20 mins, time for toilet and a coffee and a stretch. Back on the bus and c30 kms out of Marrakech the traffic started to get more and more dense driving in the opposite direction, as well as the litter that I detest on either shoulder of the road. The traffic in Marrakech was quite heavy when we arrived, so many cars weaving in and out of lanes, cars, taxis, motorbikes, scooters, bikes, pedestrians, donkey and horse-drawn carts as well … organised chaos! What amazed me was the almost total lack of use of indicators by anyone, almost no helmets worn by motorbike, scooter and bike riders, hardly and headlights on by motorbikes and scooters; bicycle riders had no front or rear lights whatsoever. How noone got killed or injured during our drive into Marra, to the bus station, Allah only knows!
Arrived at the bus station c6pm, sun was down and started getting cool … more organised chaos regarding the taxis, all the drivers seemed to be shouting at eachother and gesticulating, Miloud had a difficult time organising taxis for us, and once in, our driver was more than kamikaze, he was aggressive and fearless! It was a quick 10 minute drive and I swear we almost ran over so many pedestrians and motorbike/scooter riders! Arrived at out Hotel, which is 3 star - yay, saved the best till last, thanks Miloud - called Hotel Caspien. Ooo, it was so nice to walk into a decent lobby, with marble and glass, be given our key - room 203 - and to actually use a lift, yay! To our room, with a queen bed, a tv, aircon, a bathroom with a shower-over-bath, with decent towels and toilet paper … and yes, hot water too! Oh blessed relief! I immediately had a shower as soon as I could as I felt grotty from the lack of a real clean this morning. Oh goodness, it felt so good! Time to meet up with the group in the lobby at 7:30.
Miloud led us on a good 20 minute walk into the city centre, to a very large square filled with people, foodstalls, and next to it, the souk. There's an International Film Festival on at the moment too, and saw a big screen up on a large wall at one end of the square. There were heaps of food stalls, a la German beer garden style in the centre, catering to all types of food, and Milioud led us to one stall, ordered drinks, we were seated and food started arriving: bread and 2 types of dipping sauces, various small plates of mixed salad, then calamari, beef and chicken skewers, end ended with a sage tea, which was very sweet, but definitely tasted of sage. When done, Simone went off by herself, Grant and we 2 had a wander round the square and had a quick look at part of the souk, then back into the square, listening to some of the music there, then decided we'd had enough and walked back. Grant peeled off at Mcdonalds as he hardly ate anything at dinner. About 10 mins later we reached the hotel, safe'n'sound, glad to be away from the crazy, noisy traffic and the exhaust fumes which was horrible.
6 December
We heard the construction site activity, as well as people working next to the hotel. Shave, shower, dressed, downstairs for brekky when we were ready - Grant was there so we sat with him and had a short chat. Grant plans to take a taxi to the other end of town and work his way back to the hotel. Sheryl found a photo gallery nearby so that's where we may start, as well as visit the gardens where the cyber park is, opposite the Complexe Artisanal. Wished Grant best of luck before we headed for Avenue Mohammed V, trying to find the gallery - passed a photo store, so may take my camera in there tomorrow morning to see about repair. Found the Gallery, in a building with heaps of medical practices, but it was shut, only open for a few hours in the afternoon, so may make it there later on today. OK, so that's that, took a slow, leisurely walk towards the gardens, seeing how different this main road is in the daylight, trendy inner-city shops and apartments and hotels; lots of noise from the road, plenty of smog in the air, visible in the near distance, hanging over everything.
Reached the gardens, which were like an oasis of calm and peace in amongst this busy city … aaaaah, orange groves with palm trees and other trees and ferns and plants, well maintained and looked after, no litter, not many people there, all quiet and lovely, nothing like a good public garden I say! Plenty of benches, as well as vertical internet kiosks with screens … interesting concept - a few were being used, it seemed strange to be standing at a narrow, tall sheltered structure, using the internet, in a city park … looking at a sign I could see it was supported by all the major communications companies I could think of. Loved it, loved the contrast from the hustle-bustle.
We stayed perhaps half an hour in the park, then headed further along Avenue Mohammed V to La Koutoubia, a beautiful 77m high minaret - apparently it exploded in 1569, and was rebuilt in exact detail. We walked all around it, noticing the pigeons and other birds - looked like small falcons - that floated around it. We then crossed over to Place Jemaa El Fna, the massive square we visited last night for dinner. Along the walk was the rank of horse and buggy drivers, all vying for your custom - I don't know how many times we said "La, shukran - no, thanks" … There were a lot less people in there, but saw small bands playing their instruments, snake charmers and juice stalls, fruits, nuts and spices stalls to. Had a wander round, poked our noses in the souk, but everyone asked us into their shops, which got annoying so we exited and found a cafe with a terrace so we could have a drink, chillax, and get away from the hassle below. It was nice to just look over the balcony and see what was going on down in the square and not have to think. Had a good look at the map to work out how to get to where we wanted to go next, which was the Palais Moulay Idris.
Paid the bill with tip, toilet, with tip, then, after trying to find street names or any kind of direction signs, we ended up at Palais El Badi instead. We decided to adopt the attitude we see what we see, and what we don't see we don't see, as we figured the only true way to definitely get somewhere in particular would be to take a taxi. According to the map, "The El Badi Palace was built at the end of the 16th century by the Saudian Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour Saadi to celebrate the victory over the Portuguese army in 1578 in the battle known as the 'Battle of the Three Kings'".
According to the info panels, this palace was stripped of it's marble, etc for a palace at Meknes. Once in - MAD10 each - you entered a rather large rectangular plaza, divided into 4, with sunken gardens - now planted with orange trees - as well as sunken pools, a central small raised square with great views to each end of the 4 axes, at one end of the long rectangular space was the Visitor's Pavillion, for entertaining dignitaries, there was only the foundation stones including remnants of pipes of the pavillion at the opposite end. You could enter various portals and go down tiled steps to other areas, including dignitaries' accommodation, and what may well have been servants' quarters, etc.
It would have look such an impressive place had it not been rendered as practically almost ruins, with current day restoration work being carried out. At the corner closest to the entry point was a terrace from which you got a really good view of the plaza below, as well as the surrounding suburbs, complete with low lying smoke haze/pollution in the distance, obscuring what would have been a great view to the snow-capped Atlas mountains. Thankfully, there aren't any steel and glass high rise buildings, the tallest structures being the minarets of mosques, the standout one being the one we visited earlier, which was our direction-finder point, our point of reference for the city.
We wandered down to an adjoining small square, looking for somewhere to eat, it was now after 2pm. Spotted a cafe with a terrace and had lunch there, spotting a huge tall eucalypt in the nearby square, felt like a little piece of home! After lunch we asked the waiter how far the Tombeaux Saadiens were, and what direction to take, and so, 10 minutes later we were there, and very proud not to have gotten lost, as the streets are truly chaotic and busy with traffic and people and noise and colour, so very easy to get confused. First of all we noticed there was another lovely minaret next to a mosque in a small square, saw that there were other tourists, and figured we must have been close to the tombs, passed by some non-flowing fountains, a few horse drawn buggies and other souvenir stalls … a man came over to say hello and ask where we were from, and by now had learnt to try to ignore, or say "la shukran" to these people as they always wanted to show you their shop, or take you to a stall or try to get you on a buggy, etc. This man represented a place selling 1000 spices, but did point out where the entrance to the tombs were, and said to come back afterwards and he would sell us some fantastic spices, the best quality, good price … to the ticket booth - MAD10 each - wound our way thru some extremely narrow, high-walled passages and found ourselves in a lovely space, with tall palms and orange trees, well tended gardens with tiled, unnamed tombs, some with raised pieces of marble with arabic calligraphy on them.
There were various incredibly intricately decorated enclosed spaces which took my breath away, with more tiled tombs in them … wow, I could have spent ages looking at them, but access to them was limited space-wise and there were people waiting to have a look too … to think what humans are capable of, to be incredible, ingenious, talented, artistic people, especially in times many hundreds of years prior to us walking this earth … this simply takes my breath away, the beauty stuns me, overwhelms me. We stayed perhaps 45 minutes in this gorgeous space, quiet, with the sun glowing on the mudbrick tuscan coloured high walls, cloudless blue sky above …
On exiting we looked for La Koutoubia minaret and headed for it, getting quite good at crossing crazy kamikaze traffic streets, walked along Avenue Mohammed V to the Complexe Artisanal, opposite the Cyber Park - the gardens we visited in the morning. This artisans village is like the one in Essaouria, but with many more shops, all selling beautiful things like ceramics, leathergoods, clothing, jewellery, felt hats, beaten/stamped metal objects, paintings, drawings, etc. had a drink and bought a set of 4 small, cute, brightly coloured paintings for our house, as souvenirs of our time in Morocco.
Walked back to our hotel, waiting for our meet up with our group in the lobby at 7pm. We were the first ones there, after a few minutes the rest arrived. Miloud led us to an Italian restaurant called Casa Nostra - on Rue Oued EL Makhazine - not far from Place Liberte, round the corner from KFC and Mcdonalds. A really nice place, very ritzy for what we've been used to these last 2 weeks, snazzy waiters, great menu, delicious food, a really nice meal to end our tour. Had tiramisu and coffee, then paid the bill, much thanks to our waiter, then headed back to our hotel. In the lobby it was time to say our goodbyes
I'll probably go to the nearby camera store in the morning, then at noon we check out and store our bags, then at 3:30 we are to be ready to be picked up for our transfer to the airport for our flight to Casablanca, and a new adventure awaits us in Tanzania in a few day's time.
7 December
Onto the street, a bright, sunny day, down to Ave Mohammed V, to the camera store we passed yesterday morning. A fellow there spoke a little English and I showed him the problem with my camera lens - he took a look and said ready in 12 minutes, so off we went onto the Avenue, and as we walked, a young couple came up to us, asked for the time, and then where we came from - they're from the Gold Coast - and so we chatted for c15 minutes, swapping travel stories and experiences - it was nice to hear Australian accents again, to feel in familiar company! Wished eachother happy trails and went our separate ways, us back to the camera store, the camera ready, MAD100, so good to know the lens is now back together again, and protected with the filter and lens cap. OK, time to head off to Yves St Laurent's garden, which was c20 minutes walk, easy to find.
Like the gardens we visited yesterday, here was another oasis from the hustle and bustle and exhaust and noise of mad Marrakech's streets. Paid our entry fee - MAD40 each - and wandered into this magnificent place of quiet and greenery, the first garden being succulents, cacti of many different varieties, shapes and sizes, set on well tended, neat garden beds, with many tall palm trees as well., they give a sense of height and space. Not a big garden, but well thought thru, well laid out, paths leading you to unexpected arrangements of fountains, brightly coloured pots, a 2 storey building painted a deep blue with yellow curtains, which really stood out from the garden itself. It somehow worked.
There were many places to take great pix, many benches to repose and contemplate and watch the world go by, lots of European visitors, plus a group from YALE, with a big banner they unfurled for a group shot, their accents high, whiney, grating to the ears. A few pagodas with greenery and flowers draped to create a flowing effect, then to a little path at the end of which was a truncated column, a memorial to Yves St Laurent.. As we walked around, and paused here and there, we were asked to take pix a few times, and managed to get one of ourselves taken as well. We also visited the museum - MAD25 each - which had a permanent exhibition of Berber artifacts: clothing, objects for cleaning wool, bags, jewellery, tea making equipment, mortars, daggers, etc.
There was this amazing octagonal room, which looked like a starry night in the Sahara, a darkened space, mirrors on 7 walls and all the ceiling, with a multitude of small lights, in front of the 7 wall mirrors were display cases of jewellery from 7 different parts of the Atlas where Berbers liv, along with head and shoulder mannequins which displayed head and neck ornaments, which were exquisite. On the ground, underneath the display cases was sand, so it did give the impression of a starry saharan night, the reflections of the mirrors made the room appear much bigger than it was, did the eyes and head in, it was a fantastic affect. There was an audio visual presentation on entry as well, of beautifully taken contemporary pix and short videos, as well as old photos as well. Well worth looking at.
Once we exited the museum, we walked around a little more. There were a couple of big stands of bamboo, too, most of them had names carved into their trunks, which was a shame. Once we made the full circuit, we decided to have lunch in the cafe, set in a tranquil courtyard, with sails sheltering the guests below. A few rooms with day beds on a couple of sides too. Shared a club sandwich,and Sheryl ordered a deliciously thick drink that was a mix of avocado, dates, almonds and milk … yum!
Time to leave, we returned to our hotel to collect our bags, relax in the lobby before our pick up. We waited till c3:45, and noone showed to find us in the lobby, so we went out as we saw a couple of vans, and a fella from the hotel asked a driver if he was there to pick us up - yes [grrrrr] - so put all the bags in, and off we went, taking c15 minutes. Found the check-in desk, and it looked like noone was there, even though the counter we had to go to was lit up, but saw a lady at another counter, and she checked us in.
So, we found a cart, and wandered around, we were 2 hours early, c4pm, the flight being at 6pm. We found a couple of atms, but they wouldn't dish out any cash at all. Found a small cafe, had a coffee and a bag of chips, then we decided to wander over to our gate. After c30 minutes we were called to proceed into the gate. Put our stuff thru the scanner, and had to wait c5 mins, before called thru to follow a man on the tarmac, it was just Sheryl and myself, as well as another man, heading for a twin-propellered commercial jet, thinking "is it just the 3 of us?" Boarded the plane, which has 74 passenger capacity, and waited to see if anyone else would join us … by the time we were taxiing for takeoff, there were 15 passengers, 4 were crew flying as passengers, sitting in business class, the rest of the 11 in economy, and I think we were the only westerners.
The flight lasted 35 minutes, no snacks or drinks served. Before we knew it we were landing at Casablanca, and after some initial confusion with the bus dropping us off at the International rather than domestic terminal - and not requiring to go thru passport control as we did - by the time we got to the baggage carousel, only our bags were left, found a trolley, worked our way to Terminal 1, where our pickup was waiting. Needed to go to the atm, the one I used when we first arrived in Casablanca 2 weeks ago, but it didn't want to cooperate and give me cash, grrr, so off we walked to the van, and headed off to our hotel for the next 2 nights. It took about 40 minutes to get there, longer than the flight from Marrakech, the last 10 mins being on secondary roads which were quite chaotic.
Reached the hotel, which seems to be on the fringe of Casablanca, near big offices and/or factories, checked in with a lady that pretty much only speaks french and hardly any english - she said that tomorrow morning there will be a man in reception that speaks english. she was really nice, handed us a form to fill in, then the driver walked our baggage over to our room, the lady showed us thru … a nice room, well-finished, comfy, good quality finish and nice sheets, pillows and doona, the bathroom has good towels and soap and even shampoo in the shower … aaaaaahhhhhh … settled in, then off to the hotel restaurant for dinner. There were 5 other people in there, all males, as well as a parrot of some kind that made all sorts of whistles, cat's meow's, "bon jour", etc … kept us entertained.
Later, to sleep, hearing the nosies from the nearby highway and dogs barking in the distance … zzzzzzzzzz ....
We'd decided last night that we'd just have a slacko morning and wander into the village and maybe visit the school, when Miloud explained the itinerary. Brekky was simple, egg, bread, tea and coffee, packaged juice. Brushed teeth and the water was so icy cold it hurt! Once we put on as much clothing we had, checked out the views from the terrace, a big bank of fog rose in the distance before me and gradually enveloped the village, just looking at the snowy mountains with plumes of snow being blown off their tops in the distance made me cold to the bone …
We walked over the bottom of the valley to the school, and noone was there, we entered the gates and peeped in a window of one of the buildings, it was very simple, tables and chairs, cement floor, not much on the walls, a teacher's desk and a cupboard, a few lights on the ceiling, with cds glued to crossbeams for decoration; didn't see any technology or heating whatsoever in the room. We looked at the other building too, as simple as the first, and round the corner a more brightly coloured building with "Children's World" painted around the doorway - a preschool? I looked for the toilet and found one WC whose door was open, it had small piles of pooh on the floor and the squat toilet was obviously blocked with debris. The schoolyard itself can't have been much bigger than 10 x 20 metres.
Walked a little ways into the village, then crossed over to the left side of the valley, passing by some shops, the young men enticing us to come in and "just have a look, just for a minute, no need to buy, we'll still be friends if you don't buy" - how many times have we heard that now?! Stopped at small stall, where they had some woolen hats and I was tempted to buy one as my head and ears were freezing, and a small boy appeared and we asked if he could make a coffee - yes - and so tried on some hats and had a look inside the adjoining shop, with souvenirs, jewellery, clothing, thunder eggs, fossils … had trouble working out with the boy how much the coffee was as he didn't speak any french or english, but the hat he wrote on a piece of paper was MAD100 and the coffee MAD800, which didn't make sense, the hat costing AUD12.50 and the coffee AUD100! Gave him MAD20 for the coffee, which has normally been cMAD15 everywhere, but I didn't have anything smaller and he didn't have any change … oh well, no hat for me, but by that time the sun had finally arrived and so it was bearable …
We walked further up the hill, looking to go a little further for "views" but came across a bigger 3-roomed shop, run by a very affable fellow called "Robin Hood 2", the original being in England. He told us that it was his father's shop, that he and his brother's took turns in the shop, that his wife, and mother and sister in law didn't work and that the money in his pocket was his family's money. He said that all he needed was to have a rich heart, not to be rich, that the village was his family and that everyone looked after eachother. A really friendly guy, with a big toothy smile and full of info on his and his fellow villagers' lives, that in the main everyone works to put food on the table and that was pretty much it, by farming, being guides, shops, etc. We spent quite a bit of time with him, with Sheryl buying a little souvenir as a momento of our time with RH2, then said fond farewells and wished him and his wife all the best as they were expecting their 2nd baby in 2 week's time.
Walked back to our lodgings, and after about half an hour had lunch on the terrace, mixed salad and bread as well as an omelette tagine, which was delicious. Once lunch was over, we packed up our backpacks and said our farewells to Houcine, then followed Miloud up the l;eft side of the valley, passing by RH2 - Ibrahim - and saying hi and bye, and then down winding, rocky, hairpin bends down to the village to the hotel where our big bags were stored, passing many little souvenir shops with guys trying to get us in to have a look. Good to see Hassan again, loaded up the van, with a few old men trying to sell jewellery and daggers. And soon we were on our way, destination: the coastal city of Essaouira - said as "ess-oh-wear-a". Apparently hippies discovered it in the 60s, including Jimi Hendrix, who spent some time there.
It was a tiring drive, I think we're all tired from lack of sleep and the cold from yesterday, as well as tired from the long drives we've had the last couple of days. Retraced our steps past the former Branson mansion, the continuing-to-be-built-road-with-sheer-drops, back thru to a town where we dropped in on a argan-production shop - a nut that is used to make oils for cooking as well as for cosmetics, soaps, etc - thru the grubby, litter-infested outskirts of Marrakesh, and the plains before our destination for tonight. We stopped at a truck stop for drinks, ice-cream and potato chips and facilities too.
About 5km from Essaouria we paused at a viewing point, where we could see the town and the sea, and the sinking sun. It's not a big place, Miloud estimates 80000 people, but it looked smaller. He mentioned to us that this is the last drive with Hassan, and to consider MAD150-200 per person as a tip. A short drive into the town itself, once the bags were all off, we each in turn shook hands with Hassan - with tip - and thanked him for his driving and company, then we had to walk a handful of streets to our hotel, Riad Dar el Qdima, where we allocated our rooms on the 2nd floor, and to meet in the lobby at 7pm for dinner. The stairs were spiral and narrow, and it was also dark, having problems with finding the light buttons, and a relief to get to our spacious room #7, which has a queen and a double, and a nice bathroom - yes, hot water tonight! Decided not to have a shower just yet, just to freshen up, and dumped our bags and sorted ourselves out. Sheryl went downstairs to get a toilet roll as there aren't any in our room.
Once assembled, Miloud led the way to the restaurant, which is in the old part of town, it almost felt like a part of old Europe, Malta as we drew closer to the restaurant - went up to the terrace - after shaking hands and greeting a couple of guys who I guess will be our hosts/waiters - where we would get great views of the sea if it was light, and could see part of the old fortified wall. Looks a nice venue, a quality place, and led to our table, and ordered, so much to choose from … I decided on grilled fish, Moroccan style, and Sheryl some gnocchi; I also ordered a juice of seasonal fruits, and Sheryl a Stolli … when it arrived it was just vodka in a tall glass, as she thought it was going to be a Russki, and so asked for some orange juice to be added, haha, funny! My drink was served in a big wineglass, like in Kenya/Tanzania, thick, fruity, delicious!
There was a family on the next table, and a blonde lady - well dressed - came over to them, and Miloud greeted her as well - she and her husband are the owners. Dinner was yum, really enjoyed my fish, even though the bones were a bother. There was a fellow on a keyboard, with all kinds of backing tracks for percussion, so he literally was a one-man-band ... he was great. The man from the next table got up and went over, with his young son, who looked to be about 7 or 8, and then started to dance, using his feet like a spanish dancer, in rhythm to the beat, clapping his hands in syncopation, gyrating his hips, loved watching him move, he was obviously enjoying himself. His pregnant wife joined him, and their son got Sheryl up, then Simone, and Grant, so most of the place was dancing as there weren't any other tables of people there. Loved it!
We realised it was time to get out of there as we needed to buy a phonecard, to call Stacey to wish her well for the wedding, so asked if we could get the bill and some change … once organised, we farewelled everyone, as well as the family, who were gracious, and complimented on their son and his company and good behaviour, wished them well for the new baby, the gentleman spoke quite good English and he was lovely with his farewell, welcoming us and wishing us a wonderful time for the remainder of our journey here. Retraced our steps back to the main street, the recharge shop was still open, bought a MAD100 phonecard, went over the road to find a phone … had troubles connecting, and a man next to us said that phone was no good, so we went down the road a little, and still had troubles, so we went back to the recharge shop and asked what the international number was - 00 - so we were in business … were successful, Stacey answered and we chatted to her, Dylan, and finally Lockie and a very quick minute with Reece, as a lady was waiting for the phone. In the meantime, there were a couple of fights between various teenagers on the street, the first looked to be because they were drunk … felt a little scary … back to the hotel, put our names down for brekky inhouse tomorrow morning, up to our room, had showers, bed, aaaahhhh!
4 December
At 9am we met with the others and waited a few minutes for our local guide, a lady called Rachida. We had her for a few hours this morning, as she guided us to the fishing port, to the fortified walls and towers, where there were Spanish guns still in place, thru backstreets and into the market area, to some artisans shops selling beautiful inlaid wooden objects such as secret boxes, boxes, bowls, bases, chests, tables, etc … just wonderful things … also to the silversmithing showroom next door … more wow!
Rachida was great, forthright with her knowledge and opinions, answering all our questions: at one point Morocco was roughly divided between the French and the Spanish, the French being admired as "builders" of aspects of their nation, leaving roads, infrastructure, etc, and the Spanish as "destroyers" doing what they did in South America! Similar in antipathy as the Maltese have against the Turks and the Germans. The thing about 3 generation of families living together is that it good mainly for the younger and elder generations, that is was difficult for the generation in between, especially those in their 20-30s. There is not one word in Arabic that means "privacy", as there is none for people living in multi-generational homes. It kind of felt the word - or concept - of "family" means different things to those living in simple villages and towns - that is greater inter-dependence - than for those living in larger towns and cities. The message we received yet again was the religious tolerance that has existed between Muslims, Jews and Christians over the hundreds of years of coexistence. Rachida also said Essaouira was very windy, and that in August you couldn't wear enough clothing as protection against the wind. That Morocco has huge hydro-electricity generation and exports energy to France. As in Fes markets, we saw people taking their dough to be baked in bakers' ovens, In Fes we were told you could tell the relative wealth of those people by the type of tray, cloth that covered the dough, as well as the type of flour used in the dough.
It was outside those artisan shops, opposite a very fancy hotel that we parted ways, saying thanks, a tip, Miloud having joined us said we had free time until 2:45pm tomorrow, when we have to meet at our hotel and then onto a local bus to Marrakesh.
Sheryl and I wandered back thru town, found a small cafe for a simple lunch, then kept wandering for about an hour or so, finding a restaurant that has 3 different types of pastilla, asking the young man there if they were nice - 5 star - and he said yes, so we said we'll see you tonight - wandering in busy streets and quiet ones till we found a beachside cafe for a drink, chillax, to watch bunches of young men play beach soccer, watching the waves, the kite boarders, the wind turbines opposite the bay we were in … noice!
Later, back to the hotel, to check, receive, send emails, and for me to update dairy for the last few days. We started to feel hungry after 6:30 or so, so we got ready to head off to that restaurant we found earlier today. But first we were told by the concierge that ouyr laundry had arrived and he required payment, so upstairs to get our jackets and money - MAD25 each for brekky and MAD150 for the washing = MAD200 = cAUD25.00 - cheap! Found the restaurant - Restaurant Le Mogadorean - easily, and we were the only patrons in the time we were there, realising we were probably really early as Moroccans tend to eat later than we do. The nice young man was there and greeted us, took our order, chicken pastilla for Sheryl, fruits of the sea pastilla for me, a Moroccan salad as entree, along with a mixed fruit juice for both. As per other cafes and restaurants, marinated olives with toothpicks and sliced up bread arrived with our drinks. The food was nicely presented, looked and tasted delicious, a very enjoyable meal. Afterwards, a small selection of Moroccan pastries with hot drinks. Meal was MAD290 + MAD30 tip = cAUD40! Took an extra businesscard fro Miloud, as a recommendation. Had a little walk around some of the streets, then arrived on the main street and to the phone we used last night for Sheryl to had a good, long chat with Ev.
We have to check out at 12:30pm tomorrow afternoon, to meet up with our group at 2:45 before catching a local bus to Marrakesh, so we have all the time in the world to sleep in, grab brekky, pack, etc. A nice afternoon to ourselves! yay!
5 December
No hot water this morning at all! Damn it! Got our hopes up yesterday! Packed, took our bags down for storage, then into town, a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Found a crepes place that we saw yesterday and went inside for brekky - I had nutella and banana crepe and coffee, and Sheryl the apple and cinnamon crepe and a tea. At one point noticed the blanket next to me move and an arm pop out, saw a boy's face half look at me and realised that he was sleeping there! He stirred a few times during our brekky. Paid, then off for a walk around town, trying to find the battlements we visited with Rachida yesterday, but got lost. Retraced our steps and finally got there, and actually bumped into Rachida and said a quick hello, before we walked up the ramp to the fortifications where the cannons were lined up, pointing to the sea.
At one cannon we saw a bunch of cats, in and under and around the cannon, about 7 in all, some interested in a bag of food - looked like pasta - under the cannon, others were sunning or playing. Walked back to the turret, amazed by the acoustics- standing in the middle, your voice was quite loud, this effect used as a warning by guards posted there - don't quite know how it works, but it was quite incredible. Wandered back into a big square, near the fishing boats, where we heard from Rachida yesterday that "Birds" [Alfred Hitchcock's movie] was partially shot there. Found a cafe and had a hot drink, watching the world and people go by. When done, back into the souk area, decided to go for lunch, bumped into the young man from last night's restaurant and shook hands and exchanged greetings, to a pizza joint that made pannini, hamburghers and crepes as well - the food was quite crap, but filled a spot, and we enjoyed the fizzy Orangina we love so much from our time in Paris - wish there was an agent for it in Melbourne … it's made by Schweppes - www.orangina.com.
Miloud organised an old man with a handcart to transport our bags to the bus depot, so we followed them for c10 minutes, paid him MAD20 for his troubles, loaded the heaviest bags under the bus in the luggage bay, found our seats and after c10 minutes we were off on another road trip, in a big, comfy bus with spongy suspension that tooted all in its path … we were on our way and move over! A stop at a truck stop that we visited in our van a couple of days ago for c20 mins, time for toilet and a coffee and a stretch. Back on the bus and c30 kms out of Marrakech the traffic started to get more and more dense driving in the opposite direction, as well as the litter that I detest on either shoulder of the road. The traffic in Marrakech was quite heavy when we arrived, so many cars weaving in and out of lanes, cars, taxis, motorbikes, scooters, bikes, pedestrians, donkey and horse-drawn carts as well … organised chaos! What amazed me was the almost total lack of use of indicators by anyone, almost no helmets worn by motorbike, scooter and bike riders, hardly and headlights on by motorbikes and scooters; bicycle riders had no front or rear lights whatsoever. How noone got killed or injured during our drive into Marra, to the bus station, Allah only knows!
Arrived at the bus station c6pm, sun was down and started getting cool … more organised chaos regarding the taxis, all the drivers seemed to be shouting at eachother and gesticulating, Miloud had a difficult time organising taxis for us, and once in, our driver was more than kamikaze, he was aggressive and fearless! It was a quick 10 minute drive and I swear we almost ran over so many pedestrians and motorbike/scooter riders! Arrived at out Hotel, which is 3 star - yay, saved the best till last, thanks Miloud - called Hotel Caspien. Ooo, it was so nice to walk into a decent lobby, with marble and glass, be given our key - room 203 - and to actually use a lift, yay! To our room, with a queen bed, a tv, aircon, a bathroom with a shower-over-bath, with decent towels and toilet paper … and yes, hot water too! Oh blessed relief! I immediately had a shower as soon as I could as I felt grotty from the lack of a real clean this morning. Oh goodness, it felt so good! Time to meet up with the group in the lobby at 7:30.
Miloud led us on a good 20 minute walk into the city centre, to a very large square filled with people, foodstalls, and next to it, the souk. There's an International Film Festival on at the moment too, and saw a big screen up on a large wall at one end of the square. There were heaps of food stalls, a la German beer garden style in the centre, catering to all types of food, and Milioud led us to one stall, ordered drinks, we were seated and food started arriving: bread and 2 types of dipping sauces, various small plates of mixed salad, then calamari, beef and chicken skewers, end ended with a sage tea, which was very sweet, but definitely tasted of sage. When done, Simone went off by herself, Grant and we 2 had a wander round the square and had a quick look at part of the souk, then back into the square, listening to some of the music there, then decided we'd had enough and walked back. Grant peeled off at Mcdonalds as he hardly ate anything at dinner. About 10 mins later we reached the hotel, safe'n'sound, glad to be away from the crazy, noisy traffic and the exhaust fumes which was horrible.
6 December
We heard the construction site activity, as well as people working next to the hotel. Shave, shower, dressed, downstairs for brekky when we were ready - Grant was there so we sat with him and had a short chat. Grant plans to take a taxi to the other end of town and work his way back to the hotel. Sheryl found a photo gallery nearby so that's where we may start, as well as visit the gardens where the cyber park is, opposite the Complexe Artisanal. Wished Grant best of luck before we headed for Avenue Mohammed V, trying to find the gallery - passed a photo store, so may take my camera in there tomorrow morning to see about repair. Found the Gallery, in a building with heaps of medical practices, but it was shut, only open for a few hours in the afternoon, so may make it there later on today. OK, so that's that, took a slow, leisurely walk towards the gardens, seeing how different this main road is in the daylight, trendy inner-city shops and apartments and hotels; lots of noise from the road, plenty of smog in the air, visible in the near distance, hanging over everything.
Reached the gardens, which were like an oasis of calm and peace in amongst this busy city … aaaaah, orange groves with palm trees and other trees and ferns and plants, well maintained and looked after, no litter, not many people there, all quiet and lovely, nothing like a good public garden I say! Plenty of benches, as well as vertical internet kiosks with screens … interesting concept - a few were being used, it seemed strange to be standing at a narrow, tall sheltered structure, using the internet, in a city park … looking at a sign I could see it was supported by all the major communications companies I could think of. Loved it, loved the contrast from the hustle-bustle.
We stayed perhaps half an hour in the park, then headed further along Avenue Mohammed V to La Koutoubia, a beautiful 77m high minaret - apparently it exploded in 1569, and was rebuilt in exact detail. We walked all around it, noticing the pigeons and other birds - looked like small falcons - that floated around it. We then crossed over to Place Jemaa El Fna, the massive square we visited last night for dinner. Along the walk was the rank of horse and buggy drivers, all vying for your custom - I don't know how many times we said "La, shukran - no, thanks" … There were a lot less people in there, but saw small bands playing their instruments, snake charmers and juice stalls, fruits, nuts and spices stalls to. Had a wander round, poked our noses in the souk, but everyone asked us into their shops, which got annoying so we exited and found a cafe with a terrace so we could have a drink, chillax, and get away from the hassle below. It was nice to just look over the balcony and see what was going on down in the square and not have to think. Had a good look at the map to work out how to get to where we wanted to go next, which was the Palais Moulay Idris.
Paid the bill with tip, toilet, with tip, then, after trying to find street names or any kind of direction signs, we ended up at Palais El Badi instead. We decided to adopt the attitude we see what we see, and what we don't see we don't see, as we figured the only true way to definitely get somewhere in particular would be to take a taxi. According to the map, "The El Badi Palace was built at the end of the 16th century by the Saudian Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour Saadi to celebrate the victory over the Portuguese army in 1578 in the battle known as the 'Battle of the Three Kings'".
According to the info panels, this palace was stripped of it's marble, etc for a palace at Meknes. Once in - MAD10 each - you entered a rather large rectangular plaza, divided into 4, with sunken gardens - now planted with orange trees - as well as sunken pools, a central small raised square with great views to each end of the 4 axes, at one end of the long rectangular space was the Visitor's Pavillion, for entertaining dignitaries, there was only the foundation stones including remnants of pipes of the pavillion at the opposite end. You could enter various portals and go down tiled steps to other areas, including dignitaries' accommodation, and what may well have been servants' quarters, etc.
It would have look such an impressive place had it not been rendered as practically almost ruins, with current day restoration work being carried out. At the corner closest to the entry point was a terrace from which you got a really good view of the plaza below, as well as the surrounding suburbs, complete with low lying smoke haze/pollution in the distance, obscuring what would have been a great view to the snow-capped Atlas mountains. Thankfully, there aren't any steel and glass high rise buildings, the tallest structures being the minarets of mosques, the standout one being the one we visited earlier, which was our direction-finder point, our point of reference for the city.
We wandered down to an adjoining small square, looking for somewhere to eat, it was now after 2pm. Spotted a cafe with a terrace and had lunch there, spotting a huge tall eucalypt in the nearby square, felt like a little piece of home! After lunch we asked the waiter how far the Tombeaux Saadiens were, and what direction to take, and so, 10 minutes later we were there, and very proud not to have gotten lost, as the streets are truly chaotic and busy with traffic and people and noise and colour, so very easy to get confused. First of all we noticed there was another lovely minaret next to a mosque in a small square, saw that there were other tourists, and figured we must have been close to the tombs, passed by some non-flowing fountains, a few horse drawn buggies and other souvenir stalls … a man came over to say hello and ask where we were from, and by now had learnt to try to ignore, or say "la shukran" to these people as they always wanted to show you their shop, or take you to a stall or try to get you on a buggy, etc. This man represented a place selling 1000 spices, but did point out where the entrance to the tombs were, and said to come back afterwards and he would sell us some fantastic spices, the best quality, good price … to the ticket booth - MAD10 each - wound our way thru some extremely narrow, high-walled passages and found ourselves in a lovely space, with tall palms and orange trees, well tended gardens with tiled, unnamed tombs, some with raised pieces of marble with arabic calligraphy on them.
There were various incredibly intricately decorated enclosed spaces which took my breath away, with more tiled tombs in them … wow, I could have spent ages looking at them, but access to them was limited space-wise and there were people waiting to have a look too … to think what humans are capable of, to be incredible, ingenious, talented, artistic people, especially in times many hundreds of years prior to us walking this earth … this simply takes my breath away, the beauty stuns me, overwhelms me. We stayed perhaps 45 minutes in this gorgeous space, quiet, with the sun glowing on the mudbrick tuscan coloured high walls, cloudless blue sky above …
On exiting we looked for La Koutoubia minaret and headed for it, getting quite good at crossing crazy kamikaze traffic streets, walked along Avenue Mohammed V to the Complexe Artisanal, opposite the Cyber Park - the gardens we visited in the morning. This artisans village is like the one in Essaouria, but with many more shops, all selling beautiful things like ceramics, leathergoods, clothing, jewellery, felt hats, beaten/stamped metal objects, paintings, drawings, etc. had a drink and bought a set of 4 small, cute, brightly coloured paintings for our house, as souvenirs of our time in Morocco.
Walked back to our hotel, waiting for our meet up with our group in the lobby at 7pm. We were the first ones there, after a few minutes the rest arrived. Miloud led us to an Italian restaurant called Casa Nostra - on Rue Oued EL Makhazine - not far from Place Liberte, round the corner from KFC and Mcdonalds. A really nice place, very ritzy for what we've been used to these last 2 weeks, snazzy waiters, great menu, delicious food, a really nice meal to end our tour. Had tiramisu and coffee, then paid the bill, much thanks to our waiter, then headed back to our hotel. In the lobby it was time to say our goodbyes
I'll probably go to the nearby camera store in the morning, then at noon we check out and store our bags, then at 3:30 we are to be ready to be picked up for our transfer to the airport for our flight to Casablanca, and a new adventure awaits us in Tanzania in a few day's time.
7 December
Onto the street, a bright, sunny day, down to Ave Mohammed V, to the camera store we passed yesterday morning. A fellow there spoke a little English and I showed him the problem with my camera lens - he took a look and said ready in 12 minutes, so off we went onto the Avenue, and as we walked, a young couple came up to us, asked for the time, and then where we came from - they're from the Gold Coast - and so we chatted for c15 minutes, swapping travel stories and experiences - it was nice to hear Australian accents again, to feel in familiar company! Wished eachother happy trails and went our separate ways, us back to the camera store, the camera ready, MAD100, so good to know the lens is now back together again, and protected with the filter and lens cap. OK, time to head off to Yves St Laurent's garden, which was c20 minutes walk, easy to find.
Like the gardens we visited yesterday, here was another oasis from the hustle and bustle and exhaust and noise of mad Marrakech's streets. Paid our entry fee - MAD40 each - and wandered into this magnificent place of quiet and greenery, the first garden being succulents, cacti of many different varieties, shapes and sizes, set on well tended, neat garden beds, with many tall palm trees as well., they give a sense of height and space. Not a big garden, but well thought thru, well laid out, paths leading you to unexpected arrangements of fountains, brightly coloured pots, a 2 storey building painted a deep blue with yellow curtains, which really stood out from the garden itself. It somehow worked.
There were many places to take great pix, many benches to repose and contemplate and watch the world go by, lots of European visitors, plus a group from YALE, with a big banner they unfurled for a group shot, their accents high, whiney, grating to the ears. A few pagodas with greenery and flowers draped to create a flowing effect, then to a little path at the end of which was a truncated column, a memorial to Yves St Laurent.. As we walked around, and paused here and there, we were asked to take pix a few times, and managed to get one of ourselves taken as well. We also visited the museum - MAD25 each - which had a permanent exhibition of Berber artifacts: clothing, objects for cleaning wool, bags, jewellery, tea making equipment, mortars, daggers, etc.
There was this amazing octagonal room, which looked like a starry night in the Sahara, a darkened space, mirrors on 7 walls and all the ceiling, with a multitude of small lights, in front of the 7 wall mirrors were display cases of jewellery from 7 different parts of the Atlas where Berbers liv, along with head and shoulder mannequins which displayed head and neck ornaments, which were exquisite. On the ground, underneath the display cases was sand, so it did give the impression of a starry saharan night, the reflections of the mirrors made the room appear much bigger than it was, did the eyes and head in, it was a fantastic affect. There was an audio visual presentation on entry as well, of beautifully taken contemporary pix and short videos, as well as old photos as well. Well worth looking at.
Once we exited the museum, we walked around a little more. There were a couple of big stands of bamboo, too, most of them had names carved into their trunks, which was a shame. Once we made the full circuit, we decided to have lunch in the cafe, set in a tranquil courtyard, with sails sheltering the guests below. A few rooms with day beds on a couple of sides too. Shared a club sandwich,and Sheryl ordered a deliciously thick drink that was a mix of avocado, dates, almonds and milk … yum!
Time to leave, we returned to our hotel to collect our bags, relax in the lobby before our pick up. We waited till c3:45, and noone showed to find us in the lobby, so we went out as we saw a couple of vans, and a fella from the hotel asked a driver if he was there to pick us up - yes [grrrrr] - so put all the bags in, and off we went, taking c15 minutes. Found the check-in desk, and it looked like noone was there, even though the counter we had to go to was lit up, but saw a lady at another counter, and she checked us in.
So, we found a cart, and wandered around, we were 2 hours early, c4pm, the flight being at 6pm. We found a couple of atms, but they wouldn't dish out any cash at all. Found a small cafe, had a coffee and a bag of chips, then we decided to wander over to our gate. After c30 minutes we were called to proceed into the gate. Put our stuff thru the scanner, and had to wait c5 mins, before called thru to follow a man on the tarmac, it was just Sheryl and myself, as well as another man, heading for a twin-propellered commercial jet, thinking "is it just the 3 of us?" Boarded the plane, which has 74 passenger capacity, and waited to see if anyone else would join us … by the time we were taxiing for takeoff, there were 15 passengers, 4 were crew flying as passengers, sitting in business class, the rest of the 11 in economy, and I think we were the only westerners.
The flight lasted 35 minutes, no snacks or drinks served. Before we knew it we were landing at Casablanca, and after some initial confusion with the bus dropping us off at the International rather than domestic terminal - and not requiring to go thru passport control as we did - by the time we got to the baggage carousel, only our bags were left, found a trolley, worked our way to Terminal 1, where our pickup was waiting. Needed to go to the atm, the one I used when we first arrived in Casablanca 2 weeks ago, but it didn't want to cooperate and give me cash, grrr, so off we walked to the van, and headed off to our hotel for the next 2 nights. It took about 40 minutes to get there, longer than the flight from Marrakech, the last 10 mins being on secondary roads which were quite chaotic.
Reached the hotel, which seems to be on the fringe of Casablanca, near big offices and/or factories, checked in with a lady that pretty much only speaks french and hardly any english - she said that tomorrow morning there will be a man in reception that speaks english. she was really nice, handed us a form to fill in, then the driver walked our baggage over to our room, the lady showed us thru … a nice room, well-finished, comfy, good quality finish and nice sheets, pillows and doona, the bathroom has good towels and soap and even shampoo in the shower … aaaaaahhhhhh … settled in, then off to the hotel restaurant for dinner. There were 5 other people in there, all males, as well as a parrot of some kind that made all sorts of whistles, cat's meow's, "bon jour", etc … kept us entertained.
Later, to sleep, hearing the nosies from the nearby highway and dogs barking in the distance … zzzzzzzzzz ....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)