With only a few hours before boarding the train to Chhattisgarh, we decided to go the beach. Being a sunny Sunday afternoon, the beach was full of Indian families who had come to enjoy their afternoon. Again I was the centre of attraction (really irritating). We left after one hour after all, there was nothing to do for me since women were not swimming. In modern day India women are given equal opportunities as men but in the past they were seen as weak people with no rights. However, this is not the case in some of the remote rural areas where women are still abused and oppressed due to illiteracy and lack of voices in their society.

A father and son in the Vishakaphatnam beach

In India people are divided into castes.  Caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jatis. According to the Hindu religion, there exist four castes arranged in a hierarchy. The religious word for caste is ‘Varna’. Anyone who does not belong to one of these castes is an outcast. Each (Caste) Varna has certain duties and rights. Each Varna members have to work in certain occupation which only those Varna members are allowed. Each Varna has certain type of diet.

She was selling durians in the train

The highest Caste is of the Brahman. Members of this class are priests and the educated people of the society. The Varna after them in hierarchy is Kshatria. The members of this class are the rulers and aristocrats of the society. After them are the Vaisia. Members of this class are the landlords and businessmen of the society. After them in hierarchy is the Sudra. Members of this class are the peasants and working class of the society who work in non-polluting jobs. The caste hierarchy ends here. Below these castes are the outcasts who are untouchable to the four castes. These untouchables worked in degrading jobs like cleaning, sewage etc.

The first three castes had social and economical rights which the Sudra and the untouchables did not have. The first three castes are also seen as ‘twice born’. The intention in these two births is to the natural birth and to the ceremonial entrance to the society at a much later age. Each Caste and also the untouchables are divided into many communities. These communities are called Jat or Jati

One of the women selling fresh cashewnuts in the train

The Sudra is the largest class and it has the largest number of communities. Each Jat is limited to professions worthy of their Varna. Each Jat is limited to the Varna diet. Each Jat members are allowed to marry only with their Jat members. People are born into their Jat and it cannot be changed. This is the how the caste system is supposed to be in its religious form. But in reality it is much more complicated and different from its religious form.

These castes have caused so much division among the people especially because it makes it hard for the people in the low castes to rise to interact or even marry people from the higher castes and vice versa. I remember even on the trains when they saw me that I am black with a white person they used to ask us which castes we come from because majority of the white Indians belong to the high castes and thus it is very hard to find them with a black person who is from another caste. But with time this is changing as more and more people like Ambedkar and Gandhi who fought for the elimination of the caste system and the many organisations today still fighting for this. The Indian government is also facilitating the fight by expanding its effort to include people from poor, backward castes in its economic and social mainstream.

Pilgrims in the train station

For me this is not surprising, I come from a country with over forty tribes and tribal clashes are very common and they even lead to deaths. Like in the 2008 post election violence that left 2000 people dead. This division came during colonisation.

When the British colonised Kenya, they had to divide the people in order to rule them easily. They enforced and created tribal divisions which unfortunately exist up to date and continue to have deep roots in the society. Tribalism and racism is in everyone what matters is the degree of racism that is in every person. If the degree in one person is high it is due to a certain experience or information that that person has towards a certain race or community. After all, we are all human beings we all walk on two legs, we have two eyes, two arms. The only difference is the colour of the skin, the hair and the behaviours.

The following morning we were on the train to Jagdalpur in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh on the southern banks of river Indravati.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

Aharon Daniel, 2005, The Religious form of Caste System of India viewed through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

After 12 hours in the bus – holding our lives in our hearts because of the crazy driver – we were in the other part of the ‘continent’ India; Madurai. The place is like an oven, polluted, over populated, dirty and with cows all around. In India cows are considered holy and are treated better than people. Actually, a majority of Indians are vegetarians because by eating meat they consider that they are eating cow meat, which is a great sin.

The Meenakshi Amman temple Madurai

What drew us to this place – making us take the weary and rickety journey – is the fascinating Meenakshi Sundareswara temple, built in the 17^th century by Nayaks who ruled Madurai from the 16th to the 18^th century. It is one of the biggest, largest and splendid temples in India boasting with 12 gateway towers ranging from 40-45metres surrounding the two main temples; Meenakshi and Sundareshwara. The highest tower (southern tower) is 52 metres high. Each temple has more than one thousand beautifully coloured, ravish and dazzling figures.

After ten minutes ‘rambling’ in the scorching sun with rays that heat our head making us wonder if we are bald, we were in the pagoda. The temples are gorgeous the colours and carvings combine to produce something that is phenomenal. As usual no shoes or shorts were allowed inside the temple and we had to withstand the burning ground and at the end of it tip off the guy who takes care of the shoes.

All the Meenakshi temples

It was worth assimilating a bit of Hindu religion so we took a tour guide – but Hindu religion is very complex and diverse to grasp anything in an one hour. Apart from the disparate gods like: Shiva (This deity is represented by a handsome young man and is considered the transformer or the destroyer), Krishna (represented by a young boy playing a flute is regarded as a divine hero and supreme), Vishnu (water like and seated in a lotus is seen as the preserver of the universe) and Ganesha (represented by an elephant – it is found everywhere in India – and is deemed as the remover of obstacles). Despite the fact that we were shown and taught the names of others and what each represented, I could not recall a lot. In the heart of the pagodas there is a pond where the people wash their feet, hands and face before going inside the sanctums as a form of purification.

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Clever elephant! It took the money I gave it, handed it over to the owner and placed its trunk over my head.

In India they generally look at people in a weird way, but here it was it was outrageous. They were all looking at me like I was an alien and asking for photos like I was a famous Bollywood movie stars, I guess they had not seen a lot of African people if any. It was funny but at some point it became annoying. Hindi people are devoted to their gods and they respect their religion which is something they expect from all people.

Me, Germà and some local tourists

Two days were more than enough and we were off far north along the East coast to Visakhapatnam, a seaside city in Andra Pradesh, from where we would take another train to Jagdalpur, in the heart of Chattisgarh, the most indigenous of the Indian states.

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Munnar is 1600m above sea level; that means it is cold.  It is acres and acres of tea plantations that are sown to create a very beautiful pattern. They also have a tea museum where they showcase the different types of tea they produce. There is also has a lake, many waterfalls and natural reserve.

Tea plantations in Munnar

The decision to go to Munnar proved to be wrong decision the word go. First it was the ferry to close to the other side of the city. The day before leaving, we went to the harbour and observed that the first ferry was leaving at five thirty.

“We are going to take the first ferry at five thirty” Germà started

“No, we take the one at seven so we can sleep more” I love sleeping; I think I was actually born sleepy.

“No. We have to be there early enough so that we can come back early”

“Please, if we take this we will have to wake up at four”; I wanted to sleep

After arguing I finally gave in.

A child on the bus to Munar

The following morning we woke up at four and prepared for leaving. The gate of the hotel was locked and the owner was sleeping, we decided not to wake him up instead we jump to the other side. I was to go first then Germà so that he could help me. Just when I was on the top catcha! the owner with his full blown torch pointing at me on top of the gate.

“Who are you?”

“It’s Germà, we want to go out”

“But you are half way there”. All this while, I was looking at them and I had not moved an inch, it’s like I was waiting for a wake up call.

(Silence)

Germa helped me down and then the man opened the gate.

We were already late. We looked for a tuk tuk or taxi and there was none so we went running to the harbour. The streets were almost empty except for the few men going to the mosque. They were looking at us like asking what we were doing out running in the streets at that time.

The tea seller at fishermens' cafe

We got to the harbour panting like old dogs and it was dead quite, there was no one and nothing except the sound of the waves.

“It has already left”

I looked at the phone and we were only five minutes late.

“Then the ferry should be at the sea en route to the other side” I said.

We rushed and checked and there was nothing.

“Then it’s arriving late”

“In that case let’s wait” I said.

We sat down and waited to see if it would come from God knows where.

After ten minutes we decided to go and see if we could get someone to ask. Luckily, there was one small café full of fishermen taking breakfast.

We went inside and they all turned and looked at us like they had seen ghosts.

“Hello, do you know when the first ferry leaves” they looked at us and then called the owner who seemed to understand a little bit of English. He had a no nonsense taker face.

“First ferry at….. then he wrote the time in a piece of paper (6:30)” he said

We sat down and asked for tea and some kind of cakes. All the fishermen could do was nod at us and then smile and we also did the same. Maybe they were saying hi . The tea was actually very good.

Wonderful breakfast at the fishermens' cafe in Kochi

At around 10:30am we were in Munnar. Indian drivers are not meant for buses but for safari rallies. Part of the road to Munnar is one of the most dangerous ones because it hangs on a cliff, it is very narrow and it is full of sharp corners and traffic. Despite this, the driver was overtaking and driving as fast as he could. One mistake would send us rolling down the cliff where trees and slippery rocks would be waiting to devour us. My stomach was full of butterflies, my mouth agape and my eyes closed. A journey that was supposed to take three hours took two hours.

A river on the way to Munnar

It was raining cats and dogs and the cold embraced us with all its arms wide open and we could not help but shiver. We went into a nearby restaurant and asked for ‘chai’ to warm us up, until the downpour stopped.  We took a tuk tuk and headed for the tea museum. Unluckily, was closed down that day because it was a public holiday and nothing was operational. We made a few photos then went to one temple that is a place where you can see the whole city; made some photos and we called it a day. We went took the same bus and departed. This time the driver was even crazier than the first one. Our bowels were full of water all the way but thank God we arrived in one piece. At the bus terminal we bought the tickets for leaving for following day in the evening for Madurai.

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Kochi is in the south of Mumbai in the southwest of India in Kerala State. It is one of the most touristic and beautiful places in India. It is famous for the Chinese fishing nets and it has a lot of old forts, sanctuaries, churches, traditional performances and the backwaters. We took a train from Mumbai to Ernakulam and then crossed over to Kochi using a ferry. Once on the other side we took a tuk tuk to one hotel opposite the school which is run by an old couple. Funny enough we were the only ones in the hotel for the first two days because it was the low season.

It was the perfect place to escape the hectic life in the big cities. It is all about history, culture and relaxation. The place is quite, not too much pollution and it was not as hot as the other places. In the bay of of Kochi lies Chinese fishing nets and fishermen selling fresh fish by the seaside. I liked the place because it was the complete opposite of Mumbai.

The following day we went to see the Chinese fishing nets that are believed to have been introduced by the Chinese explorer Zheng He. These nets can be as long as 20m or more across and each is operated by up to six men. Luckily, we met one man who showed us how it works. They work singing a songs as a source of motivation.

The Chinese Fishing nets

Then we went to Santa Cruz Basilica. This Catholic Church was built in 1558 using the Gothic style of architecture. One two photos and we were off to St Francis Church.

Santa Cruz Basilica Cochin

St. Francis Church is the oldest church in India. It was built by the Portuguese in 1503. Later in 1779, it was renovated by the Dutch and transformed into and Anglican Church by the British in 1795.  The remains of Vasco da Gama were interred here in 1524 but later shifted to Lisbon, Portugal. However, his tombstone still stands in the compound of the church. We never saw too much as the church was under rehabilitation and some areas were restricted to tourists.

St Francis Church

The same day we booked a tour package to go to the backwaters. The following day we were up early in the morning and by eight we were in the van headed to the backwater. The place is quite. The place is super quite with palm trees on the sides and villagers who are washing in the waters, or collecting sand or shells. We got the chance to go on a spice tour in one village and to see women who were making ropes from coconut fibre. In Kenya we don’t use spices and the few used are very different from the ones I found here. We got a opportunity to see what spiced up our food so strongly. We were also taken to a workshopwhere they burn shells collected from the lake into powder then this powder is sold to other companies and is used to make calcium tablets. It is one of the sources of income for the community people living nearby. At the end of the tour we enjoyed a Keralite lunch of rice, chickpeas, vegetables, and sauces served on banana leaf.

The Backwaters

The same day in the evening we attended the Kathakali performances. This is a classical Kerala dance performance that originated in the 17th century. The people do not talk but they use gestures, they mostly move the eyes and body in the tune of the instrumental and vocal music played in the background. The performers’ faces are painted in different colours with heavy attractive makeup using natural pigments and elaborate costumes. Each color represents a certain creature green for the heroes, gods and kings, red and black for the wicked and fierce, and various fussy colors animal types.

Kathakali Performer

It was a whole new experience completely different from the Kenyan traditional music. They started by teaching us what each eye movement represented and they gave us leaflets with all the performance for easy follow up. It was not so easy for me to follow and I was in cloud nine most of the time. But I enjoyed the music and the body movements.

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My family

India; (A complete package.)

This would be my first flight and I was a bit anxious and nervous at the same time. It was hard for me to say goodbye to my family. Though they took me to the airport and I could not help but think that I would not see them again for one or two years. In Africa family is very important. It is the backbone of everything and it comes first before anything. We are brought up learning to embrace and to care for each other including our neighbors and to help each other in times of difficulties. It is this family warmth, embrace, love, care and this great people that I would miss for all the time I was away.

Before going to India the only thing I knew about it was the temple of the rats which I had learnt about through a documentary in National Geographic. But here I was on my first eight hours plane trip to India.

India is in South Asia, it is the seventh largest country and the second most populous nation in the world with 1.2 billion people. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the North-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. Most of the people are Hinduists but there are also Muslims and a Christian minority and other religions. The capital city is New Delhi but Mumbai is its largest city. The official Language is Hindi and English but there are other languages. India is like a continent – you can find everything.

Mumbai – India

On July 8^th at five in the morning we were in Mumbai. We were going to a neighborhood called Colaba. Luckily, transport within the city is easily available and cheap, tuk tuks and taxis are found everywhere. We took a taxi but the distance turned out to be longer than we expected. Unfortunately, it was during monsoon, and it was raining all day and when it was not raining it was drizzling.

Mumbai is a city that is hard to describe especially to its size and population. It is a city of 20 million inhabitants; half the population of Kenya. It is a place where the rich and famous and the poor and forgotten come from. It holds the largest slum (Dharavi) in the world with one million inhabitants. The place where the movie “The slum dog millionaire” was shoot and the second most famous film city and one the biggest film producers in the world – Bollywood. Mumbai is full of life, heavy traffic, pollution and beggars but still you can go to other parts of the same city and feel like you are in a very clean modern place.

The Taj Mahal Hotel

Gateway of India was the first place we visited because it was very close to our hotel. Gateway is the most famous building in Mumbai. It was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. It is also the place where the last of the British ships left India. There were boats taking people to the Elephant Island which is nearby and you can get to see Cave temples and Elephanta caves caved out of the rock. Close to it, is the famous five stars Taj Mahal Hotel built in 1903 by Jamsedji Tata after he was refused entry into Watsons Hotel – which was the most famous hotel then – because he was not white. What if things worked this way this day? In the night it was full of families who came to take the fancy horse rides to and fro from the Colaba radio station to the gateway, enjoy the fresh fruit juices and really spiced food – that kept me on my toes all night until I got used – in the streets and do shopping.

The gateway of India.

 India was a British colony and there are some old Heritage buildings that are built using the Victorian Gothic architecture which makes them very beautiful. We took a whole day to visit these buildings.

Rajabai Tower

This building was built by the famous banker Seth Premchand Raichand and designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, as a memorial, to his beloved mother Rajabai.

Rajabai tower

Bombay Municipal Buildings

 It was built between 1884 and 1893 with a 255 metres tower. It is still attractive and one of the beautiful buildings in Mumbai despite its age.

The municipal building

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

When I saw the building from outside I thought it was a palace or some important government building. This train station is one of the largest and most architectural buildings in India and one of the biggest train terminus in India.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

After three days in Mumbai, we left for Cochin in the South.

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The island also known as Changuu is about 15mins from old town. We took an organised tour of four people and they provided us with a masks and fins for snorkelling. However, there is an entrance fee of US$4. It was actually possible to take an organised trip where we could do island hopping; in the small islands surrounding Zanzibar but we turned down the offer it was too much expensive for us.

The mega tortoises

The main attraction in this small island is snorkelling, swimming, sunbathing and getting to feed giant tortoises imported from Aldabra in the Seychelles in the late 19th century. They weigh hundreds of kilos and some of them are hundreds of years old. The place is also historical as it was a slaves quarantine used by the Arabs before the British built the slave market in Santa Monica. The island is beautiful with a small white sand beach, clear waters and very old beautifully coloured houses with walls that are intertwined with the roots of banyan trees. It has also beautiful coral, a small restaurant where we enjoyed fish and French fries for lunch and a pool, but it is only for the guests staying in the island. It was a good place for us to escape the old town.

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The Zanzibar Cultural music band

I remember the harmonious voices from the other band members and how they danced in the sensual, waist breaking Swahili Unyago dancing style. After the practice they welcomed the audience to dance floor  and this is the part that got everyone on their feet. You go and dance but you are allowed to give tips. The whole week we attended different rehearsals but this was the best.

At the beginning of the festival they held a parade around the city. It was awesome. There were different categories of people all wearing different costumes led by a band. They moved around the city and their final destination was Old Fort where the festivals were officially kick started.

Jambiani is a village two hour’s drive from old town. The fun began in the public transport, which I don’t know whether to refer to as buses, Lorries or vans. They are more close to small Lorries that are open on the sides. You have to bend when going in otherwise you lose your head. Once moving they loaded and loaded the lorry-bus until we couldn’t move a single inch and our legs become numb. The mistake we made was going on a market day.  Most of the passengers were a complete family which had gone shopping. They were carrying chicken, food and all food stuff and the driver squeezed all of us like cabbages.

After two hours, we were in Jambiani we went to Oasis Hotel where we got a bungalow right in front of the beach. Tired and hungry, we first grabbed lunch and then came back changed and headed into the water. We called it a day at that. Night came along with strong waves and strong waves came along with soothing sounds.  With the soothing sound I slept like a child because it is like an assurance that someone is watching over you to make sure you are safe.

The beach

The following day at six we were awake camera in hand, waiting for the sunrise. At around 10:00am people started gathering one by one going inside the ocean. Funny enough it was only women and children carrying small sacks. Later, we decided to go and see what they were doing. They were planting and harvesting one type of algae they called “mwani”. What was funny though, was that every person had their own portion of land in the ocean. The question I asked myself is, how do they know whose land is whose? They used to go when the tide was low; plant and harvest and leave when the tide started rising. It was a job for women and children as the men went fishing.

The mwani plantation

There are plenty of places to eat but there is one that captured my heart. It was called Okala Restaurant. When we saw the sign post that was close to the beach we thought that that this restaurant was one of the places that are good for the pocket. We went and to our surprise, it was a simple room made from reed and inside it was full of shell chains hanging from the ceiling but there were other people that were there sitting down taking beer and enjoying food that was mouth watering. The room was full of aroma but we told we had to order the food in advance. After one hour we headed for Okala again. The service is first class and the food is delicious and the owner (Okala) is very jovial and welcoming man.

The best ever

At the end of my stay I decided to get henna drawing from the women, who used to pass in the beach every time saying,

“henna, henna” and I always turned down their offer which I should not have accepted because I turned out to be allergic to the henna and I ended up going to the hospital to get a cream because it was swollen and itchy.

I fell in love with the place; the people were so welcoming and friendly. On the fourth day we were on the same vans again but this time it was different, it was not a market day.

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After one hour of nothing but sun and small boats in the monstrous sea that made them look like toys we were in Zanzibar. I have to admit I was impressed by my first ferry experience; it had three floors and it was also cosy and full of tourists sunbathing in the third level. It was my first time to see such a big number of white people.  I had been brought up in a village where the only white people I saw were the nuns in my nursery school which was run by missionaries. I especially remember one that taught us how to dance Macarena so that we perform in the annual parents’ day meeting.

Daring people

The temperature here was a bit higher than in Dar es Salaam. We took a taxi and headed to Santa Monica Hostel. This hotel is in the slave market where the slaves were taken for sale from the mainland as Stone Town was easily accessible by sea.  The slave market was closed by Sultan Barghash in 1873. Later, the missionaries bought the site and built a church and Santa Monica Hostel was built for the teachers, nuns and nurses.

Unknown to us, It was high season two days ahead of the annual “Sauti za Busara” (Voices of Wisdom) music festivals which brings together singers from all parts of Africa to perform at Old fort for almost one week. This meant the hotels were expensive, full and those that were not they were booked. We got only two days and on the second third we were supposed to check out. How unlucky!

Sunset in Stone town Beach

We went to check for a place to eat and we found one close to the beach called Mercury named after the singer Freddie Mercury who was actually born in Zanzibar. The place is awesome with the best live band in Zanzibar every Saturday. You dance until dawn.  It is the perfect place to unwind and they serve a good variety of Swahili dishes and Mexican cuisine like burritos. It is one of the best places ideal for drinks while you enjoying the breeze and the live music. There is something about this place that kept us going back and back again.

I could not help but love the place. They have combined Swahili, African and Indian cultures. The old city is full of small streets with children playing and small antique shops. Shopping was an option but when I saw the clothes I could not help myself but shop. Only motorbikes and bicycles can be used in the small streets. Funny enough we got lost and found ourselves in the same place all the time; Zanzibar Coffee House. It was in this coffee house that spent most afternoons enjoying the delicious coffee, smoothies and milkshakes together with delicious muffins, cakes and croissants. The coffee house also has a hotel above the coffee house.

One evening after sunset we went to Forodhani (harbour) Gardens. This place used to be the old harbour of Zanzibar but they changed it into a garden and an open food market. It was full of people serving barbecued sea food straight from the barbecue, Zanzibarian pizzas and drinks.

“Fresh barbecued squid, fish, crabs, shrimps for you sir” one guy at the told us. Why do men always refer to the men and not to the ladies unless it’s something to do with beauty products?

Sea food and more seed food at Forodhani open food market

I paid some attention. After showing us all the food like a food tour guide I asked for a photo. It’s funny when a girl asks a man for something and especially with a smile they never resist.

“Yes, sure”

He went and lifted two pieces of some kind of animals God knows what and smiled for the snap and catcha! I got it.

“Thank you so much”

We took some of this food and a sugarcane juice and sat down next to the beach and started enjoying the food while looking at some crazy boys who were diving into the water.

The Zanzibarian pizzas also turned out to be great and different from the normal pizzas in terms of ingredients and preparation.

After two days we checked for a hotel called “The pearl” which turned out to be a nightmare and we decided enough is enough and the following day we checked for a furnished apartment. After a whole day such under the scorching sun and after moving from one house to the next looking for a house that was open; because most of them are like holes with a small amount of light, we finally got one in old town. I have to say it was really nice and for a house like this in Kenya you would cough out more than $1000 but it they were renting for $450 and no deposit. It was two floors, fully furnished with a kitchen, three bathrooms and three bedrooms and a balcony at the top with an extra bedroom and a chair and some seats. I could not wait to move in and there then we paid and moved in. The guy incharge of the house is called Abdullah and anyway all the guides close to the Old Fort are always ready to help at a price. This was the place that we would spend one month exploring Zanzibar.

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Tanzania has a population of 43,000,000 people and the official languages is Swahili and English. It is bordered by Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country’s eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean. The capital city of Tanzania is Dodoma but Dar es Salaam is the largest city and it remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania. Its official language is Swahili and English. It has a population of 43,739,000 million people.

Dar es Salaam

While waiting for the passport I decided not to rot around, so I decided to go to Tanzania on February 2011 using a special pass.  After 14hrs going through beautiful landscape; small hills, masaai  manyattas painted in different colours, palm trees and sisal plantations among other things I was woken up by my boyfriend who I was traveling with.

Sisal plantation on the way to Dar from Kenya

“Wake up, we are there”

“How fast” I wanted to sleep more, demn.

“Hahaha sleepy head we have to go before we lose our luggage”

I was not so scared, but he was which I understand. He had had been imprisoned, strangled and left for death, robbed off everything in his various trips in Africa. His trips were exceptional; he had gone to places where even me who was African would NEVER go like Somaliland. On his first trip to Africa he went to Liberia and was imprisoned by Charles Taylor’s rebel forces. Later, in Surabaya, Indonesia while enjoying an ojek ride someone came from behind with a motorbike took everything and drove off and chasing a motorbike with an ojek is like a tortoise chasing a cheetah. Then in Nairobi he was strangled, everything he had was stolen and was left lying unconscious in the middle of the street. Anyway, now he is very careful, but me I felt like I was still at home.

“Push and go”

“But everyone is headed to the door”

He rushed took the entire luggage and waited for me. After bargaining with the taxi man we finally set off to Safari Inn hotel. It was cheap although it was not the best and you get to have free creepy breakfast.

Unlike Nairobi that everyone is running up and down like they are late for important mission, Dar Es Salaam is quite and the people move at snail pace. The following morning I was woken up by noises coming from outside the room.

Coral rock South beach Dar es Salaam

“Hola”

“Ostia andiamo, andiamo!”

They were a group of Italians that come the previous day. I think they had brought the whole clan because they were more than twenty. Later I saw them performing in Sauti Za Busara parade in Zanzibar. After the horny breakfast and a shower we decided to go to a market called Kariakoo. This market is full of everything from clothes to food and utensils. This will give you a chance to experience the real life of the people and to buy things at a throw away price.

“Hujambo dada”

“Sijambo”

“Aah wewe watoka bara ama wapi dada? ” she could tell I was not from Tanzania because of my Swahili accent.

“Nimetoka Kenya”

“Aah wewe ni wetu, haya basi nikuuzie nini? ”

“Nataka jusi”

“Haya ndogo ama kubwa? ”

“Ndogo”

It was my first time to take blended sugarcane juice. In Kenya we have the sugarcane but no juice. It was really good especially after adding lemon and some ice.

The following day we decided to go to the beach. After consulting the reception they told us to go to one called South Beach because it is usually the less crowded one. We took a ferry that was cheap and here we got the chance to meet the local people who are very welcoming and respectful. After crossing the other side we took a tuk tuk after bargaining hard with the driver and after twenty minutes we were there.

The ferry that goes to South Beach from Dar es Salaam

He dropped us at a beach resort and we told him we were going to the beach. He said “There, there”, pointing to the other side and we knew we were there. When we got to the entrance the security guard stopped us and told us we had to pay. We started arguing and then we decided to pay because after all we had the chance for me to commence my swimming lessons. Yes, I do not know how to swim. I do not blame anyone because this is Africa and swimming is not a part of growing up. The beach is not very nice but if you do have an option it can be one. We saw a rock very far on our right side and decided to go strolling and see what it was. It was a rock made from shells and nearby there were women who were collecting shells and men fishing. The beach in this side is deserted but the water is cleaner. Later, we enjoyed a scrumptious meal at the resort and headed back to the hotel.

And the camera went swimming.