Christmas Vacation Adventure

I decided to get out of the village for Christmas/New Years this year. I spent a couple of days in Dar spending too much money, but eating well and spending time at the beach on Christmas day. I saw a man herding a bunch of street kids through a crowded street, which reminded me of the phrase "like herding cats". I got 1/2 a dala to myself on Christmas day. and i rode a dala with a goat.

Then I moved on to the main attraction: Kilwa Masoko. It was a mess trying to get there. I bought a bus ticket, showed up at the station at 5am to find no bus. I was told it already left, but it wasn't supposed to leave until 5:30. It was still dark and buses can't legally travel at night, I doubt it would get out of town without passing a traffic checkpoint. My guess is that the bus didn't exist or wasn't sunning that day and the guy who sold me the ticket didn't know. The ticket guy was there, and got me onto a daladala to a part of the city I've never seen and paid my fare on a rickety dala to Kilwa. Not what I'd hope for transportation-wise, but at least I'll get there, right?

Kilwa is nice little coastal town. I got a room and some food and arranged my tour, and had nothing to do the rest of the day. Then the hotel staff taught me how to play mbao (kind of like mancala, but different enough to be very confusing). Everyone was entertained enough by the white girl who could play it that I never lacked an opponent the whole time I was in Kilwa. Also, Kilwa has a fun night market where i bought many a piece of fruit and fried fish. I called it newspaper dinner since they wrapped everything in newspaper.

Th next day I went (by dhow) to Kilwa Kisiwani, an island offshore from Masoko, with an Australian woman who had been in town all week and had no intention of seeing the ruins until the tour guide talked her into it so that the price would be lower for me. :) We walked around the island and saw the ruins from the 14th and 18th centuries when Kilwa was a major trading port between Africa, India, and the Middle East. Coral and lime buildings, a fort, several mosques and cemetaeries. Now its just a fishing village with a UNESCO heritage site. It was really cool. He showed us where some of it had been restored, where some sites had to be excavated, and told us how they had trained the locals to do the restoration work. And the guide grew up on the island, so we stopped by to see his mom and grandma too. When we got back, the Australian woman bought a jackfruit and shared it with me, the guide, and anyone else who passed by. We borrowed a knife from a Masai to cut it.

The next day I talked him into cutting me a deal and we went (no Aussie this time) to Songo Mnara, which is another island past Kisiwani. This took 3 hours by dhow with a good wind (Ksiwani was maybe 1/2 hour). So it was far, I got sunburned sitting on the boat so long. But we got there. Songo only has one ruin site, but I liked it better. It was a sultan's palace from the 15th century. I felt it was better preserved than Kisiwani ruins, you could easily tell what all the rooms were for and how the building may have looked. There was the palace and the sultan's office and a mosque. All made from coral and lime. I got lots of good pictures. The guide and the guy who owned the boat (he came on the tour with me, I guess he hadn't been there before) were saying how there were so many coconut trees on the island and usually young coconuts that you can drink the water from, but no one was selling any. As we were leaving the last site, we saw someone climbing up a coconut tree. The guide yelled for him to bring me a coconut. He threw down many and we all drank the water and had a coconut feast. We didn't have any small bills to pay him, but he agreed to the guide bringing him a basin or something from town next time he goes there. It only took 2 hours back on the dhow.

Then I went back to Dar for a couple days and now I think its time to head home...