Final weeks

After definitively leaving Loiborsoit on the 11th of August, we met up in Arusha for a final fun weekend with other UCU interns in the area. We went to Karatu for a very touristy weekend, with good food and beautiful nature. We visited local tribes, went hunting and shooting arrows with the Hadzabe and dancing with the Datoga. They were very welcoming and we all bought a lot of jewelry to thank them, knowing it is their primary source of income. At the end of the day we had a long discussion on the ethics of such superficial cultural encounters, consisting of us looking at their way of life without there being an actual dialogue or exchange. What do the locals gain from us visiting them, aside from money? Sometimes it felt like they were performing for us. At the same time, they were incredibly kind and welcoming so it was hard not to enjoy the experience.

The next day we visited elephant caves, a waterfall and banana and rice plantations. At the end we shared some banana beer. I bought some banana wine and we drove back to Arusha to spend a few days there, before Suus and I left for Moshi on the 17th of August.

Our first day in Moshi we went to the nearby Chemka hot springs, with the people staying in Arusha. It was a nice final meet-up, swimming in the lukewarm water and enjoying the free time. A Maasai tried to marry me again, but after I turned down his offer for the fifth time, he settled for offering me a free snorkel, inflatable ring and Kilimanjaro beer. He took me to meet his father, who also worked there, and I mumbled 'shikamoo' (I respect you), before sneaking off to rejoin my friends.

Two days later I went with Suus to Materuni waterfall (we swam in the icy water), a tour which included making coffee beans and eating banana soup. Coffee beans are slimy when you first take them out of their pod. When ripe, they are dried in the sun, after which their outer shell is crushed off by using a huge pestal and mortar. The fragments of shell are separated from the beans, which are then roasted over the fire, gaining their dark brown colour. The beans are again pounded in the huge pestal and mortar, turning them into a fine powder, which we boiled to make a (very) fresh cup of coffee. After drinking the coffee we took a boda boda back to our lodge. The trip was wonderful, a warm breeze in our faces as we sped down the green slopes of the mountain.

Sunday we booked a spa, each getting a massage followed by a manicure and pedicure. Feeling royal, we left the spa shaking our hands to dry the nailpolish. We took a tuktuk to the Railway Bar - which turned out to be more like a liquer store next to the train tracks.

The last days spent as typical tourists felt strange compared to the rest of the trip. I felt a sudden longing to go home. Working and engaging with the locals throughout the trip meant breaking out of my comfortable bubble, a bubble I fell back into when being the tourist. While engaging across differences (in wealth, culture, skin colour) was hard work, it also made me feel more at home in Tanzania. As a tourist, content in my own identity and not making any effort to reach out, I felt disconnected to my environment. The trip ended with my flight back home. The last evening I had a meal in a restaurant full of white expats. I was happy to leave. 

I realise now that the real ending to my trip was the last night in the guesthouse. Because there had been a mutual effort to connect with each other, the goodbye felt genuine. If I go back to Tanzania, I will only spend only a few days in the city and then go straight back to the village of Loiborsoit.