More Interesting People and Places

On Saturday we did the most interesting thing as we went to two very rural villages and watched some cultural dances in the Newala district of TZ. We left Mtwara around 7:30am and drive 3+ hours to the first village.  They were from the Makua tribe.  Their costumes were these grass skirts, ankle bracelets made with mango seeds so they rattled, and this white paint on their faces.  They wouldn't let us take pictures of them (they believe false stories about people taking pictures and then getting rich off them).  Dave did manage to snap a few before they told us to put our cameras away.  The dances were pretty neat with a lot of fast leg moving.  The next village was another 2 hours away and that was with the Makonde people (famous for their carvings).  Those dancer's clothes were a little more modern (t-shirts with grass skirts and mango seed anklets) and they also used stilts in one of the dances.  They used masks in two of their dances as well.

On the way back we came to a large tree laying in the road.  Some men had cut it down and it fell on the road.  There was an ambulance waiting on our side of the tree because it was not able to go over or around.  The men tried to cut the bush around the right side of the road so the ambulance could pass but it wasn't working.  Along we come in our Land Cruiser and Dave shows the guy that was driving how to run the wench and soon the tree was moved to the side enough to let the ambulance and other vehicles through.  Yay for Dave!!

Oh I almost forgot to tell you about the rooster.  At the end of the Makua dance they presented Douglas (who organized the event) with a gift.  It was a rooster.  Neat.  We had to ride the rest of the day with the rooster in the back of the land cruiser. Someone put its bottom half in a plastic bag to keep it still and calm it, but later it managed to poke its feet out so then it was walking around with a plastic 'diaper' on.  Funny.  We named that chicken Noodle Soup.

It's Monday afternoon and I am resting. Life moves at a different place here so all I've accomplished today so far is to eat breakfast, shop at the market for dinner, and walk Tembo to school. At the stores/market with the sun overhead and needing to go from one table in one section to another...it just takes a while.  We did manage to pick up little ice cream cups for all on our way back.  

So let me tell you about dinner tonight...it's going to be Noodle Soup that rooster.  Yes, it's true, Tembo took care of the ummm prep work this morning so tonight we will have chicken cooked in Douglas' little crock pot (gift from me last year) since I guess the chicken meat around here is usually real tough.

Here at Douglas' place Dave has managed to wire up the offices and set up wi-fi.  Douglas is tickled pink!

One more thing...around town here there are these little three wheeled taxi things called bujaje (baa-ja-jay).  It's super fun to ride around in them..I'll post a picture.

I hope all of you are doing well.  Tomorrow we return to Dar Es Salaam and then head to the Selous Game Reserve for another round of safari!!