First Impressions of Arusha

If you don't feel like reading a long post, here's a quick summary:

Arusha reminds me a lot of Jamaica, minus the beach and reggae.

And now the longer version...

Even at night, you can get a feel for a place. Quite literally.

I hadn't even left JRO property when I got my first "African massage." For those of you with dirty minds, please retrieve them from the gutter. This massage comes from riding down a rough and bumpy road. A bit like a vibrating massage chair, except it's diesel-powered and doing 80kph.

Believe it or not, it actually felt good... for a few miles anyway.

A few things I noticed:

1. It's dark. I know... duh. But JRO is practically the middle of nowhere and Arusha isn't exactly awash in light either.

2. TZ is a poor country. I knew that beforehand, but even if I didn't it is obvious enough in many ways.


I saw almost as many pedestrians as vehicles on the road from JRO to Arusha... at 9pm.  you do that when gas is nearly $5/gal.

Most of the stores I saw along the road were small, dimly lit and brightly painted. Windows were heavily barred, if they weren't bricked up. This is what reminded me of Jamaica.

Speaking of dimly lit, the outdoor lighting of choice is the 48" fluorescent tube. Sometimes it's two on a pole forming a Y shape, but it's just as likely to be attached to a tree. The more well-off shopkeepers had colored tubes (purple, red, green, etc). The ones with mercury vapor are really in high cotton.

3. The British influence is apparent, particularly in road signs.

4. The highway department REALLY loves speed bumps. In some places they lay them down narrow in groups of three that'll rattle your fillings.

5. The drivers here are crazy. Really.