It’s Saturday in Tanzania. After being told to report to work Monday, we sleep in. It’s a beautiful, hot morning in Moshi. We have breakfast, make some coffee. (As an aside, we were told that coffee was difficult to find in Tanzania, and we brought some with us from the US. Things have changed as there is packaged Tanzania coffee readily available. We’ve not tried it, but suspect our supply will run out before the end of our trip.)
First task of the day is laundry. We have been abroad traveling for 7 days and need to restock clothing supplies. A bucket and laundry sink in the kitchen are available for the heavy work and then hanging the clothes on the line. There is a clothes wire in our backyard, and it promptly breaks as I get our clothes onto the line. The yard man next door gets a chuckle as I hurriedly pick the clean clothes off the ground. We restring, we hang, and voila!
Now, to continue to feed ourselves and get some bearings. We head out of the housing area, which is quiet and without signs of others to ask directions. We find a path that looks promising to the left and sure enough it leads to the hospital compound. There are so many buildings, each labeled as a school – physiotherapy, anesthesia, etc. Near the main gate, we find the administrative offices (closed for the weekend) and a small supermarket. It contains an odd assortment of beverages, pasta, frozen hotdogs, and odds and ends. Regardless, we buy enough for dinner tonight in case further exploration is fruitless.
I reset my phone again and WhatsApp and maps comes to life! Eureka! I am greeted by several messages welcoming us to KCMC. I correspond with a local orthopedic physician – Rogers Temu – and he confirms we are to meet Monday 0730 main building, 2nd floor, surgical two. That is a plan!
It rains on the way back but we are prepared with umbrellas and jackets. By the time we reach our house the sun is out and hot.
We drop off our groceries and head back out to find the supermarket that the driver told us about. First, we decide a “path” means the road and second we decide that he reversed his left, right and left to right, left and right. (He said in the car he often does that)
Our instincts prove correct and we walk through a very nice section of Moshi, find a couple of restaurants that seem promising, visit a fruit stand (bananas, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, & onion), and head confidently toward the supermarket (the lady at the fruit stand confirmed we were heading the right way)
The market (Woodland) has a wide selection including frozen chicken, bacon, & ham. We find rice, spices, beverages, water, and bread.
We walk back, stop at a bar for cokes and water, and return to the house.
Dinner and rest await. Day two proves we can find food and drink alone!
