Day 29

Today was our 9th straight day of work, which means by now we have settled into a daily routine. Our cell phone alarm goes off at 6:15 am every morning, after which time Jenn and I lie very quietly in bed for another 10-15 minutes hoping the other will get up to shower first. Just after 7 AM, we all meet in the 3rd floor dining room for breakfast. Our options involve some combination of eggs, meat, and toast, accompanied by black tea, Africafe (instant coffee), or chai tangaweze, the most delicious boiled ginger tea that I have ever tasted. Despite my love of ginger tea and my hated for Africafe, I usually end up getting the coffee to keep my withdrawal at bay. We also get fresh fruit with breakfast, but I've found the quality varies with the number of other hotel guests. When we are the only diners, we tend to get bananas which are the least expensive. However, a few days ago when a large group of Germans were staying to tour Ruaha national park, they ran out of bananas and we got papaya! Breakfast is about an hour long production, so we’re not on the road until about 8:30 am. First, we stop at the Soko (market) to buy water, indizi (bananas), mchenza (tangerines) and mchungwa (oranges). The produce in Iringa is extremely well priced: we pay about $1.50 for a dozen tangerines and 5 oranges. We pay about the same for a dozen bananas. Some days we’ll also buy karanga (fresh peanuts) which sell for about $1 per kilo. They taste completely different from the roasted and salted peanuts we get in North America, and are highly addictive. Once we get out of Iringa town, the trip to the site is about an hour and ten minutes of dust, bumps, cow-jams, and waving children. When we pass the Maasai village closest to the site, the same kid (who, by the way, is pantless 50% of the time) either points and screams at us or throws a stick at our car. Thus far, he has been very consistent.

At the site at around 10 am, we gather all our gear and hike the 5 minutes straight up the mountain to reach the entrance to the rock shelter. Our first priority is to start our daily field notes and set up the total station. Afterwards, we generally continue whatever it was we were doing the afternoon before – excavating a level, drawing plan maps, or taking photographs. We almost always get visitors throughout the morning. Lately, 5-10 Maasai kids appear per day because they have learned that we have candy. I think I’ll starting bringing pens and pencils next week so we can at least contribute to their education along with their deteriorating dental health. At around 1:30 pm, we break for a picnic lunch on the side of the mountain. We always share our fruit, nuts, and water with whoever happens to be around, but tend to be slightly more territorial about the chocolate chip cookies that Pam buys. Lunch is typically also the time when my colleague Pastory tries to sell me to whatever local Tanzanian men have stopped by. After a half hour break or so, we resume excavating until about 3:30 or 4 pm. The road that we can barely navigate during the day would be certain death in the dark, so it’s important that we give ourselves enough time to get back to the hotel. By the time the day is over, we’re pretty well covered in dirt and dust anyway, and are eager to head home to a potentially-hot shower.




We usually arrived at the hotel by 5:30 or 6:00 pm, which gives us just enough time to shower and check our email (or maybe even write a clever blog post) before we regroup for dinner at 7:00 pm. As I mentioned, our evening meal takes about an hour to arrive and another hour to consume and pay, which eats up a sizable portion of the evening. Fortunately, the menu at the Isimila hotel is nothing less that hilarious. The options include goulash soup (which is like a beef vegetable soup with random pieces of ginger in it), chicken steak (shredded chicken), ugali, meat or vegetarian curries, spaghetti, and a host of other strange concoctions. Best of all, nothing is ever the same two nights in the row. Some days the chicken arrives in a hot pink glaze while other nights it tastes strangely like KFC. The meals always come with side dishes, but since none of them are listed on the menu, they are impossible to predict. To some degree, we can divine what the hotel will serve based on the morning market fare. For example, we avoid the vegetable curry at all costs the evening after a large cabbage shipment comes in. Otherwise, what is placed in front of us every night is a genuine surprise.

After dinner, we are usually too tired and too full to do much of anything. Jennifer and I tend to upload our photos from the day and play around on the Internet. The hours between 9 pm and bedtime are pretty much the only time we have to relax and decompress, so I usually find myself battling between reading emails and going to sleep. I also use this time to flesh out my field notes, apply for grants for upcoming conferences, and respond to department emails. Even in Africa, we’re expected to be full time students. If you’re wondering why I’ve chosen to correspond via blog and not email, there is your answer right there. By 10:30 or 11:00 pm we’re usually tucked under our mosquito nets and well on our way to psychedelic anti-malarial drug induced dreams. Before we know it, the alarm is ringing again and it’s time to get up.

Today is a little bit different because Jennifer, Katie, and I are going to have a pyjama-party/movie night after dinner because we’re taking the weekend off. For the next two days, we’re going to wash and sort the ten boxes of artifacts we’ve already collected and take some time to explore Iringa. We’re going back to Dar es Salaam for a few days next week which means we need to organize and find a place to house our gear and artifacts in the interim. All I know is that this means I can sleep in until 7 am for the next two days. Life is good.