Day 31

Tonight is our last night in Iringa before we spend a few days in Dar es Salaam. The provost from our university back home is arriving in Tanzania tomorrow to establish some official partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam. Consequently, we have been summoned from the field to witness the event. Even though I’m looking forward to the break, it’s rather inconvenient to have to pack up our lives in Iringa. We’ve settled in to the point where it’s just starting to feel like home. We’re renting 1 hotel room to house our field gear, artifacts, and large suitcases in our absence (we’re traveling light this time), but we still have to reduce our comfortable and sprawled existence back into a suitcase. Since we will be reverting to our old hotel for a few days, I thought I would give you the low-down on where we’ve been living for the last month.

Hotel: The Starlight
City: Dar es Salaam
Location: Bibi Titi Mohammed street
Rate (USD): about $25 per person per night

Pam has been staying at the Starlight ever since she abruptly learned that her usual hotel had closed, right before she was scheduled to fly in to the city in the middle of the night. The hotel occupies a strange mid-priced economic niche that assures it is always left out of guide books. It’s too expensive for Tanzanians and backpackers, but too spartan for businessmen and wealthy safari travellers. The rooms are outfitted with air conditioning, mini fridges (although ours never worked last time), and a 9 inch television set with one channel in English. By far, the best asset of the Starlight is the chapattis in the restaurant on the main floor. It is also located within walking distance to the city centre, as well as markets and shopping districts such as the Uhuru street, an open air khanga market of gargantuan proportions. Also, there is a nice cafe across the street where we light to get water, pop, and andazi (Tanzanian donuts). The greatest drawback of the Starlight is the warehouse located next door which is frequently rented out for political rallies, weddings, and other shindigs that run late into the night. Furthermore, the unenclosed shower head is located equidistant between the toilet and the sink in the bathroom, ensuring that everything in that room is constantly wet. Finally, it’s a strictly Muslim-run hotel which means we can’t get beer on the premises and we have to wash our own delicates instead of sending them out with the laundry.

Hotel: The Isimila Hotel
City: Iringa
Location: Uhuru ave
Rate (USD): about $10 per person per night

The Isimila hotel, which is named after the famous Acheulian site, was the biggest hotel in Iringa for a long time. That’s why when Pam tells people we’re staying at a small hotel in Iringa, they laugh hysterically when they hear the name. Although our hotel room here is slightly smaller than at the Starlight and doesn’t come with a television or a fridge (or reliable lighting, for that matter), I think it’s our favourite of the two. We sleep in twin beds with plywood bunk bed frames to hold up our tent-like mosquito nets. The best thing about the Isimila hotel is that the bathroom sink is separate from the toilet/shower, which is invaluable when you’re sharing a room with another woman for an extended period of time. It’s located towards the centre of Iringa which means we can walk to the market or to get mahindi (roasted corn on the cob) after returning from the field. Although I don’t like the food as much as I did at the Starlight, the television in the dining room is always on Animal Planet, a Tanzanian soap opera, or some hilarious Nollywood (Nigerian Bollywood) film in which the plot line always involves witchcraft. Sometimes we also get to watch “Is a Dingo,” a soap opera out of South Africa that could give some of those North American cheese-fests a run for their money. The worst thing about the Starlight, aside from the disappearing light bulbs and shortage of toilet paper, is that the rooms don’t have heating or much insulation. There is a qualitative difference between the cold in Iringa and the cold in Edmonton, which can be summed up by the words “central heating.” Despite coming from a cold climate, I don’t think I’ve ever had to consistently put up with being cold for so long. My kingdom for a space heater! I don’t have any other major complaints about our accommodation here. There is a cat in heat that endlessly caterwauls from the garden every night, but I don’t think that’s the hotel’s fault.

Anyway, tomorrow morning we shift gears and head back towards the land of coconuts. See you in 5 days, Iringa.