We wake up before the roosters, we wake up before the mosques and we wake up before the bus station… it’s an early morning.
Having pre-arranged a 5:00am pick-up time with a taxi driver last night, we walk outside at 5:00am and to our surprise we find him actually waiting for us… what the hell? When we scheduled the time, we choose 5:00am because we figured he’d be late and wouldn’t show up until around 5:15am-5:20am, which would still get us to the bus station for our check-in at 5:30am… so much for factoring in “Africa time”. The bus station is less than 5 minutes from our guest house, so we end up arriving at 5:05am, which confuses the bus company – I guess they’re not used to people being early. Oh well - now we have plenty of time to wait around…
To both our surprise and our pleasure the bus leaves exactly on time, which is a first for us – no waiting for one more – and we get snacks too! So although the bus ride is long, it’s pleasant… or at least as pleasant as long bus rides can be.
Its still morning when we arrive in Iringa, so after we find a place to stay, we still have plenty of time to grab a bite to eat, explore the town and just enjoy the sun-shiny day.
We check into the “Dr. AJ Nsekela Executive Lodge” which appears to be a former university building. It’s very institutional feeling from the outside, but our room inside feels more like our actual “home” than any other place we’ve stayed at on this trip so far. It’s a suite, so we have our own living room, our own bathroom AND our own bedroom. In fact, it’s almost the size of our place back in Canada, which is actually kind of comforting...
We each have a quick shower to wash away the feeling of “the road” and then we go out in search of food and Internet. We find a nice restaurant for lunch, where we enjoy some of the local fare and then we find an Internet café that gives back to the community. It’s part of a store called “Neema Crafts & Cafe”, which is a non-profit business that gives employment and skills training to disabled people in Iringa. It’s a nice place and we’re more than happy to give our support.
In fact, we like Iringa so much we decide to stay another day - we’ve been traveling for three-in-a-row already, so a break is welcome.
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