how does it feel … to be without a home … a complete unknown … like a rolling stone ???

hey man slow down … slow down …

idiot slow down … slow down …

oh my god … i haven’t posted since the 9th ….

how the hell do i fit all that into something reasonable …

life has been crazy …

going to point form it …

- mwanza was lovely … most of my time revolved around a crew of western kids, islam and kivulini, a womens empowerment project doing very cool things and one extremely intelligent lady …

- from mwanza, i took a 20 hour bus to dar es salaam … i arrived after midnight and ended up sharing a hotel room with a complete stranger … for the 100th time … the kindness and generosity of the people of east africa blows me away …

- the next day i went looking for a hotel in central dar (about $15/night) and was repeatedly baffled until i was approached by a guy … now everywhere you go there are people standing on corners who will help you for money … they help to set up tours, hotels, taxis, etc … it’s just the way the economy works here … usually i say no thank you, but since i really didn’t have a place to stay … i gave him a chance … 2 hours later, i had my tent set up on a white sandy beach under a palm tree, and was swimming in the crystal blue waters of the indian ocean … with no a single soul in sight … except for some wooden dhow fishing boats floating by … for $5

- i spent a couple days in dar, though since the city is less appealing and more dangerous than other african capitals … i spent most of my time near my beach, chilling out and visiting a local home for underprivileged kids … it was amazing … it was founded by a hand-full of orphans and street kids as a place where kids could learn, play and feel safe … they even put on a talent show for me, showcasing the many activities they use to keep kids growing (acrobatics, football, music, drama, etc) … there are some TALENTED kids out there … and because the whole place is run by the kids themselves, the impact of the informal mentorship was astounding … i will be back in dar in a few days and really hope to dig into the place (and it’s leaders) a lot more deeply …

- my two greatest african cravings have been subway and doritos … in dar, i found a subway … and with the combo meals, they served doritos … i almost cried … (still no macdonalds)

- i met up with a friend from canada who i had hung out with in mwanza and a couple of her friends in dar and we took the ferry over to zanzibar … there was a famous ‘full moon party’ on the beach in the north of the island, so we rushed to get there and find a place to stay … now when i imagined ‘full moon party’, i had an image of bonfires on the beach with drumming and bbq meat … something cultural … what i found was something corporate … a tourist bar full of white people dancing on tables … kinda like jacks in london … i may have been a bit disappointed if not for the fact that … well … i was on the frigging beach in zanzibar with good music, good friends, good food and copious amounts of alcohol (cough) … under an full lunar eclipse … we danced and partied with tourists and locals until passing out on hammocks on the beach at about 4 or 5 am … my life sucks …

- the next few days in zanzibar are really a blur, days lounging in the sun and nights drinking too much on the beach … we spent one entire day on a wooden sail boat to go snorkeling … i have never snorkeled before, and i loved it as much as i expected … there are some beautiful fish out there, and there is something magical about finding yourself 6 feet underwater surrounded by, and moving in unison with a school of hundreds of brilliant white fish … i will be back in zanzi again in a few days and have every intention of doing that again … we also had a great little lunch on the most incredible beach i have ever seen … the water was clear like tap water, and brilliant turquoise … the beach was soft and the sand was almost like powder, minus all the bad traits of powder … i feel i am going to need to buy an island someday …

- our last night in zanzibar we spent in stone town … i felt like i was back in havana again, getting totally lost roaming up and down narrow, winding streets … the hilight came that night, as one stone town alley becomes a open air ’street-meat’ market, with a long line of bbq’s cooking everything under the sun … i had an enormous meal of barracuda, white-shark, shrimp, lobster, octopus, coconut bread and zanzibar pizza (chocolate and banana) … washed down with cane juice … my life sucks …

- then, just as quickly as it emerged on the horizon, zanzibar was fading away as i was sprinting back to nairobi for the landmark forum … the ferry took a few hours … i arrived in dar and was soon on a bus for Tanga (after having had $8.00 scammed off me in the process and being threatened by a psychotic fellow who said he was going to call the police and have me arrested for trying to sell him cocaine) … i stopped at a random little roadside town near tanga to wait for a bus to arusha … there i met a man who was incredibly friendly, kept me company while i waited and helped me get a ride … i was feeling guilty receiving such kindness, as after getting scammed in dar, i made a rash comment about tanzanians … he flagged down a passing semi-trailer and hooked me up with a ride … 3 hours later i found out he ALSO scammed me out of $10.00 … so much for guilt …

- the truck was driven by a huge grumpy black man with a deep voice and no english … he seemed genuinely annoyed by my presence and communicated entirely in grunts … in typical fashion, however, he turned out to be my angel … the journey was LONG … and we did not arrive in arusha until about 3:00am … during the journey, he helped me every step of the way, took great pains to ensure my comfort, and even let me sleep in his bed in the truck, sleeping in his seat himself …

- i was up at 6 in arusha and off to find a bus to nairobi … as soon as my angel bus driver and his helper saw me off (with a grunt) … i was swindled again … this time for about $6 … finally i had had enough … the previous two times, by the time i was aware of what was going on, it was too late to do anything about it … but not now … now i stood my ground … was a complete ass and demanded to be treated fairly … and it worked … i am actually grateful for being scammed the first two times, as they drove me to speak up for myself the 3rd … far too often in my life i have kept quiet out of fear of ‘causing trouble’ … learning how easy it is to defend myself, and how it is possible to do so with compassion and kindness is a lesson i will treasure forever …

- i got into nairobi around 4:00, with 2 hours to go before i was required to check in for the conference … annnnd … that’s really the end of that …

i will put landmark in another post …