Sunday Lunch...

27/12/09

So another Sunday is upon us. I am amazed that I am still writing nearly daily, although I suppose with restrictions on my activities I have a lot of spare time. The location of the house, and my inability to drive prevents me from heading into town on a daily basis, I tend to go out only when I am told to. Sometimes it can feel a little bit like I have been imprisoned within the compound (standard descriptive word used to suggest the land and buildings that are owned by the occupier).

Luckily I have been dragged here and there over the past few days so I have been guided about the area by some experienced people. I thought that today would be one of the days where I spend most of the time in my rotunda. The rain was quite heavy during the early hours but it did ease off come 10 o’clock. I was informed (via text) that I would be heading to a woman called Mary’s house. Mary has worked for the best part of 20 years working on a variety of tourism projects. We were to head to her house for lunch.

Before the luncheon meeting I had decided to take my book out to have a quick read in the garden. I was sitting on the rocks enjoying the sunshine, and the view. I was just settled when a huge ‘whoosh’ came over my head. I looked up to see one of the large birds that circle the rocks pulling up from the swoop. I casually thought that such manoeuvres are a bit uncharacteristic and went back to reading. A few minutes later the same thing happened. But this time I kept an eye on the winged beast. It was circling around me again and I kept following it. It then pulled in its wings and propelled itself in my direction. I bravely cowered away from it, and then lost sight of it. The one sensible solution that I could think of was to run and get my camera to see if the bird would do it again. It didn’t attack again but a few more joined in with the circling of the rocks that I was sitting at. In hindsight it was quite a scary experience having a huge bird fly right at you. I’ll get my revenge one day though...possibly through the art of photography...Wildlife Photographer of the Year here I come.

Back to the rest of the day...Mary lives on the other side of the town of Bukoba, quite near to the centre of town which is a fine location, although she doesn’t get the wonderful view of the hill. She is staying in her mothers’ home for the time being because she is only around in Bukoba for a week or so. Normally she works in Mwanza, which is another lakeside town, but on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. She opened a bottle of South African Claret, a very nice wine indeed, and we all had a chat about life in general (all of us being Professor Maliyamkono, Mary and I). The Professor has known Mary for years and they had a lot to talk about. Mostly conversation was in English which I really appreciated. I am not sure how comfortable I would have been having lunch and listening to a Swahili conversation.

The pre-lunch snack was brought out...dried and smoked grasshopper. I have not eaten many insects in my day, mainly just flies, and that is mostly through accidental ingestion. The grasshoppers are caught, I assume killed somewhere along the way, and then put into a leaf package that is put in chimney stacks to be smoked. They can apparently be held in these leaves for a number of years before they are considered to be off. This foodstuff is considered a delicacy in Bukoba, and I have to say that they weren’t bad at all. They tasted very smoky and had a bizarre texture to them, but all in all they were not unpleasant. The legs however can get caught in your teeth and you sometimes need a drink to make sure you can rinse all the little leftover bits of insect from your mouth. I’d recommend them to anyone who wants to try a bizarre local delicacy, and who doesn’t really care that it is an insect that they are eating.

Shortly after the insect event, the real lunch was served. This was a nice meal of bananas in beans, a beef stew, and steamed spinach. This is a very traditional Tanzanian dish, and most households will be able to eat this as bananas are so readily available and can act almost as a staple food for their diet. Conversation ebbed and flowed and a range of topic were discussed including the use of the cave that is located just behind Mary’s house, to ecotourism in Tanzania, to attacks by members of the public on politicians. A highly varied conversation was then followed with a discussion about inconsistencies in the Bible, and Professor Maliyamkono was coming out with some fantastic notions that he had read about in a variety of books which examine the Bible so thoroughly that it would not be possible to come to any conclusion other than the Bible is not accurate. An discussion which could just have easily been supported with an argument of “Yeah right he was able to walk on water”.

The rest of the day was spent back at the house, in fairness we were out for most of the day at Mary’s house so I don’t feel like I am too caged up! The Professor is coming down with a horrific sounding cold so I am doing my best to keep my distance. The final discussion we had that day was to do with me working. Apparently tomorrow (that is Monday 28th) I will be starting to work at the Bukoba Development Agency. I’m quite excited about the prospect of actually starting to work at this point. Although I still want to try to get to Musila Island as I am yet to get on the boats! Soon I hope.

Ciao for now...