tazara drama

character developement-
we are goin on a holiday and with us we are taking...
Nina
safari lager, the tazara train, all our lovers, horehachly, mayoka village, music, lighter
Courtney
nina's trekking shoes swiped from her bag on a minibus to mbeya, heaps of toilet paper, updated journals, swiss army knife,enterainment,
Lee
condoms, studend for her pleasure, zanzibar doors, kolala bear, card game taught by swiss germans in peru, 12 packets of korosho
Albert
a satilite dish, a boy peeling a orange with a knife without a handle, sun dryed clay bricks, 3 half smoked cigarettes, a mapel leaf eh.
Sarah
antique fan, tree rippened mangoes, twiga, ciclid, melbourne t-shirtthe end

after leaving malawi with 2 great looking companions and staying the nite in MBEYA the coldest butt-fuck of a town in western tanzania, we took a taxi to the bank then to the train station. we like trains, more environmetal, scenic, comfortable, we are here for the experience.
There was a small voice deep down that knew it would take long and be a bit of a headache, but i didn't want to complain, or drag down the great plan.. and heaven forbid i head out on my own when i had such attractive company. so showing up at the station for 7 to buy 2nd class seats for a train set to leave at 2pm. fine,
Lee joins the club and we wander aroung in search of food, luncheon rice, and chitenge.yum. albert joins but is sectioned off in 1st class like a real somebody with a real job. of course the cabins are open for boarding just before sunset and we move back and forth a few inches at a time, always in view of the station platform. a loud inaudible voice comes overhead, blah blah, derailed, blah blah, wait for further instructions. we order beers and fall asleep but are awoken later to collect all of our things, and switch trains about 2 hours towards our destination. because the tracks were blocked they would have the zambia train head back there and the dar train reverse once it picked up it's new cargo-US. so in the middle of nowhere/nite we had to get out carry our luggage under the light of the full moon, along a ditch. after watching old mama's fall and drop big sacks of rice from her head, i did too, tripping on rocks and grass, i somehow though of the holicaust ( probably from shared stories earlier that eventing) once a single file line, filed pass by a derailed train to get on another it was 2am, lee was lost and then recovered and we were on our was again.

9am- african's get up with the sun, crazy buggers.....and i had a hangover, slow, smelly but on the top bunk. eventually we got up and ate breakfast, eggs and bread which was delivered to our car. chuggin on thu hills green and vast, with acacia and clouds. watching the world go bye and ocasionally snapping a picture. listening to Bjork, Ani and Ween on an MP3, taking a nap, and just around mid afternoon past 1pm (when we were originally scheduled to arrive in dar) we stop in a nice station, mlimba. Buying packets of peanuts, water, oranges, thru the window, i was somehow afriad to the try the dry blackened fish people offered up. we didn't leave that station until after nitefall. we all slept, frustrated at the locamotive problem, lack of fuel, timing, stuffy and early. before the sun was up the next day, a man, opened the cabin door to announce, we are in dar es sallam. I was home.