We are now in Dodoma in Central Tanzania. In 4 days we cycled here from Morogoro...We had a lot of uphill (and most of it in 1 day) but then also a lot downhill the next day (on that day we did almost 100km, i think it was 98km). In total we did around 450 km in 7 days of cycling. We are slowly getting into our rhythms and routines... and yet everyday is different. The Landscape changed a lot since Morogoro...we came from the more tropical landscape, hilly, then flat and then mountainous in Morogoro into a much dryer landscape, different mountains again, vast, open, desert like, sandy, with single baobab trees standing majestically in the vastness...We saw so called "dustdevils", they look like little tornados that you find in deserts and open dry landscapes.
A few locals invited us to have a few beers and dinner with them in one of the villages we stayed in. We sat outside on a table with chicken and goats running around us. Two of the men spoke good English and the others sat around with us anyway. One of them brought his half chinese, half african daughter, who spoke a little English as well. A few Massai were there as well and we were soon in the middle of a vibrant village life. One drunk guy came to argue with people and everyone laughed at him. He seemed to be aware of the fact that he was playing the clown here though and somehow enjoyed the role. The Massai laughed the loudest. The Massai men have more than one wife each (one of them had 4 wifes), we never saw any of them though. The other locals we talked to were strong christian believers.
Now we are taking a rest day in a lodge just outside of Dodoma. It is nice and quiet here...time to write and read and recharge a little...