Wednesday 27 July 2011

Day 267 Tanzania 27/07/2011, Central Lodge guest-house, Iringa. A great market, some bike maintenance and getting ready to rejoin the road.

Had a great nights sleep last night, so that's one good thing to come out of the bus journey. This morning we headed back to 'Hasty Tasty Too' for breakfast, it may be quite expensive but we didn't fancy our chances in the guest-house restaurant. After eggs on toast and a large coffee each, we were ready to face the day.

The 'Lonely Planet' guide said that Iringa has a colourful market and we would have to agree. This was the most fruit and veg we have seen for quite some time. We are now fully stocked up for our onward journey. Mangoes, papaya and avocados at stupidly cheap prices were all too good to miss.

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From the market we walked down to see the town mosque, which has a strangely alpine looking clock tower. Not overly surprising as the Germans built it, but we can't think that we have seen another mosque like it.

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From there it was a wander through the streets to the bus station. I had forgotten to take a picture of our bus from yesterday and hoped to see a similar one. We didn't see the bus we had travelled on, that was heading back to Dodoma, but we did see its sister.

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Back at the hotel we sorted our bags and I made some small repairs to our bikes. The scratches still make me wince, but I am sure I will get over them in time. A respray may be in order when we get them home, but what colour?

Lunch was had at 'Lulu's' restaurant, which was pretty good and much cheaper than 'Hasty Tasty Too'; we can't say much for the atmosphere though, except that there wasn't one! Then it was back to the hotel for some blogging and more sorting. Until beer o'clock arrived of course and then it was off to the bar, where I caught the attentions of a small child.

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It was all fun and games until he started throwing rocks, which by the look on one woman's face, I had put him up to. Things calmed down and we had a good game chasing round the car park. He seemed a little disappointed when we left to go and have dinner.

Returning to 'Hasty Tasty Too' we had a good meal, which was offset by the owner being the rudest most miserable individual alive. It's a shame that it is the most convenient place to have breakfast, because otherwise we wouldn't go back.

There will be no more beers tonight, because it is a cycling day tomorrow. It will be good to get back in the saddle, especially as we have a sealed road to look forward to. Iringa has been a good place to have a short stopover, it has an excellent market and the town is really relaxed. Tomorrow we head off to 'The Old Farm House' at Kisolanza where we will spend a couple of nights. We should bump into some of the overland crowd again, as it is back on their route. Plus being a working farm we can stock up on fresh eggs and meat.

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