Farewell, Tabora

It's my last day in Tabora. My desk is cleaned out, my pantry is empty, and there's a bus ticket to Mwanza in my pocket. For the next week and a half, I'll be bounding across the Serengeti, wandering through Zanzibar's serpentine streets, and staring at a glassy blue ocean. In other words, I'm headed off to much more exciting settings than the dusty orange backdrop of the last few months. Still, this place has grown on me. It's been my home in Tanzania, and a good one, at that. It deserves, I think, a proper farewell.

The Top 6 Things I Will Miss About Tabora:

1. Biking Everywhere, and always being able to find someone to fix a flat.

2.Saturday Morning Trips to Market, and the prize-winning hauls that we pedal home.







3. Colorful Kangas, and dressmaking adventures at the tailor's

4. Culinary Adversity, and the creativity that results :)

Homemade lentil burger and Kilimanjaro beer: a Fourth of July classic

No gas? No problem. Pancakes taste even better on a makeshift backyard stove.

5. The Mzungu Crew, and their amazing ability to create fun in a town with not much to do

At the Livingstone House, the one and only tourist attraction near Tabora.

Post-brunch Bananagrams. Naturally.

6. The Kids. 'Nuff said.

School assembly under a mango tree. Why am I going home again?

I'm sure that traveling through the Serengeti will be life-changing, and that Zanzibar will be unforgettably beautiful. Still, dusty old Tabora has grown on me. It's always the little routines you miss most, isn't it? Africafe instant coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, a dusty bike ride to the MVP office, Mama Rosa's rice and beans for lunch, the people you spend time with in the evenings. Tabora, thanks for keeping me warm, well-fed and in good company. What more could I really ask for?