Alright Bros and Bro-ettes, here's a new post for y'all to read.
That last one was wrought (present tense wyrkn) with detail and toooooo long.
So i'll just get to it.
I'm in Kigoma now.
I have been in Kigoma now, for a loooong time. Kigoma is a port city on the northern edge of Lake Tanganyika. I planned to take a boat from the northern to the southern edge of lake Tanganykia. And so I shall - today - i hope. Lord willing (if there be a Lord) ((John i hope you're reading)). I shall depart on my way to Kasanga.

I'm a little wired today.
I call it Kigoma-cabin-fever.

See, I arrived last Sunday after a 2 day train ride from Dar es Salaam. I traversed the whole East to West of Tanzania. Along the way we stopped at all these little towns, each one with it's little spiel. There was the town that produced weavings, so you could get hats and mats and baskets oh my! Then there's the wooden spoon town - all sizes - from coffee pot up to boat-oar size for when the EXTENDED family shows up. Then you keep on trekking and there's all these wooden cylinders hanging in the trees. Three to a tree sometimes scattered throughout. Guess what, this is honey town and those are bee-hives. Everyone is running back and forth yelling asaliasaliasaliasali (honey)and selling it in old konyagi bottles (cheap cheap alcohol) it starts to sound like jibberish - like when you say spoonspoonspoonspoonspoonspoonspoonspoon.

So then I get to Kigoma. You know, I probably should have checked my travel book to see when the boat was leaving. I just thought; I'll get here and find out - you don't really know things until you get there in Tanzania. So I get here and find out, well, it leaves on Wednesday. I arrived on Sunday midday. So, I have 3 days to kill. I take a look around - eat at the few upscale restaurants (fish with rice beans, spinach and fruit for $2.20) and then I've seen the town.

On Monday I go to the port to get a ticket and I meet someone else who is going to Malawi - so SCORE!! My 1st travel partner. I say, let's go together. His name is Sean from Atlanta we walk along the beach and eat, go to sleep at 7 or 8 PM. We meet 2 other americans, we chat, drink some beers talk about where's good, where's cheap ETC. Then we wake up on Tuesday and find out SUPRISE the boat isn't leaving til' Thursday. More time in Kigoma!!! I try to hatch a plan to go by bus and train to Malawi, but change my mind 30 minutes before departure) because it would be more dificult and not as scenic - so I resign myself to more time in kigoma. I can't wait. I've already eaten at the 3 restaurants nearby. I've gon to Sun Snacks at least 5 times, but the fish is fresh; i can't complain.

The next day Sean and I agree to get a boat out for a while. We find someone and i bargain HARD for $2.60 for 2 hours. Yes, that sounds like a pittance, but the boat only cost 120-140 to make, so if they could sell 50 trips, they would make back their capital in 100 hours. Not to mention, boats go out at night here to get fish, so they're useless during the day. The boat was fine, except that it would go left and right but never forward and it leaked lots of water; we had to toss it out ourselves.
So, it was a good workout, and it was nice to be out on the lake.
Now it's Sean (the guy from Atlanta) and this other guy Steve (also American, hasn't been back in 8 years) and myself and we pass the time drinking and eating and playing cards. I read some Salman Rushdie (Midnights Children) and go jogging in the morning and try to write in my journal but never quite succeeed. So, slowly Thursday rolls around around. And we get there at 4 with all our bags, and I buy some fruit and vegetables because everything here is deep fried or white carbs and I need something to stay regular. And we wait and wait, and trucks are exiting with cargo (even though the boat arrived yesterday) and then trucks pull up when another is trying to leave and that blocks the driver in, so one of them (usually the smaller truck) has to back up and wait and then he's angry because he has to wait so long and starts honking) And we wait and eat and drink and wait and then, finally, someone tells us, oh - i'm sorry if you didn't hear, but the boat isn't leaving until tomorrow. There's a problem with the crane. I don't know when the announcement came, but lots of the people come from far away so they just sort of camp out at the port, so there was no mass exodus. So, we found another way to pass a day - waiting expectantly for a boat!

Well, now is Friday, and all we do is hope - and we bet - we have a pool for the actual time the boat will leave. They say it's at 12, My slot is 1:30 the others' are 1:00 and 2:00. We'll see who wins.