Remember Yusuf?

True to his word, Yusuf's friend Tino met us in Arusha after we returned from the Safari. Tino is a young married man who is attending guide school while working as many jobs as is necessary to make ends meet. We immediately took a liking to him and his relaxed ways.

Before much discussion, he presented a small elephant keychain (stitched from leather) to Marisa and I - a very thoughtful gesture.

From there, we took off into the evening and walked the area around our hotel. The sights and sounds of 'working' Arusha was ever present as this was the time that many were heading home for the day. Like us, many need to commute reasonable distances to their jobs. Unlike us, very few have their own vehicles and rely on small commuter buses (like mini vans) all of which, are overcrowded. This type of transport is called a dala-dala. There would be no air conditioning and in Moshi, we had seen one pass and the actual sliding door fell off when someone got out - not the best condition.

Many of the storefronts had been closed up with iron gates for security, but many sidewalks in front of these shops were now being used by street vendors selling anything from fresh fruit, cooked foods, and used clothing from makeshift stands.

Tanzanians rely heavily on used clothing that come from Western countries. So it wasn't a surprise to see people wearing a T-shirt that said 'Canada' on it, or even a golf shirt that had Minnesota embroidered on the chest.

It was nice having Tino guiding us, as locals whose only goal is to sell trinkets to tourists, were no longer a bother like they had been in Moshi. Either they would see we were with Tino and back away, or he would quickly make a comment to them in Swahili and they would back off. Being a white person ('wazungu', in Swahili) in this area made us a target to those in the 'hocking-to-tourist' trade. But we were quite confortable.

There is a large population of Muslims in Arusha. So, as we walked we saw the men leaving their community centre after prayer and we turned down another street to see their local mosque.

One thing I should comment on, while it seems Christian faiths still dominate, the Muslim religion is a very close second. There is no problem at all, to the gov't or the religious groups, to marry outside their faith. For example, Muslims can marry Catholics and that is considered perfectly acceptable.

Our hotel was just outside city centre. It was plain, but very clean and the first fresh sheets and good shower we've had for awhile. Since they offered dinner at the hotel, we invited Tino to have dinner with us and during the meal, he outlined his plans for us for the following day. Meeting Yusuf on Kilimanjaro mountain was the catalyst for making this new connection in Arusha - what a treat this has been and we can't wait for tomorrow.