8.11.10 Julius Nyerere International Airport, Tanzania
What a day, what a trip, what a life...the trouble with traveling, with such a profound plethoria of experience on a daily basis, is parlaying, translating this back into a normal, sedentary life...life on the road, the ability to pick up, pack up, and go, no questions asked, as if this is the most natural act in the world, is profoundly freeing to the soul...the life of a pilgrim is hard, filled with discomfort, fraught with occasional danger, tedium, and struggle, but is a life liberated, nonetheless.
SItting in a local bar across the darkened street from the airport, the only establishment on the street with electricity and not a flickering candle in front for illumination, drinking a warm Safari Beer, watching the locals shoot pool, surrounded by the barely electric buzz of exoticism. Driving the dusty, traffic clogged, street vendor packed roads of Dar Es Salaam, me and my belongings packed into the back of a Tuk Tuk, guarding the contents at every stop from the roving bands of theives that prey upon the weak in this part of the world; watching the scenes of momentary, simplistic brilliance unfold, understanding that this moment is truly unique; the understanding leaves me breathless. The last 6 weeks in Africa leave me breathless. The thought of so much more experience yet to come on this trip, in this life, leaves me breathless.
I sit in the rickety plastic chair, inherited from some unknown place, some undreamed circumstance, writing at thi crooked, wobbly table in the dim humming light of the pool table, waiting for an unknown meal to arrive, Swahili music cruising the periphery, mingling with the tongues of those around in the darkened shadows, and I smile at the grandeur of it all.
