Is this the way to Bagamoyo
The weekend was spent trying (and succeeding) to get to and from Bagamoyo. The Dar Hash, once a year, organizes the Bagamoyo relay, where teams of 10 to 15 have their members run, cycle or walk individual portions of the journey from Dar es Salaam to the former capital.
This year, four teams participated, so with the hashers and their dependents, a long train of mostly 4x4s made its way this Saturday, through dirt and other backroads, over the 80km or so zigzagging journey to the village of Bagamoyo.
I was assigned a cycling leg in the early morning, the first leg, starting at 630, as well as the first running leg after lunch, which saw me struggle in the smoldering heat, shortly after too big a lunch.
In the end, ‘my’ team, the Candy Fundis, led by the RA Candy Warrior, came in third, taking about six and a half hours to travel the distance. The winners, the Tiny Trotters battled it out with the Wet Dream Team, who both took a mere five and a half hours to cover the same.
When I wasn’t cycling or running, I was sharing a ride with a mom of two, who’s kids occasionally trotted along. At some point, when she was running her leg and I was driving the car with the kids in the back, the youngest, a four year old girl, asked me “can you rape my butt”. Obviously startled, even though this is the hash, some questioning and verbal prodding later, revealed that the actual question was “can you break my bottle”. Those four year olds!
She had lost her chewing gum inside the water bottle she was drinking from.
In the evening, the party involved skits and singing, including a belly dance routine choreographed by Candy Blower, Candyman’s wife, which saw Candyman in the actual belly dancing outfit and the rest of us bumbling along.
Such fun!
I thought about bringing my camera, but decided I didn’t want the responsibility of enjoying myself while also taking loads of pictures and worrying about my camera when not carrying it. I figured loads of people would be taking pictures anyway.
True, the latter, but it’s to be seen whether many of these photos will show up online.
I staid in exactly the same hut Niamh and I were in back in March, over at the Bagamoyo beach resort.