The Harsh Realities of Moshi

Ruchir and Ashesh look at Mt. Kili from a distance

By Ashesh Gandhi

Today Ruchir and I had a small adventure - we were at the SIM card store in downtown Moshi with Swetal and needed to exchange money from USD to the local currency. The bank called Bureau De Change was located in a part of Downtown Moshi (The area near. Mt. Kilimanjaro) that even tourists don't venture - of course we did not know that.  Ruchir and I stuck out but everyone seemed friendly. Afer the transaction, 

I made the mistake of asking where we could buy a duffel bag as Ruchir's had torn. Suddenly there was a mob of 8 different vendors vying for our business. It got a little scary and I had to firmly tell everyone to stop following us and they finally left us alone. Luckily Swetal was still waiting for us at the SIM card store.