Sharp Sharp, Vespa!: Day 9: Wazungu, pikipiki and Tanzania's greener pastures

East Africa, here we come! We get two nicknames the moment we pass the border: "mzungu" (or wazungu in plural) as they tend to refer to any white person walking around and "pikipiki" as all two wheelers are being called. Our Vespa feels right at home with scooters seemingly the preferred mode of transport in this part of the world. We cross the border at Tunduma and get sucked into a row of green hills and valleys straight after that. The views are stunning! If it was not for the speed bumps that pop up out of nowhere around every curve, we might have even enjoyed it. Zambia's neighbour, yet the scenery changes immensely.
Everything seems so much more fast-paced. The huts are replaced by a row of brick structures which, however, do not seem much more stable than their predecessors. Once in a while, piles of bricks and lines of unfinished or abandoned structures is all you will see. We make it to Mbeya in what is probably the biggest storm we have encountered so far. We cannot see the road and pray that at least those behind us may see our little red light. The Sombrero Hotel is a jem: not because of its rather ordinary structure, but the friendly people running it. Everyone seems to want to give us a hand, even though everything we own is dripping and getting all carpets wet. The staff rekindles the fire in their kitchen in the adjacent restaurant to give us a warm meal before we are off to bed. The hot shower feels so good that day