Mwanza

I'm not really sure how I feel about Mwanza, Tanzania. When I arrived yesterday I was tired and dehydrated and the city felt dusty and crappy. Slowly, as I've explored, it's grown on me.
It's Tanzania's second largest city and the main port on Lake Victoria (I've seen Lake Victoria!). There are no crows, unlike almost everywhere else I've been in Africa. Instead, the skies are littered with brown hawks and kingfishers. On the ground, giant nasty looking cranes roam through trash. The terrain is hilly and possibly resembles San Francisco before development.
For a city of it's size there are few mzungos (white people). As a result, people are often surprised when I greet them in Swahili. Also, there are only a couple of hawkers offering safari tours.
Today, I strolled out of town, eventually settling on a large rock to watch village life on the hill below. Two young girls sat nearby starring at me, occasionally offering a "shikamoo" (an gesture of respect for an elder). After a few minutes a teenage boy sat down and we chatted for twenty minutes. He asked my opinion on "girls in secondary school being allowed to have abortions". This was a subject he had been asked to debate in school. Obviously, I chose my words carefully.
I'm here until tomorrow evening when I'll take a night ferry to Bukoba. Inshallah, after docking I'll be able to immediately catch a bus to Kampala, Uganda.
Side note: the bus is only six hours! Barely worth it to even bring a book...