Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

We visited Tanzania in August 2008. During our travels, waiters and guides, hotel staff and shop proprietors often questioned us about the upcoming American election. Everyone was polite, wary of the possibility that we didn't share their hopes. When they discovered we did, they would linger, talking with us at length about their excitement at the prospect. Walking along the perimeter of Stone Town toward the end of our trip, my wife and I came upon a small park nestled between buildings on either side. At one end of the park was this tree, confidently predicting the winner. Taking the picture made me uneasy; as a sports fan, I tend to be superstitious about such predictions. But capturing as it did the wonder and hope felt by so many in that place, that a man of Barack Obama's race and background might accomplish such a feat, I couldn't resist.