Hot and Sweaty

Dar es Salaam

All it took was a second standing in line waiting for our Tanzanian visa’s to realize just how white I am. Even my sweat soaked shirt didn’t darken my color any. It took almost a half hour to get through and make our way to the currency exchange where we learned our biggest, unavoidable mistake. $100 US dollar bills older than 2000 will not be accepted.  Luckily, I had only four out of the ten I brought for the first part of the trip. The man that looked way too tired for his age at the currency exchange promised, however, that they would be accepted downtown which didn’t given me much courage for the place we were headed.

The taxi driver took us to our hotel which welcomed us with an electrical outage. Honestly, though, it wouldn’t have made any difference to me since it was ungodly hot and there was no way I could possible heat up the room any further with the glow of a light bulb.  Apparently, the city’s electricity stops for up to three hours per day. Most people have generators but for the rest that can’t afford it (a lot) they must resort to wood or coal burning for cooking which accented the already horrible smell of the streets. Actually, the wood burning was the only good smell. I won't describe the rest.

After getting into the room, we remembered to take our malaria pill. Thinking that I still felt full from the airport meal I popped the pill and within minutes felt sick and the heat of the room brought me to a full naked sprawl on the bed with hopes of not puking. With Heath’s encouragement I realized that food was the cure and peeled myself off the bed to hit the café just below the hotel.

Not expecting much at the run-down street café guarded by decorated metal bars and painted murals covering all the walls (including the ceiling), we sat down and had the best barbeque chicken I had ever had.  This might be one of the poorest countries but, by god, they can cook. The chicken was soaked in a saffron sauce coating it in a brilliant red then rub down with rich spices and chucked on the grill. In a matter of minutes the chicken was devoured and then I remembered to take the photo (oops).

Another lesson learned is that when walking down the crowded car-, women-, children-, poor-, dirt-, cart- and bicycle-infested streets that it’s always best to be accompanied with a resourceful fellow Tanzanian. Walking down to the beach we ran into an employee of our hotel who kindly took us to the boat ferries to purchase our tickets for the following day to Zanzibar. While we missed out on the slow, cheaper ferry due to a mysterious problem (“boat broken”), we had to break down ourselves and buy the more expensive one for $35 US dollars. There is a long story involved with that which I don’t have the energy to relive but it pretty much sums up with Heath and I disagreeing with the helpfulness of the people selling the tickets, cramped inside a tiny office while the ticket master kept yelling at some guy poking his head in the tiny cut-out hole in the glass and our guide whose poor translation said that there was some sort of knife involved. Nonetheless, we did not feel comfortable and with the tickets in hand we got out of there as fast as our feet could carry us.  Lesson: have an escorted. Always.

We did not sleep at all that night in our tiny, overheated room. The next morning we packed our 30lb bags and headed to the ferry.  In 91 degree weather carrying those bags I really thought I would pass out by the time we made it to the ferry docks. The boat arrives and everyone jumped up into a crowded bunch to get on. I have never been touched and pushed and shoved by so many people as once. I held my ground only to look up and see the coming passengers leaving the boat and were followed by men carrying tvs, furniture and a coffin.  Yes, a coffin.  I have to think positively now because I can’t turn around.  Everything will be fine. Just get me to our hotel and out of this mess.  Luckily, the end result was more than worth it….

Photos are not uploading. Sorry folks.  When I find a better connection I'll put them up.