Day Two of the Dar Adventure

A wake-up call wasn't necessary; the call to mosque at what seemed like six o'clock in the morning was good enough for me. Headed down to the breakfast at the hotel and was delighted that the scrambled eggs and toast were actually good, not just edible! We got an early start to the Village Museum. For $2--yes, we paid in US dollars, which is funny considering the national currency is the Tanzania shilling--we got to explore different dwellings of the many tribes of Tanzania. Museum fatigue set in after about half an hour. The bathroom break on the way out of the museum was probably the better cultural experience.

Then the bus ride. We weren't 100 percent sure how to get to our next stop--Mwenge Market--and the museum cashier was very nice but not helpful. We hopped on a bus with Mwenge on the front and crossed our fingers. Less than 50 cents later we were in a chaotic bus stop. We got ripped off by one of the taxi drivers who charged us TSh 2,250 to get the Market that was about a three second taxi drive away.

Mwenge Market was really cool. Lots of Masai crafts, tinga-tingas, kangas...all that stuff Dad used to bring home from his trips from Africa. As we walked around, every shop keeper was trying to get us to go in..."Karibu. You're welcome Miss." "Looking is free! I'll give you a good price." All in all though I was surprised at how low-key it all was. I didn't want to get a whole lot of stuff because I knew I would have to drag it around for another day and a half but I'll definitely go back on my way home. Will got two really cool tribal masks.

For lunch we headed over to Seacliff Village, a super touristy area with a sort of food court area, a supermarket--not as super as Shoppers--and a bookstore with English books. Once you sit down at one of the tables, women accost you with menus for wraps, pizza, Subway (!), French, Indian. Inside Epid'or, the French bakery, I actually forgot I was in Africa! The crepes with Nutella and bananas were AWESOME as was the pizza with pineapple (my new favorite). It was a nice break from the continuous culture shock. The bathrooms even had automatic soap dispensers. I had almost forgotten those existed! It really is the small things in life.

After a taxi ride along the coast and past the President's residence, we made it to the ferry dock, which anything but lush. For TSh 100 each (9 cents), we took a five minute ferry ride cut the cost of taxis. Taxis in Dar are expensive (usually at least 6,000 but sometimes as much as 12,000). Our taxi driver on the other side was a crazy. He was really jamming out and fast was definitely his speed of choice. He tried to convince us he was a chief and that we should pay him extra. And finally, Kipepeo!

SUPERmarket and Addis in Dar

Friday night was pretty much pure ecstasy in Dar. Will and I headed over to Shopper's Plaza. We got out of the taxi and I was literally mesmerized by Shoppers Supermarket. It's amazing how entertaining a grocery store can become after three weeks shopping in a mini-mart sized store. Will and I literally went down every aisle! Some items were inexpensive but others were outrageously priced. Cereal was about TSh 9,000 (somewhere around $8) but it was still nice to see Fruit Loops and Special K in the aisle.

After about an hour of gawking, Will and I headed to Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant. As soon as I walked in, I knew I was really in for a treat. We ventured upstairs and had a seat among ex-pats and other tourists. The atmosphere was beautiful...the smells, candles, and everyone was really relaxed. Tej--honey wine--came highly recommended and for good reason! The food was amazing and I thought they were going to have to roll me out of there. The meal ended with some of the best tea I have ever had. It was served with popcorn which seems like a weird combination but in actuality is FANtastic. Not a cheap dinner but well worth it! This blog certainly got it right!

Travel Agent Sarah did pretty well for Day 1 in Dar!

Off to Dar!

After lots of planning and packing, I met Will in downtown Morogoro with "the list" of hotels and sights I had planned out for the weekend. I re-packed everything from the hostel so that I wouldn't have to pay for it while I was away for the weekend but, of course, I waited until the day-of to pack everything up. Like fitting everything but a weekend's worth of clothes into the not-so-large backpack, the bus stop was chaos. Before we even got out of the taxi people were trying to push us towards one bus or another. "Dar? Dar?" Luckily Will knew the way to the bus we wanted (Hood) and we paid TSh 5,000 (less than $5) and walked on. People were banging on the windows trying to get us to cashews, oranges, water, anything they could sell before the mzungus left. The bus ride was surprisingly short and the ventilation was great.

We arrived in Dar in the late afternoon and headed straight for our hotel (the Starlight). After sitting in the classic Dar traffic, we finally arrived at our hotel and settled in (read: checking out all the channels on the television and inspecting the bathroom). Then we walked around the market a block away. Located in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood, we found ourselves surrounded by jewelry shops but no markets; everything was closing when we got there around six. Will got some weird fruit that I can't remember the name of and we walked through a disgustingly smelly part of the market that almost made me gag. That was not on "the list." Let the adventure begin!

Afternoon at the Salon

That's pronounced like saloon here, by the way.

For some reason, I thought getting my hair braided would be a good idea. I mentioned to one of the girls in the lab, who is GORGEOUS, that I was thinking of doing it and she took me over to the salon that she goes to and set me up with an appointment--appointment is, as always, a loose term. I got there a little late because the dalla dalla decided to a take a detour. The Norwegians provided funding for a bunch of road improvements but until the improvements are actually finished traffic is a nightmare; many of the roads are obstructed by the mounds of dirt that lie in the middle of the streets. The dalla dalla stopped at an unfamiliar part of town and if it weren't for the sight of the mosque above some of the buildings I would have been totally lost.

I walked into the salon and got a lot of looks like Is she lost? or Who is she looking for?. I sat down and brushed out my hair with a brush I brought with me--which was fascinating to the hairdressers there!--and she got started. The first braid didn't hurt all that much but after that I was making all sort of faces that the ladies in the salon thought were hilarious. After two and half hours, FINISHED! Below is the hilarity. (I'm hoping this picture doesn't resurface in front of a crowd at my wedding or something...)
Not going to lie, I felt pretty hard-core. And it was only 7,000 TSh! As I emerged from the salon the tailors next door instantly cracked up and even stood up and started clapping. SUPER embarrassing. Needless to say, I've been getting a lot of unnecessary attention since.

A To-Do List?

I actually made a to-do list today. This is a pretty normal occurrence when I'm at school with 47 thousand things to do but here nothing seems quite urgent enough to warrant a full fledged list. Items are the following.

1. Pay for NORAD Hostel at the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation.
After almost a month living at the hostel I haven't paid a cent. It's probably time I did that, huh? I'll probably have to go to the bank because like everything else here, it's a cash only business. I literally have seen ZERO places that accept credit or debit cards. In fact, to my more business minded friends out there this might be a way to make a fair chuck of change, especially as the tourism industry begins flourishing here.

2. Laundry.
Yeah, this one has been on there for a while. I've done a load of underwear so not to worry, I'm not that dirty...Apparently I can pay a guy at the hostel to do it for me for TSh 3,000 (less than $3 a load). But I MUST MUST MUST do it today because I leave for Dar es Salaam for the weekend with Will tomorrow and everything has to hang dry.

3. Get a new cell phone at Yasser's shop.
Two days ago on the dalla dalla my cell phone got stolen. Right out of my pocket! My first lesson in pick-pocketing...a good one to learn before my trip to Dar. Anyway, that means I have to get a new one. Luckily a local friend of T-Man's has an electronics shop in town and he'll give me a pretty good deal. (And he speaks English!)

4. Meeting regarding the Workshop.
Big day in the office! I have my first official meeting. Of course, no time was assigned to the meeting so I've just got to be ready whenever I guess. I got a very official email last night about it. Duh duh duh!

5. Pack for trip to Dar es Salaam/work on itinerary with Will.
I've got to pack up all my stuff for a weekend in the city! As I've said before, not a whole lot to do in Morogoro by way of tourism so Will and I are heading to Dar this weekend. We're going over our plans later, which tentatively include Ethiopian restaurant and some time at the beach. I'm moving out of NORAD hostel for the weekend (doesn't make much sense to pay for a place I'm not actually staying). I only brought two backpacks worth of stuff and Will said I can stash what I don't bring to Dar in his room for the weekend.

6. Update blog and budget.
Working on it. In honor of the original budget tzar, Papa Bear, I'm keeping an Excel spreadsheet with everything I spend, broken down into categories (food, transportation, etc.).

Surprise in the Shower

Crossing my fingers this doesn't become a normal occurrence...

Typical semi-warm shower at NORAD and I've piled on about a ton of conditioner and have started the process that is "maintaining my hair"--I'm sure we're all aware of my kink-taculous hair that turns into dreads in a couple of days when not given proper attention. I'm mid-mane when our friend from the Geico commercials lands at my feet! Yes, a gecko. I, naturally, scream and finished the shower in haste, unknowingly leaving about a third of my hair still well-conditioned. I didn't want it to drown because that would mean I would have to remove it from the shower. Luckily he was fine and scurried away--probably only to return again in a week.

Morningside and More

After a late night of soccer and cake, Jeran and I met up with Bird-Man, T-Man, and my new Swiss friend around 9 and drove to Bomba Road, about five to ten minutes outside of town. We met a friend of T-Man's--he knows everyone here--and headed up in the Uluguru Mountains toward Morningside. According to this website and what T-Man said, Morningside is a psuedo-abandoned house that once served as a lush weekend retreat for German colonists. It's now owned by SUA.

The vines on it are gorgeous with the brightest orange flowers I've ever seen. Certainly rivals bougainvillea in Rancho Santa Fe.

The hike started at Bomba road on a fairly well-surfaced dirt road. After a while it started to get a little bumpier and I started to question my choice of shoes--not that I really had one considering I brought two pairs of TOMS and that's it. The views were spectacular from the get-go, as you can see.


The trail was difficult but fun. At many points the trail wasn't more than two feet wide and among the tall grass I almost disappeared. The mountain-side was used as farmland. Apparently a deforestation movement started in the 1970s so the only remaining forest--the "primary forest"--is on the very top of the mountain. The cleared land has been used for cultivation. The soil is really rich and according to our guide you can grow pretty much anything. His farm has cinnamon, strawberries, currants, a full assortment.

After a steep and winding trail and a whole lot of loose gravel, we made it up to Morningside. It's 900 meters up the mountain and the views are impressive! We pulled out the left-over cake, cassava chips--my new favorite snack--and some PB&Js I'd packed.

There's Bird-Man looking out on the valley and Morogoro below.

After a nice break and a gymnastics competition with some of the kids that followed us up, we headed towards the village and our guide's farm. (My cartwheel lost pretty terribly to the five minute headstands and handsprings these kids pulled out!) The trail was pretty tough and I could already tell that I was going to be in some major pain the next day, especially with my shoes. The kids along the way would all yell MZUNGU at us and one group insisted that we take their picture. I think the only English they knew--or pretended to know--was "Take picture."


After the farm, we went over to the "local disco." I didn't take any pictures in fear that I'd get beaten up. Basically a huge block party on the side of a cliff, the "local disco" was hoppin'! (Tangent: "Local" was the word of the day...we'd ask our guide what type of plant something was and the response was "local bush" or "local tree"; the paths were are "local" and the fruit we picked straight off the bush was "local fruit".) Everyone seemed to be having a great time and the music was a mix of drums, an out of tune organ, and 80s pop. Earlier our guide had said that the two biggest problems for his village are alcohol and pot--which is grown all over the place in the mountains. Safari lager was all over the place and so was the smoking. But the whole village--at least to my knowledge--came out for it. All ages were there and the energy was awesome.

We decided to head back down although I could have stayed people watching for hours! We paid our guide (TSh 6,000...about $5; SO CHEAP!) and started on our way, just the mzungu. Of course we got lost but we found our way, thanks to some locals. We ran into some sketchballs who tried unsuccessfully to sell us a bag of "local" marijuana. The highlight of the decent was when Team Mzungu took on some locals in a impromptu soccer match. The boys we played only wore one shoe and were much more accustomed to the bumps in the "pitch" and the slope. Somehow we ended up having to play upfield. After a couple of goals we were on our way.

Afterwards we headed to Dragonaire for pizza. Pizza twice in a week, SCORE! Barely able to walk, especially after the long dinner, we went over to Bird-Mans to watch the Spain/Italy game--what a snoozer! What an awesome day though. All the pictures are here.