Africa Travel Blog: 4th of July

We got an early start today and it wasn't until Cassandra came in and said, "Happy Independence Day!" that I remembered what day it was. That was the entirety of our celebration. Cassandra said her boyfriend Keith is celebrating today with a cookout with his British friends.

We worked really hard today. We had lunch brought in and it was very a satisfying meat and beans dish. We worked while eating. I dedicated most of my time trying to help Cassandra get the data together, but we realized that we have at least a week's worth of work to do in less than two days. On top of that Dennis needed some of my time too.

I said good-bye to Paul last night. He and his girlfriend stopped by Masharubu's house to collect a few things and to say good-bye. They are going to Zanzibar today for a film festival. It sounds as though it's going to be a lot of fun. I really enjoyed working with Paul.

Today was my last day of getting to work with Dennis. His brother is getting married on Saturday and he heads out there tomorrow. He is such a pleasure and so very smart.

Dennis

I hope I'll get to see them again in the future.

At 3 Masharubu and I picked up, headed home and I went on a quest with his housekeeper, Maggie and favorite taxi driver, David. We drove downtown to pick up a bus ticket. We wound through the streets intermittently crawling and then going 80 kph. Some of the streets were so narrow that it was clear that they were one way streets and then another car would head straight at us. People and bicycles and motorcycles everywhere!


Street Sculpture in Dar Es Salaam

Just when I thought it couldn't get more crowded it did. Now there were street vendors making their way through the cars. Several of them were jangling something in their hand to get attention. I'm not sure what it was. I'll have to try to remember to ask.

Finally we parked and walked into the offices of Kilimanjaro Express. It was a dark narrow room with a lot of boxes packed against the wall. There was a woman with a note book in front of her and she was speaking in an animated way on the phone. Next to her was a very quiet young man. Maggie said a few things to him, he responded almost in a whisper. Maggie didn't look happy. She spoke to him a few more times and he was shaking his head no. David walked in and joined the conversation. The best I could tell, Kilimanjaro Express was no longer operating for passenger traffic and now only drove students. Hmmm. Ok what now? This was the bus company that several people had recommended.

"No problem," Maggie tells me. We can go to Dar Express across the street. So out we go, into another long dark room -- this one maybe even darker. There are two women behind bars. Yes, I can catch the Saturday 6AM or 8AM bus to Arusha. No there's no bathroom, no there's no air conditioning. (Wow, this woman does NOT like her job.) Here's a seating chart -- where would you like to sit. No you can't sit there, only in seats labeled KIS. (Wow, this woman does NOT like me.) That will be 30,000 shillings (about $20.) Then we were off. This is certainly going to be an adventure. I think I will look back fondly on my cool trip from Amsterdam after this.

We made it back to Masharubu's and I had to get right on my computer to start a training with my Africa IRS colleagues in Mozambique. We didn't have a strong enough connection for a voice meeting so we were trying to do everything in Skype chat with a lot of help from Google Translate. We didn't get a lot accomplished, but I was able to outline some things. We'll pick up the thread when I get back -- they will be my first meeting on my first day back to work.

I turned in my project phone today, but yesterday James loaned me one of his phones. I think he collects them. When his phone is ringing he has to go through several of them (most of them with cracked screens) to figure out which one is ringing. Even the phone he has where the screen ISN'T cracked has a wallpaper that looks like cracked glass. I guess he prefers it that way. I will borrow one of his cracked screens and return it to his brother in ... was it Arusha or Mt. Kilimanjaro (?) next week. I don't remember, but I'll call James. Dennis is helping me get a SIM card for it and he will give it to me tomorrow morning so that I can get the phone and so that I can say goodbye.

Sorry there weren't many pictures today, there's not a lot to see of a spreadsheet and I didn't think of taking many pictures from the cab. I will share some more pictures that I took yesterday coming back into Dar Es Salaam.