Tanzania - Part 2

Wednesday, April 16

I got up early and when to my bike ride it was cooler this morning and threatening to rain. I meet Meck at the millennium tower. The ride went through four neighborhoods in Dar from a low income to a middle class. It very much reminded me of Thailand. We stopped at several places along the way one to have chibati which is like thick Roti. From the lady who is famous for it. She has a container that has been converted into a cafe kind of thing, and she had spiced tea which has all of the spices of mulled wine. While we were stopped here there was a Danish couple who came on a tuk tuk tour that we ended up sort of following each other. So we chatted over breakfast. 

Before that we had stopped at a used clothing market and a place

where they were making coffee by roasting the beans over a fire and making a sort of soft peanut brittle. You eat the peanut brittle to make the coffee sweet.


 
 
We wondered through the neighborhood and were shown to a house that was built in 1961.The woman was born in the house. It was a traditional 6 bedroom house. There were 8 people living in the front room alone. The grandmother was still there with another older lady out in the back yard shooting the bull. The other lady made henna to sell. 

Then we went to the lowest area of Dar where it floods a lot. We crossed a bridge that the bike company had paid to install but some "good Samaritan" who was going to clean up the river brought in heavy equipment, knocked down some houses to widen the river broke the bridge and them buggered off without compensating anyone or fixing it. Then the resent rain (they had huge rains the 72 hours before I came) had washed out some of the foundations more. The bridge is not probably going to last much longer frankly. Then we started towards a middle class village, but it started to pour rain.

It was coming down buckets but what can you do, so we kept riding. Then we got to the last stop for a soft drink and it stopped. This was the last time I saw the Danish couple.Then just as we were going to start again. It started raining again, hard! We kept going, I think that there may have been another stop or two but we were too wet, we ended up biking through some pretty big streams and low spots! Wet shoes and wet everything really. Thankfully it looks like I was able to keep my camera dry. It had a rain cover but I also kept it close to my stomach so that I could block some of the rain. 

When we got back to the tower and I had to wait for the cab so my guide and the one with the Dutch couple went across the "suicide crossing" again and I bought them a drink and we chatted about loads of things! Then my taxi came. The traffic back was a bit ridiculous because of the rain and flooding. He finally ended up taking back roads instead of staying on the main one. I found out later that it took some of the maids from Tabitha's building 5 hours to get home that night.






Thursday, April 17
I went down to the ferry port again to buy tickets for the singer in

Unzoomed picture of the tower.  Look in the center for the sailboat then past it.

Zoomed in picture of the tower!  Love my camera.

the band. Before that we went to pick up Leon at day care. It was a nice centre. I just popped downtown and back. Then we went grocery shopping again. We went down to the Slipway to have dinner and watched the sun set. There is a tower across the bay that Rhal Dahl used as inspiration for Charlie and the chocolate factory, when he was stationed in Tanzania. I zoomed into it with my camera and man do I love my camera! It has an amazing zoom! Mr. Overcash did a great job suggesting it!

Tanzania - part 1 - April 2014

Saturday, April 14, 2014
So it started early at 3:15 am! Tabitha sent me a message last night that she is on a drip because they think that she has Denge fever! She has booked for me to go to Mikumi, and we are going to Zanzibar on Friday for the Easter Holidays. I managed to get to the airport almost before it opened. Course so did a lot of other people. I was checked in by a very nice guy who kept me talking because he said it was nice to talk to a nice person. I got a crappy bread loaf and tea for breakfast. On the flight to Dar which I found out stops in Kilimanjaro on the way I ended up sitting next to a young boy and his mom. They had evidently got up early as well, because mom fell asleep. So I showed him the drawing app with the light saber. He liked that!

Sunday, April13
Spent the day with Tabitha and the family. She is still struggling with Dengi and will be for a while. We went to the grocery which was nice and very much like the one in Livingston.

Monday, April14
I got myself ready to go to Mikumi in the morning but then we got a call at around 7am that the river is flooded and you can't

Slipway

get across. So I went down to the Slipway to check with a travel agent down there. They didn't open until 9:30 so I wondered around watched the fisherman a bit. Checked out a couple of the shops. The travel agent didn't have anything except for Ngorongoro crater which is over near the Serengeti, which I am ignoring on this trip since I don't have time to see it.

I then came back and booked my ferry to Zanzibar. While I was a booking it I noticed a card Tabitha had for pedicure. I asked if they did massages too and they did so I had one! Massage and pedicure! Half way through the massage the power went out. So the paint on my toes is a bit all over, but not too bad and everything else was great. I got Tabitha a pedicure as a gift especially since she gave me one of her pre-paid massages!

Tuesday, April 15  
I started the day by heading downtown to pay for the Ferry tickets. I took a bus down which was basically the type of van we had from Alice springs down in Oz. I managed to get the tickets after a bit of a issue as one lady wouldn't do it because I didn't have the boys paper work. Then I went to pay for mine and then I was going to go back to get the boys papers, but the lady helping me told me to go back and tell the first lady that they were small boys. Then the first lady let me do the tickets, but I still had to go back to get mine. s She said that their weren't any more business or VIP tickets. I said I really didn't care where I was sitting as long as I was on the boat, she could tie me to the roof or put me in a dingy! She thought that was funny.

Then I walked around downtown a bit along the water front. I then went into the Hilton and thought about lunch but then just asked for them to get me a taxi. On the ride back I spotted a Nomad truck! Then I can back and had some lunch with Tabitha, Adam and the kids. Then I walked down to the end of the peninsula.There is a hotel and casino down there but they have a great beachfront cafe restaurant. I had some breaded shrimp and a Pepsi. Then I walked down to the best western I asked the about how much a room is, $135! I was thinking I could stay there Wednesday night before I fly out since I didn't want to wake up Tabitha's whole family at 3am. Oh well. 
 
On the way back to Tabitha's I saw a sign on a gate with a fierce dog saying beware of dog, then they opened the gate and there was a puppy the size of a chihuahua in the entrance. I busted laughing! I saw a strange tree along my walk which I am going to ask Tabitha's nanny about tomorrow it had huge fruit on it.