Dar Es Salaam

(No pictures from this one... all of them are on my friends camera, so I may try to get those later.)

Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. One short eight hour bus ride from Moshi, and you're being yelled at by taxi drivers who all want to charge $20 for a cab ride into the city. I took an early bus into Dar and just happened to get onto the "luxury" bus. It was only an extra 3000 Tsh (~$2.50) so I didn't wait for the next one an hour later. Wow - the seats were nice. You know how in American buses the seats don't go back far enough to sleep comfortably? These did and were very comfortable. I was rather surprised, actually.

One notable difference about Tanzania distance buses is that they do not have bathrooms on the bus. The bus would stop occasionally and a few people would quickly scurry off and disappear behind a house (I'm using that term loosely) or a bush. I had been asleep for about two hours when I looked out the window for the first time and was just blown away by the view. Greens of all shades winked down from the scenic mountains. No animals in sight, but it was a beautiful view. Every once in awhile the bus would pass a mini town with several shops and guys with baskets on their heads trying to sell things to people in buses. At one point, someone knocked on my window for five minutes straight, so I closed the curtain.

There was one stop about half way through the trip to a rest stop where we had twenty minutes to get food. The bathrooms there were quite literally a hole in the ground. (That type seems to be very popular.) There was a thing to pull so it would flush, but mine didn't work. They helpfully provide a bucket of water for when that happens. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that they had both soap and running water in the faucets.

Eventually, I got to Dar Es Salaam and was greeted by Sarah's friend's taxi driver. He had agreed to do the trip for 10000 Tsh (compared to 20000 Tsh that other taxi drivers were offering). We got to my hotel, New Continental, and suddenly the price had jumped to 15000 Tsh. Aie. My dilema: the guy had waited for me for a long time at the taxi stand so I had wanted to give him a bonus. However, you can't let people pick higher prices because it inflates everything from then on, so I told him I was only paying 10000, but I would call him later when I needed rides. (Which I did try to do when I needed rides on Monday, but his phone would reject my calls. Aie.)

I was met by Sarah's friend Muffy who showed me the real Dar Es Salaam.. the clubs. We got food at this place called Eater's that served real pizza! That was a very nice surprise. And then we went to this hotel called Sea Cliff Village. I was very skeptical because who hangs out at a hotel?? but it turned out to have a lot of people milling around and had a bar, casino, and shops. More like a mini mall than a hotel (although that was beautiful). It was right next to the water and even though it was dark, you could see the white tufts of waves coming in and crashing on the sand below. From there, we went to a club - Bistro, which was relatively quiet at midnight (things heated up around 1am). I was intrigued by the dynamics - white guys danced with far more attractive and younger local girls. I'm not entirely sure what to make of that, honestly. Colonialism might not be dead =/ Around 1:30, a lot of youngish professionals came in (30-35). It was sort of like they waited for the younger crowd to get things started so they could come when there was enough people. It was a nice set up. There was a dance area with small tables surrounding the floor, an area to watch cricket or football (soccer) games on a big screen, a quieter eating area, and paths around the open air club. Music ranged from English typical to Swahili with English mixed in. (Although, the English songs couldn't have been too new or I wouldn't have heard of them =P)

And then I went to Zanzibar the next morning. That's it's own post.

Came back from Zanzibar and immediately got to work calling MFIs and trying to set up meetings. The first place I went to was called REPOA, which is a research institute that studies poverty alleviation. They're currently doing a study on microfinance, so I'm looking forward to reading that one. He was very helpful and told me about another MFI called Pride Tanzania that is opperating in Moshi. (Pride was also recommended to me by Faustina at KASI, so I think they may turn out to be a good one to work with.)

Then I talked to the director of Tujijenge Tanzania, another microfinance place. Tujijenge is a Kiva partner, which is how I found them in the first place and they are planning to expand into Moshi in a few years. They have a great system and provide good training, so I'm looking forward to when that happens.

In between I went back to the hotel because I had a few hours so I talked with the manager of the hotel for awhile. Apparently he wants to come to America (Washington DC and California) so I was able to give a little advice for those places. I was also sure to mention that he definitely did not want to drive to CA from DC especially if he was only there for 10 days...

People in Tanzania are very nice overall. I had wondered how it would be as a female traveling alone, but what I've found is that people tend to be very helpful and do actually look out for you. When I wanted to go to an internet cafe after dark, the manager walked with me for several blocks and then waited 30min for me to finish.

The last meeting was with Pride Tanzania and I was able to speak with the Managing Director (his last name is Obama, which I thought was cool). He described the structure of Pride and how they operate. They're in a reorganizing process right now, but are looking into outreach into rural areas, which means great things for future people who need microloans. Hopefully I'll be able to speak with the Moshi regional director soon.

That night, my Dar guide showed me the other most popular club in Tanzania -
Maisha. It was Bhangra Night, so lots of fun. I didn't stay too long because I had a super early bus ride the next day, but it was fun. Met a few of Muffy's friends too.

Highlights from my 6am eight hour bus ride back:
- Met a Tanzania lady who lived in NY for five years (her husband worked for the UN)
- At one point, a guy stood up and talked for, I swear, 30 minutes straight in Swahili. He occasionally held up items like toothpaste, soap, etc, so it was clear he was trying to sell stuff to his very captive audience. I was amused. Every once in awhile I picked out the few words I know in Swahili or things like "vitamins."
- More beautiful scenery
- You know you're in a Muslim country when... you see "We Trust in Allah" on the back of a bus. (Nice variation to "In God We Trust")


ok I'm done. kudos to anyone that actually read all of that.