February 20-21, 2015

It was hard to believe we spent over two weeks in Arusha. We had been on safari, visited an orphanage, attended a bishop's inaugural ceremony, and visited some schools including a seminary. Most importantly, we created life long friendships with some amazing people. We spent our last days there organizing arrangements to our next destination and sharing meals with the people who took such good care of us.

On one of our last evenings in Arusha, Bishop Propser arranged for us to have dinner at his parents' house. The bishop's brother picked us up and took us to the house. There was a big spread set for us which was prepared by his sister. Everyone was incredibly welcoming in the true Arushan style. The bishop's mother was particularly taken by Liam's cuteness (a biased mother's opinion) and squeezed his cheeks like a loving grandmother. Then she let out one of those idiosyncratic, celebratory African ululations (my new vocabulary word from reading Lord of the Flies with the kids...), similar to what we heard at the Bishop's inauguration as he was given his new role. Liam was clearly unsure of how to react and just stood there with an uncomfortable look on his face. He was quiet for the most of the dinner. It was lovely meal complete with intriguing conversations despite Liam's lack of participation.

Liam was not fond of a few things he observed in Arusha. He was mainly annoyed with the many street vendors scattered throughout town. They walked the streets trying to sell maps, hats, artwork, posters, etc. Some were commissioned just to escort you to another store. Liam was passionate about not making eye contact or engaging these people. He became infuriated with Michael if any response was provided to their initial attempts at a conversation. "Jambo! Where are you from? Is this your first time in Tanzania? Karibu." They generally claimed they only wanted to talk, but eventually there was some sort of a sales pitch.

On our last full day in Arusha, I went to town to run a few errands which included purchasing thank you cards. One man/vendor decided to join me. He talked to me and even waited for me to finish my purchases outside the pharmacy. I couldn't shake him so he continued to tag along to the card store. I found three thank you cards and went to pay for the unpriced cards. The sales clerk asked for what I felt was a large amount of money (after a conversation with the stalker vendor which must have included an arrangement for him receiving a cut of the sale). I refused to pay and walked out. The worker and the man following me exchanged a few glances and I did not receive a counter offer. I found another store and they charged one fifth of the price of the other store for the same type of cards. I thanked them for their honesty and the vendor trailing me finally left my side after acknowledging that I wasn't going to purchase something from him.

These are just some of the local behaviors you deal with as a tourist. Liam simply despises anyone bothering him or trying to rip him off. He pushes his face into any taxi/tuk tuk negotiation and will act outraged if he feels we paid too much or didn't try hard enough to negotiate a better price. Recently he told us he was tired of watching out for us....I found this hilarious. It would just be easier for all of us if prices for transportation and souvenirs were just set or didn't require so much interaction. Now when someone approaches him and asks where he is from, he glibly states, India. It gets a laugh and they seem to leave him alone.

Prior to arriving in Arusha, we tried to make flight arrangements online to our next destination, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is about a one hour flight. Michael had experienced several difficulties with the website and was never able to secure tickets. Eventually, the flight prices skyrocketed, so we opted to take the bus. We were told this would be about 9 hours. As long as the bus was comfortable, safe and air-conditioned, that was fine with us.

We researched the companies and found two that seemed to be the best. We asked around and our friends recommended one specific company. The prices were good, so we booked our tickets. We consistently asked about air-conditioning. Everyone....friends, the company...had affirmed that there was indeed air-conditioning (you know where this is going...)

Judith escorted us to the bus station. When we mentioned the 9 hour trip, she said....no, it's at least 10. Ugh. Needless to say, there was no air-conditioning used, just some open windows, which was fine for the first leg of the journey.

We made a couple of stops along the way and eventually, the driver played some movies. They weren't as bad as the ones on the bus in Panama. We saw three in all; one story of a priest in Africa who goes through some troubled times...a lesson in faith. One American scary film (I believe filmed in South Africa) sort of like the cookie cutter scary movies where a bunch of good looking coeds go off for a weekend together on an island and they begin to be killed one by one....in this case the villains were messed up Kujo like dogs...I think it was called The Breed. The last one was about an African married couple that has problems...it was in Swahili, so I couldn't fully understand what was going on. At least it helped time pass.

The bus came to a stop just as we finished the scary movie. The credits were rolling to intense music as two men entered the bus. We were seated in front and one of the men leaned over and whispered in my ear. I had no idea what he said and I asked him to repeat himself. He stated he was a passport control agent and he wanted to check our (only our) passports.

I don't know what came over me at this moment, but I could hardly contain my laughter. It was one of those times when you sort of have an out of body experience and look at the situation from a distance. It was as if one movie ended and another started and we were the featured characters. Well, thatoverly dramatic, but it was just a fleeting scene that I found humorous. The suspense-building credit music plays while these two agents enter a bus looking for unsuspecting tourists..... Now I knew we had nothing to worry about, we had our passports and the man didn't even examine them thoroughly. They left without looking at anyone else. Of course, it would have been worse if I had actually burst out laughing.

Later I found out that passport agents usually whisper to women tourists so they can't hear and have to bend forward to hear the request repeated. This makes it easier for the agent to look down the naive woman's shirt. Hmmm. Well, sorry guys, I was wearing a high cut shirt so there was no show that day.

We researched the companies and found two that seemed to be the best. We asked around and our friends recommended one specific company. The prices were good, so we booked our tickets. We consistently asked about air-conditioning. Everyone....friends, the company...had affirmed that there was indeed air-conditioning (you know where this is going...)

Judith escorted us to the bus station. When we mentioned the 9 hour trip, she said....no, it's at least 10. Ugh. Needless to say, there was no air-conditioning used, just some open windows, which was fine for the first leg of the journey.

We made a couple of stops along the way and eventually, the driver played some movies. They weren't as bad as the ones on the bus in Panama. We saw three in all; one story of a priest in Africa who goes through some troubled times...a lesson in faith. One American scary film (I believe filmed in South Africa) sort of like the cookie cutter scary movies where a bunch of good looking coeds go off for a weekend together on an island and they begin to be killed one by one....in this case the villains were messed up Kujo like dogs...I think it was called The Breed. The last one was about an African married couple that has problems...it was in Swahili, so I couldn't fully understand what was going on. At least it helped time pass.

The bus came to a stop just as we finished the scary movie. The credits were rolling to intense music as two men entered the bus. We were seated in front and one of the men leaned over and whispered in my ear. I had no idea what he said and I asked him to repeat himself. He stated he was a passport control agent and he wanted to check our (only our) passports.

I don't know what came over me at this moment, but I could hardly contain my laughter. It was one of those times when you sort of have an out of body experience and look at the situation from a distance. It was as if one movie ended and another started and we were the featured characters. Well, that might be overly dramatic, but it was just a fleeting scene that I found humorous. The suspense-building credit music plays while these two agents enter a bus looking for unsuspecting tourists..... Now I knew we had nothing to worry about, we had our passports and the man didn't even examine them thoroughly. They left without looking at anyone else. Of course, it would have been worse if I had actually burst out laughing.

Later I found out that passport agents usually whisper to women tourists so they can't hear and have to bend forward to hear the request repeated. This makes it easier for the agent to look down the naive woman's shirt. Hmmm. Well, sorry guys, I was wearing a high cut shirt so there was no show that day.

Almost 12 grueling hours later we made it to Dar es Salaam. The traffic situation was on a whole different level here. While the roads were multi-laned and more modern, there was just far more congestion than in Arusha. The motor bikes still zipped in and out and we even saw an empty bus that must have driven off the side of a hill. Even the locals appeared surprised by that.

We were very anxious to get off this bus and meet our arranged ride to our next accommodation. Of course, it did't go that smoothly as we got off at the last stop which ended up being at the parking lot of the bus company. After a few texts and many offers for a taxi ride (much to Liam's disliking), our ride finally found us and we enjoyed the air-conditioned comfortable ride to our next adventure.