Not our favorite ride...

We arrived yesterday in the de-facto captial of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. Our mode of transport from Zanzibar was one of the many high speed catamaran ferries that many times a day from here to Stone Town.

As we were sitting in the ferry dock in Stone Town a worker came up and started handing out little black baggies. Alicia asked me what they were for, and I replied with something that included the word "vomit". This prompted Alicia to wonder if we needed one too. I was conviced I would not need one... and thankfully I was right.

However, a great many of our fellow passengers were not so lucky. The lady behind me started throwing up the moment we hit the ocean channel (and thus the big waves). She had two more unfortunate moments the rest of the ride. I believe there was another person behind Alicia throwing up, as well as a small child who was, umm, unhappy lets say, the entire time.

We were sitting in the upstairs deck of our ferry, outside (this is the "1st Class" area). I don't want to imagine what the downstairs was like. That area is much wider with small windows to look our and watch the horizon. Keeping your eyes out of the boat is of course the best way to avoid being ill besides taking medicine.

Some thoughts to readers who may come across this article doing research on the Dar<->Stone Town ferry:

1. If you have any pre-disposition to being motion sick (like my beloved sister :), DO NOT take the ferry. Cough up the money to fly. Tickets are now around $80-$90 (vs. $40 for a 1st Class ferry ticket) and will probably keep going up with the price of oil.

2. The slower ferries (three + hours vs 90-100 minutes on the fast ferry) might be better or worse. Better as they are hitting the waves slower, worse as they are monohauls and will tip more in the waves. Locals ride the slow ferries, so if you are after a more authenic experience, that is your way to go.

3. If you do take a fast ferry, I'd recommend the company Azam Marine. Most people I spoke with said they operate the nicest/cleanest boats, and also have more runs per day. Note: you can only buy tickets one day ahead of time, and you will likely need your passport.

-Jonathan

Africa Time and Mattresses

"Would you like to buy a mattress?", says a man on the street outside our hotel. Thanks for the offer, but I'm living out of a bag, and it is already full.

We've been spending our days wandering around the downtown area of Arusha. This city is the center of the huge Tanzanian safari industry. A side affect of this are a large number of very annoying touts who try to get you to book safaris or buy their stuff. The approach for us is, 'Hey, Rasta! Where you from? Spain, Italia? Holland, Israel?' 'Hey, if you don't want to talk to Africans, it means you no like us!'. 'Come to my shop.' etc... They will follow you for blocks and try and talk with you (or get you to buy them breakfast) and are generally utterly annoying. We now avoid a 1km stretch of the town so we don't run in to these guys, often with inventive names like 'T Bone' and 'The Bush Doctor'.

We had dinner last night outside of our favorite resturant here, "Big Bite", which turns out superior Indian food. If this place was in San Francisco, we'd go there all the time. Though it feels like we are in SF when we get the check, as any non-local food here is $5 to $8 a plate, US. We got to watch the locals walk by during dinner at dusk at is was a wonderful moment where being in Africa really hit home.

We had an even more local 'cultural experience' this morning due to a miscommunication with our favorite friend here, Hamisi (our driver on our safari). We were going to meet up for coffee, but he thought we were at a different hotel! So Alicia and I spent the early morning (7am on) sitting outside of our hotel on the busy Market road watching the daily market get set up.

There is apparently an occupation here of the local coffee delivery person. As we were sitting watching the endless stream of beautiful fabric clad women walk to the Market with heavy baskets of vegetables on their heads, the local coffee guy ran (quickly) up and down the road with his giant coffee pots and burners of hot coals. He deposited one right in front of us and after 45 minutes of watching it boil, we figured it was safe enough to drink. We ordered two tiny (though bottomless) cups for 500 Shillings (50 cents), got a big smile out of it from the coffee-guy, and enjoyed our massively overcooked instant coffee. Besides missing our friend, and getting up early, it really was a super memorable morning.

We are off today by bus to Moshi. We will be there for six days and then take a bus back here to catch a flight to Zanzibar. The flight will save us nearly 13 hours of ground travel time, and our noses much pain as the intercity buses here start to reek after about five hours.

Off now to make our way to Moshi!