Dar Es Salaam Part I: The Journey

I woke up at 2am on Monday morning determined to go to Dar es Salaam. I had only intended to see the city in transit to and from Tanzania, but I was looking for a new adventure and thought that I might be able to accompany Halifa (the head of Chumbageni Primary School) on his journey to get a visa from the American Embassy.

To make sure I wasn’t suffering from 2am crazy-brain-syndrome, I called my parents up on Skype to check in. Dar es Salaam is a lot more dangerous of a city than Tanga, but what the heck, this whole thing is an adventure, why stop now? My parents said it was okay, and Victoria and Godfrey (my host parents) gave me the go ahead when they woke up at 6am. After that, I just had to talk to Halifa and see if he wanted company on his journey as well as the benefit of having my internet-connected computer.

By 9:20 am that morning I arrived at the bus stand with my bags packed and ready to go. We were swarmed with people trying to help us, but managed to get through to the person selling tickets. We paid each paid 10,000 TZ shillings and were on the 9:30 shortly thereafter with only minutes to spare.

The first stop we come to, about 30 men rush out to the bus with a variety of things for sale: corn on the cob, cold water, cookies, ndazi , fresh oranges, hardboiled eggs, and much, much more. I got a lot of attention from these guys since they were all very good at what my dad is fond of calling, the “Where is Waldo” game. I had to cave in and try the locally grown cashew nuts and fresh sugar cane slices, although the price I paid was definitely more than the other passengers had to fork over.

The whole process of buying and selling is also very interesting. There is apparently less trust for the guys on the ground, so they are often asked to hand over the product and the change for the bill the person on the bus claims to have before they get paid. These transactions take place from about the time the bus starts pressing on the brake until the time that it takes off again at a speed that the men can keep up with by running after it. I don’t see why the people on the bus don’t just buy something at the last minute and let the bus drive them away before paying, but everyone made sure to pay the vendors even if it meant throwing TZ shillings out the window at 20km/hr.

Waste
People on the bus generate waste of all kinds. As far as trash is concerned, virtually all of it is thrown out the window. Fruit peels, bottles, plastic wrappers, you name it. It was sort of fun playing guessing games as to whether the oncoming bus would be able to hit the water bottle in the road and whether the corn cob would end up completely smooshed or break into pieces.

I myself had a hard time condoning this practice and tried to stuff all of my trash into as many non-existent spaces that my backpack could hold. I was very surprised by this practice of littering considering how incredibly clean Tanzanians usually are. The one exception to this littering practice, I should note, is the town of Moshi, which is considered the cleanest town in Tanzania. It is illegal to litter there, and the law enforcement officers are apparently pretty strict about handing out fines for doing so. This includes fining the bus companies if they see people throwing trash out of their vehicles.

As for human waste, there are pee stops that benefit only the males on the bus, and usually one real pit stop at a gas station or some other place for about ten minutes. This means that I spent much of the trip squirming in my seat and cursing the occasional speed bumps in the road. I learned my lesson on the way there and refrained from drinking before my journey home later in the week.

Police Officers
As I have not been shy to write about, driving in Tanzania is a crazy experience. That said, the government is apparently taking measures to help control the chaos. One example is not letting busses drive at night. I found out through experience that it is also illegal for passengers to be standing on these long bus trips. Our bus was pulled over and fined for our extra passengers in the aisle and they were forced to get off the bus.

I asked Halifa how it was fair for those who were standing to have to get off the bus in the middle of nowhere. Apparently it is well known by the people that they shouldn’t get on a full bus and will be made to get off of it if they are caught. One old woman on our bus was determined not to get off. She made Halifa move over and squish me up against the window as we sat three across. I think she thought my white skin would be invisible to the police officer or something….but alas he had no trouble picking out the one row with three people in a row and making her get off the bus. Good try though, bibi!