Let's Take a Walk!

Sometimes, I get bored and decide to do strange things. Today I thought I'd take a stroll up to the part of town where FM is working. Not that far, not that complicated of a route. Why not? I made it to CoCo beach yesterday without any hassle, this should be just as interesting.

The beautiful but desolate and somewhat dangerous CoCo Beach

Let's take a stroll down Kimweri Avenue, shall we? Why not? It's only 90 degrees and humid. Walking along with exhaust fumes and all the other fragrant city smells for a couple hours should be pleasant. . . right? 

In order to get the full experience, please follow the helpful hints interspersed throughout the photos!

Tree of trunks

Schools out!

First, turn your heat up to 80, wrap yourself in a wet electric blanket and move your propane grill inside and ignite.

That laundry will dry in no time, but probably not smell too fresh

I think coconut boy was on his mobile phone

Next, attach a hose to your car's exhaust and run that inside.

Cart, apples, shack and SUV. Check.

Just another chick out for a stroll. . . 

 Now, take a pee on your grill.

These are the omnipresent bajaji's. We're not supposed to ride in them. You know I will anyway.

Mix that with some good, fertile earth.

Cookware and grills for sale

This is a pretty kickass truck

Invite over some friends to yell random greetings at you in Swahili and English. 

Oh look! The Post Office!

Working at the car wash. . . whoa whoa

Find some hamburger that may have turned bad and set that around the house.

Good as any place to store those extra tires at the bike shop

 Pass some gas.

I did find some traffic

Chilling

Now you're going to want to simulate cars backfiring somehow. . .

Waiting on the bus

Cute cart. Cute wall. 

If you're not sweating yet, move to the bathroom and turn the shower on hot and high. After putting on a wool sweater and your long johns.

Slow day at the furniture mart

Saw this several times. The pieces are water bottle/pop bottle tops.

 Pass some gas again. . .

Only saw THIS once. Had to BEG to take the picture, too.

I wonder if they bring this out here everyday.

Scatter some black plastic bags around, empty water bottles, cigarette butts and some blown-out flip flops. 

A most popular snack in Dar Es Salaam

Just kidding. Sorda. It was, of course, an interesting walk. Not one that needs to be repeated, however. Now to burn the clothes I wore, take a shower and remind myself to stay by the beautiful azure pool for the next day or two. . . 

Bongoyo Island Beaching

This weekend we loaded up the snorkel gear and jumped the boat to the Bongoyo Marine Park and Reserve. The launch is conveniently located right next door to our hotel and the island itself lies only 2.5 miles off the coast of Dar Es Salaam. Twenty bucks and a thirty minute boat ride gets you there. 

Dhow that took us there. After we got to the Dhow.

I had talked to a few people around the hotel about this particular destination and no one really had much good to say. With little else to do and not a lot of investment we decided to just give it a go. Plus, we really wanted to get in the water and snorkel.

What awaited us was this little piece of paradise. Our own private island!

The ride out was easy enough, but upon arrival the water was a little rough for snorkeling. We then jumped on a skiff to take us out to a shipwreck off the coast, but after diving for thirty minutes and not having a sighting, we gave up. Too much sediment in the water today. But that water was nice and warm!

Got our spot under the "Banda".

Returning to terra firma, we quickly got ourselves sorted underneath beach umbrellas, and got down to a little relaxation. Enjoyed a delectable lunch of grilled octopus, calamari and beef before attempting dive number two off the leeward side of the island.

Much calmer, but still no visibility

Five hours on a deserted island sounded sublime. We enjoyed every minute of it, and the last part of the day decided to go explore the trail to Shark Lagoon. The interior of the island is severely overgrown and jungle-like, with a volcanic rock floor, so walking in sandals was a little tricky. I DID step on a thorn, and it does still hurt today, but I won't subject you to photos this time.

As we headed down the path we caught sight of a bunch of eels swarming all over themselves at the shore. Glad I saw these dudes AFTER our snorkeling.

There's two there, but there were probably about 20 all together

This one got beached by the wave and was especially ugly

The guys up by the cooking area invited us up to visit the two monitor lizards that were hanging around by the fire. 

Cute, eh?

Sitting in the shade on the beach with a nice breeze allowed us to forget how steamy it really is. The twenty minute walk to the lagoon reminded us quickly.

Very pretty cove, but after seeing the eels, I couldn't bring myself to get wet.

Then, on the way back, what did we encounter? This fellow.

Chilling in the sunshine. Oh, to be cold-blooded!

I was walking point, and as I mentioned, the ground is quite rocky and was taking a lot of my concentration. By the time I saw the monitor, we were almost upon him. TJ threw a rock, which didn't seem to faze him much, but he did eventually wander off the path and we crossed without incident. A little shocking to see, though. Probably about five feet head to tail.

Back out to the beach. Sun getting low. Time to go.

The ferries do run on time, here, surprisingly, and the helpful employees at the Reserve make sure you know the boat is coming and to get your poop in a group. Makes me wonder what kind of fun happens out there once all the Mzungo (swahili for white people) beat it off. They had plenty of beer, booze and BBQ!

Last view up the beach before we pull out.

Made it back to the hotel just in time to see a beautiful sunset. Between the snorkeling and the hiking, we felt as if we had a fairly productive day. We all managed to obtain pretty good sunburns despite the protection, as well. We all agreed it was a great way to spend a Sunday in Dar.

Just another beautiful African sunset. Taken from the roof of the hotel

First Impressions

Africa welcomed me back with a big hot, wet hug at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning. After flying 18 hours, I really didn't care where we landed, as long as we were on the ground. Now. 

Flying into Dar in the dark gave me absolutely no vista of the city or coastline, and a 20 minute drive to the hotel in the quiet blackness of the early morning did not provide much more intel. FM did come through with a welcome present, however. 

Let's just say it was the prettiest thing I saw all day.

It's warm here. Very warm. And the rainy season. Which means it rains. Spontaneously. I need to remember to bring my umbrella on my daily morning walk. This type of rain gives new meaning to "pop up showers". Because they truly do just pop-up. There's cloud cover and a slight ever present breeze, which may be the only thing keeping me alive.

There's no beach here at Oyster Bay. Just Oyster beds. 

Honestly, I can't get over how desolate it all feels out here. Obviously, I've been nowhere outside of a mile radius of the hotel. But there is not a lot going on. Next door is The Slipway, which is a small outdoor mall with a grocery, bank, pharmacy and requisite souvenir stands. I saw a necklace I bought in Senegal there today.

That's the Hilton looming in the backdrop. The SUV is from selling Kangas to tourists for $10/each.

There is a casino down at the end of the peninsula. And a bowling alley. Two guesses as to which one I'm more interested in. I'm sure we'll get down there this weekend. Also planning a little island hop on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the weather, for some snorkeling.

The nice man in the bungalow at the end of the pier will sell us tickets to Bongoyo Island.

Our hotel is, of course, very pleasant. The people we've met are extremely friendly and outgoing. As an added bonus, they all speak English (thank you British colonialism). They do, however, drive on the wrong side of the road and the car. I must remember this when crossing streets. If I ever see any traffic.

My picture of the VERY empty road is blurry, so enjoy this gratuitous picture of the painted eaves at  The Slipway

Things are cheap (meaning beer), and we dined on some fine Mexican food at a hole in the wall restaurant last night. Seriously. My first meal in Tanzania was Mexican food. And decent Mexican food at that.

Two large telecom cables were cut in the Indian Ocean last week, which means our internet access is sporadic at best. Thought I'd take the time to make this post while it was working.

So, I've been here an entire 35 hours. Seems like a lot more. I think I'll take a nap.

Lonely boat on the Oyster beds.

Miss Frugality

As anybody who knows me will tell you, I'm a frugal girl.  There are days I'm downright cheap. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my little luxuries, but I refuse to pay retail if I can get away with less.

But, it you're like me and tend to head toward store brands or cheaper alternatives, learn from my mistakes.  When you leave the familiarity of the States (and English labels), there are certain things it just doesn't pay to scrimp on.

• Toilet Paper. Just go with whatever is most expensive. Seriously. Man up and spend the long dollar. Even then, don't expect Charmin. Seems the US does TP better than most.
• Juice. It's hard to read labels in foreign languages, but look for something refrigerated, expensive, with 100% somewhere on the package. Otherwise you'll be stuck with Orange (or Apple or Grape) drink or something so saturated with sugar it would be better served as syrup.  Or jam.
• Fruits and Vegetables. Prepackaged food can be so deceiving.  So many times I've brought home a tray of veggies only to find the bottom half all moldy or bruised. Spend the money and the time to pick out your own fruit/vegetables. Worth that special trip out of your way to the "good" market.
• Beer. Because life's too short to drink bad beer.  Ditto for wine.  Unless you are in Argentina where you can get an excellent bottle of Malbec for $5.
• Ice Cream and/or chocolate. See above. Nothing worse than a big bowl of ice milk.
• Garbage bags.  Having an accident while taking the garbage out to the dumpster can be extremely messy. And embarrassing.
• Cereal. Look for Post or Kelloggs or another brand you are familiar with. Stay away from Nestle Fitness (unless it's the Yogurt one), as it tastes like sticks and dirt. With milk on top.
• Toothpaste. Many foreign toothpastes have foreign ingredients like formaldehyde, not necessarily what I want to be putting in my mouth. I've probably put worse things in my mouth, but that's another blog post.
• Coffee. Because nothing says bad day like a rotten cup of Joe first thing in the morning.

Otherwise, save away!  As my mother used to say (no she didn't), "canned beans is canned beans". If you're in a place with canned beans.  And you have a can opener.  But that's another story.