Dar Es Salaam

We arrived yesterday in the most beautiful city in all of Africa, Dar Es Salaam. Actually, that's a lie. No offense Dar, but I think I may have found my least favorite city in the world. (Oh yeah, in case you couldn't tell from the biting sarcasm, its Andrew again). Rachel likely shares the same sentiments as me, while Justin finds Dar a little more tolerable from his Peace Corps experience. There is a lot less personal space in Dar Es Salaam, and many places in Africa, which I think both Rachel and I are taking some time to get used to.

As soon as we exited the airport we were swarmed by about 10 taxi drivers, all offering us really bad deals. We eventually accepted a less bad deal. We entered our palace, the grandiose Jambo Inn. I would say that our hotel room was a complete shithole, but I believed that's reserved for the bathroom.

We walked to the ferry station to get tickets to Zanzibar (alas, we would have to wait a day). After brushing aside some fake ferry ticket sellers, we purchased tickets, which Justin and I both were highly skeptical of their validity. We then ventured off to dinner, which was excellent, and really cheap (About $4 per person). We soon found Dar was an even more boring town than expected, because there are so few places to drink (largely because it is a muslim city, where religious folk do not drink). We finally found an oasis in the middle of the city at a Dutch Hotel, where we enjoyed Kilimanjaro beers and a lovely enclosed lawn that could fit 4 wiffleball fields.

One saving grace of Dar Es Salaam is that it has a lovely shop right next to the Jambo Inn, where I ate 3 ice cream bars, and Rachel bought a Yorkie chocolate bar, much to Nestle's chagrin, who write on the label, "It's NOT for Girls." Only in Dar Es Salaam, and maybe Riyadh, Cairo, Khartoum, Yemen, Oman, Wajiristan, Sadr City, Gaza...