2 - First day in Dar

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017

My roommate for the trip was Deb2 (Schultz).  We woke up about 7. Neither of us are late sleepers, so we were very compatible that way.  We showered (ours was hot, while others were cold) and got things organized after a long day of travel and late night arrival.  Deb had spilled water on her phone on the flight, so we tried to dry it out and see if it would work, but it didn't.  We went to find some breakfast (included in our hotel cost) and found the Terrace Restaurant. There was a nice buffet of fruit, yogurt, breads, and we could order eggs any style.  They even had Danish pastries - yum! Mary1, Russ, Edward, and Deb 1 eventually joined us.  Mary2 and Marlene chose to sleep in and missed breakfast.  

Breakfast at Slipway

    After breakfast we decided to find an electronics store and see if they could fix Deb’s phone. Edward would drive us in the school van.  Discovered that the van had a flat tire.  Our first African unplanned event.  Deb 1 warned us to always expect the unexpected.  Edward quickly called some guys over and they got the spare tire put on.  Meanwhile we admired the beautiful painting under the overhangs of the hotel.  Now we were off on two missions - repair the tire and the phone.  We drove through some rough looking streets and Edward took us to a spot where he dropped off the tire to get fixed. Right next door was an electronics store.  They had to call their expert and we drove to a different location to meet him.  Drove there and were told the phone had been shocked and was toast.  Deb will just do without until she gets home.  She still has her tablet at least.  We just took in the urban African culture from the safety of the van while waiting.  Went back to the first place and got the repaired tire put back on - with all of us still in the van! By the time we were done with that we were all hungry so went back to the hotel for lunch.  

Flat tire on the school van.

Paintings on the Slipway Hotel

  We had lunch at The Waterfront restaurant (part of the hotel). I had Hawaiian pizza. Marlene had prawns that were huge and gross, but she loved them.  Russell and Mary1 eventually joined us. They had not gone on the tire-phone expedition with us but had walked around the area by the hotel. We all put some money in a “kitty” to pay for joint purchases like water.  We had already bought some water at the “supermarket” right next to the hotel.  We also would be paying for all of Edward’s meals on our trip.  

    We were going to take naps after lunch but we needed to reorganize the cargo bags with all the school supplies. Edward thought we should send two of the cargo bags by bus with his friend Steve in case the airline said they were too heavy or didn't have room. We put everything but the quilts in two bags.  The quilts would take the 8 hour bus trip.  This gave Deb2 a major panic attack but Edward assured her they would get there ok.  We also presented Edward with our gifts for him - a backpack with his name on it, shirts, shoes, a tie, and my contribution, a SD handkerchief.  Too pumped up to nap, we went to the Terrace bar and everybody but me had a Kilimanjaro beer.  We tore out individual pages of some coloring books to give to the school.  On our way out of the bar, we noticed a beautiful sunset happening. We went out by the pool to take some pictures.  While out there we made 6:30 dinner reservations.

Edward gets some gifts.

Tanzanian sunset

    We got back there at 6:30 for supper after going back to our rooms to freshen up.  The rest eventually got there and we ordered.  It took so long to get our food that Edward finally complained to the manager.  The manager promised it would be just 5 minutes more and it did come about that soon, 2 plates at a time.  I had peanut butter chicken and glazed carrots that were so delicious.  We experienced “Africa time” because it took until after 10:00 to finish and pay.  Then they asked for a bigger tip and Deb1 complained about the poor service again. Got back to our rooms and quickly packed up and got ready for bed.  This time we used our mosquito netting.  Took me a long time to go to sleep and we had to get up early to catch a 7am flight.