back in business back in dar

---

lets all clap our hands, I recovered the pictures. It turns out, that the pictures are still on my memeory card, it seems to be broken. I bought a new one in Arusha, and am taking the old one back as is to canada in hopes that someone there will be able to extract the missing pics. but, never the less, paul and i decided to make the trek back to Dar to check and see if the pics are here. THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!! I burned a cd (which cost me a bloody fortune $9) and right now the only ones missing are the ones from zanzibar and olduvai gorge.

The safari was excellent, that has been covered... lets see....
on monday we stayed an extra day in arusha to visit the un tribual on the rwandan genocide. While we were visiting we got to see part of two trials. The names of the witnesses that we saw were withheld, but I have a pretty good idea of who they were. We sat behind a plate glass window, with the witness enclosed in a curtained off area. the defense to the left and prosecutor to the right. The whole thing was conducted infrench, english and luanganda (sp?) so we had headphones that translated for us. The second of the two trials spent a full hour on the difference between speculation and infrenence. I think I am clear on the many defintions thanks to the prosecutor...:-)

The bus back to dar was the most luxerious bus we could have taken. first class all the way-but it left late, arrived late and didn't have a bathroom, which in some cases is a blessing. this bus had windows which can open and tv's for the 4 (yes four) jean claude van dame movies we were subjected to. for the record the bus company was Dar Express.
We passed many towns and villages, but one in particular stands out. We were waiting to onload or offload some people, goods or goats, and I was watching the goings ons around me. There was a big petrol looking truck up a head of us, and I watched a young man climb onto the roof, open a hatch and start removing bunches of banana's from the petrol tanker. curious. maybe they are for export and the petrol keeps em fresher longer. who knows

We arrived in Dar tired and hungry only to find out that the ywca (where we stayed before) was booked up, so we hoofed it another 1.5 blocks to the YMCA which had a nice little room with a balcony, fan, mozzie net. I did some laundry, ate some food, went to bed and the power went out, there goes the fan. It was a hot night, like most nights in Dar es Salaam.

Today I recovered my pics, bought a bus ticket to mombasa, bought some books courtosy of my good friend the VISA card, went tothe museum of natural history and here I am. about to head back to the hotel.

We took a taxi to the bus depot, to buy the ticket, I never really take taxi's unless absolutly necessary. It was a few km;s and raining, so we splurged. The reason I don't take taxi's and prefer dalla dallas, is b/c the taxi driver is only responsible for the life of 2 people other than his own, a dalla opereator is reposnible for up to 27 people. THe taxi was vereering right ( into oncomming traffic) and when I got out of the cab at the depot, I realized why, 4 of his lug nuts on his left front wheel were missing. hmmmm.
also, traffic here is not like traffic in canada. a dalla dalla has the right of way, and will stop for no one except paying customers. pedestrians have zero rights and are constantly being hit by cars. taxis drive where ever the feel like it. in the wrong lane, for example we were in the right hand turn lane line up (no lights, due to no power) and our taxi man felt like leaving the line and cutting the first people off and nearly hitting the police man directing the flow of traffic (I certainly would not like his job) we slide around the corner, noone takes any notice of the fact we've just cut off 15 cars and nearly killed and police man, and head off with one side of our car on the sidewalk, sideswiping pedestrians all the way. I've covered my eyes at this point and start hoping that we arrive alive. (funny enough, that is the slogan on all the road signs in malawi)

So, tomorrow, unless we are detained at the border (i hope I didn't just jinx us) we are going to Kenya. Mombasa.
From there we are spending a day or two at the beach and then hopefully figuring out whether we should
a. take the train to nairobi
b.fly to lamu (not so expensive) then to nairobi
c.bus to nairobi (fast and cheap)

we hope to fly from nairobi to cairo by the 20th of march.
happy birthday to lea ( its march 3rd right?)
And, dad, did the spices break open or the sand?
don't worry about the film, unless your super curious.

thanks

---

Comments

[deleted_9521]

I am so happy that you got your pics!! God! I thought taxi's were bad in Mexico. It is fantastic that you got to witness a piece of history in the making. I think the bananas in the tanker were the only transport available at the time. I doubt that there was "much" oil in the tanker. Hmmm.I sure hope that they weren't for export. What an eye opening trip you are having! I hope you got the e-mail from Nana. I look forward to you journal from Kenya. Love you. Be safe. I expect you are sick of hearing the "be safe" part. Much love, hugs and kisses. Mom

[deleted_9521]

One more thing. I have saved all your pics, but I expect that you have plenty more.

[Dad]

Sandy box
All spices survived their voyage. Some sand littered the bottom of the box and the wee bike got twisted but , being mechanically inclined, I fixed it and actually have it on display on the kitchen window sill til you get back. Yup, Lea's bday is a comin' so it's agood reason to suck back some wine...speaking of which I somehow created a beautiful port while simply trying to make berry wine! Holy toledo I must have the purple thumb. Love and luck Mark and Lea