Finding a home in Tanzania

"Like Gypsys and nomads we endlessly roam, spend every hour just searching for a home, we are sorry that we have invaded your land. We have to make you understand. We're no more than a Gypsy clan, won't you please lend a helping handddddd.......da da da da da HEY!" - from my first grade musical "Oh my Deer" about the deer.





We arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at 6am, Friday, February 10th. We were picked up by Eddie, a driver from Friendly Gecko, the hostel we had made arrangements with. We drove through Dar and it was everything that I had remembered. Big, ugly and dusty. I immediately began telling Jason the reasons that Idid not think Dar was the place to be, but he was certain that this was the place that he could get a job.


We showered up and headed into town. The hostle manager had told us about a mall that we could get a phone at. Surely she meant market, I thought. I didn't correct her. When the bajaji (three whelled carriage pulled by a motorcycl), pulled up to an actual mall I couldn't believe my eyes! I was instanly disgusted by it. It was basically Target on a huge scale. Big, full of white people, and you could buy anything that you wanted or needed. It was expensive! I mean $500 for a webber gril expensive, $1200 for an iphone expensive. We did eventually fight through the groups of mzungus (non africans, slang for money, what they call us on the street) and bought a phone for about $20. Jason methodically went through all the numbers available and chose the easiest 20 digit number he could find. We caught a bajaje back to the hotel and i could tell Jason was waivering on whether he wanted to stay in this bizarre, hot African city.


The next day we started inquiring about how much rent was for a small apartment. When the answer we got was $400 for an unfurnished apartament we started making plans to leave this terrible place. Local volunteers that we had befriended told us that Arusha was the place to be so after 3 days in Dar we headed for Arusha.


We decided to take the bus. Our right on travelers instinct told us to ignore the lonely planet, which we had bought in the Barnes and Noble like book store in the huge Target, and buy bus tickets from the nicest box office we could find. We could afford to spend a couple extra bucks for A/C and a little more leg room. We headed for the nicest box office around,Dar Lux. It had A/C how bad could the bus really be.


Our bus left the next morning at 7:00 but we were told that boarding started at 6:30 so we got there about 6:15. As we walked past all the very nice buses that were recommended in Lonely Planet I was getting excited about how much nicer our bus would be! When the men carrying our bags stopped beside this run down, hunk or rust, city looking bus, I thought this must be a mistake. Unfortuantely, it was not. Jason and I got in our seats and prepared for the 12 hour drive with no A/C or room to move.


At 7 there were only 3 people on the bus so we sat for the next 2 hours until the bus was full. That happened. Our backs were soaking wet before the journey even started. Once we got going it wasn't so bad. I had my windown open and had stopped sweating and my curtain drawn so. I was excited about all the landscape and people that we were about to see. About 15 minutes into the trip the lady behind me reached up and closed my window! I iopened it back up and she closed it again! This happened three times until I only had my window open a slit and Jason and I sweat the entire 12 hours. A short while after the women in back of me closed my window the man infront of me closed my curtain! I guess being white gives people permission to treat you like a child. Another reason Jason and I chose to leave Dar, the people were not the kind of fun loving, easy going, hospitible Afrinans we were used to. They were very dismissive and rude, like people from New York City. We wanted midwest personalities.


We arrived in Arusha that evening around 9. We had prepared ourselves for the taxi drivers and touts that would surround us at the bus stand. We made a plan and Jason got off the bus in a hurry to get to our luggage. When he got though all the aggressive touts there was single man standing by himself. Jason asked if he could take us to our hotel and he agreed. We packed all our belongings into this mans taxi and we were off.


We pulled up infront of probably the shadiest hotels I have ever seen. I guess thats why it was so cheap. Our driver recommended a better place, cleaner and not in the middle of downtown. He took us to Monjes, which was in a much better part of town. the only thing we didn't like about it was it had foreigners prices and local prices. We knew this because it was on the hotel menu. It was about a $15 dollar difference and when the room was $20, that is a big difference! The room was descent and the bathroom almost clean enough to shower in.


The next morning we headed out early to find cheaper, cleaner place to stay. We decided to take our Lonely Planet books adise this time and check our Arusha backpackers. It was quite a bit cheaper and little cleaner. We had a room that reminded me of Leonardo's room in the beach. No windows and flickering lights. Also we shared the bathroom with the whole floor. We weren't too impressed but we knew that we would be here for atleast a couple of weeks while we figured out a place to live.


After being locked up in our cell for about a half hour we decided to see the city. As we left our hostel we saw Moody Safi, our driver from the night before. We started up a conversation and mentioned that we were looking for a house. To our suprise he told us that he knew of a couple and could take us that afternoon. Jason and I tried not to get too excited about the house, surely it couldn't be this easy.


The first house Moody took us to about brought me to tears. I would rather stay at the hostel forever than set foot in that house again. First of all, the guard was drinking a beer in front of the gate that he had gotten from the pub that we had to walk through to get to the house! Then one of the rooms was full of crates with empty bottles in it but it was when we got to the locked door that was the caretakers room I had had enough. I told Moody this house was not for us and that I hoped the next house was a bit nicer.


We got back on the main road for a bit then turned into a dirt road. I already liked this neighborhood. Children playing, chickens wandering and goats bleating. We got to the end of the road to a gate and when they opend it up I could not hold in my excitement. The house was perfect and we hadn't even seen the inside. Jason and I walked around the house giddy with excitement, but surely we could not afford this nice of a house! It came fully furnished, inclusing refrigerator, washing machine, back up generator, hot water, a house manager, a maid, chickens, goats (a pregnant one), dog, cat, wrap around porch with 3 tables, and a garden with a sitting area. I was feeling that this house was perfect but there was no way we could afford it. Jason finally asked about rent and we were right, we couldn't afford this house but the owner was willing to deal. We got him to a price that we both agreed on and moved in the next day!


The night we moved in we got together with Moody, Gideon and a couple other people we had met since arriving in Arusha. We went to a nice little pub that is a 10 minute walk from our house. By the end of the night we were Tanzanians, laughing and telling stories with our new friends. In one week we found our dream home. Next on the list will be jobs, transportation and a neighborhood BBQ!