Africa 2005 reflections - Arusha, our first day
The first part of our stay was in Arusha, Tanzania. This is the same city that I lived in for four months back in 1993. It has grown quite a bit since then, especially with the abundance of internet cafes, ATM machines and cell phone service.
Our lodging for those 4 nights was the Outpost Lodge (http://www.outposttanzania.com/), a quaint B&B place close to town center, and it was located pretty close to the house where I used to live. On our first day there, after checking into the Outpost, I led the four of us on a walk into the town centre (on the same road I used to walk daily back in 1993). When we arrived in town, we were quickly mobbed by "touts" and "fly catchers"; these are people who try to sell you safaris, souvenirs, etc. They look for the white people ("wazungu" in Swahili), because they are obviously the tourists. And I mean mobbed. We easily had about 10 guys standing around us. Their strategy is to befriend you and use it to make you feel obligated to buy something from them. I had been used to this (from 1993) but Leah and the Grimwoods were caught off-guard. Being nice Canadians, we were all very polite and did talk to them... bad move; it caused them to stick to us like glue. I slowly taught the others to ignore these people and keep walking, all the while politely saying "hapana" ("no" in Swahili). I think this first experience was the worst; it probably didn't help that our first moments in town were ones of bewilderment and just standing there trying to get our bearings.
With this bit of culture shock, we quickly went to get some money; Leah and I used our PC Financial card to get some Tanzania Shillings from an ATM machine (wow, it worked in Tanzania!) while the Grimwoods exchanged some traveller's cheques at a Bureau-de-Change. We then slipped away from the touts into a hotel for lunch and a rest. Afterward, I led them to the ELCT office, Lutheran Church head office where I used to work in 1993. I introduced them to my former boss (Mr. Aminieli Mungure), who vaguely remembered me; my former co-worker (Farajika Mlili) had married and moved to Dar Es Salaam so our visit was brief.
We finished our time in town walking along a couple of the streets, looking into some stores, buying a couple of supplies (drinking water, etc.) and we then headed back to the Outpost Lodge to relax and calm down from all the excitement of our first day.
Our lodging for those 4 nights was the Outpost Lodge (http://www.outposttanzania.com/), a quaint B&B place close to town center, and it was located pretty close to the house where I used to live. On our first day there, after checking into the Outpost, I led the four of us on a walk into the town centre (on the same road I used to walk daily back in 1993). When we arrived in town, we were quickly mobbed by "touts" and "fly catchers"; these are people who try to sell you safaris, souvenirs, etc. They look for the white people ("wazungu" in Swahili), because they are obviously the tourists. And I mean mobbed. We easily had about 10 guys standing around us. Their strategy is to befriend you and use it to make you feel obligated to buy something from them. I had been used to this (from 1993) but Leah and the Grimwoods were caught off-guard. Being nice Canadians, we were all very polite and did talk to them... bad move; it caused them to stick to us like glue. I slowly taught the others to ignore these people and keep walking, all the while politely saying "hapana" ("no" in Swahili). I think this first experience was the worst; it probably didn't help that our first moments in town were ones of bewilderment and just standing there trying to get our bearings.
With this bit of culture shock, we quickly went to get some money; Leah and I used our PC Financial card to get some Tanzania Shillings from an ATM machine (wow, it worked in Tanzania!) while the Grimwoods exchanged some traveller's cheques at a Bureau-de-Change. We then slipped away from the touts into a hotel for lunch and a rest. Afterward, I led them to the ELCT office, Lutheran Church head office where I used to work in 1993. I introduced them to my former boss (Mr. Aminieli Mungure), who vaguely remembered me; my former co-worker (Farajika Mlili) had married and moved to Dar Es Salaam so our visit was brief.
We finished our time in town walking along a couple of the streets, looking into some stores, buying a couple of supplies (drinking water, etc.) and we then headed back to the Outpost Lodge to relax and calm down from all the excitement of our first day.
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