Abigail had a two week break from school this month and now that we have our own wheels (finally!) we thought it was about time we took a trip to Dar Es Salaam for a few days! We've lived here for 8 months and not really had the opportunity to visit Dar and see what 'city-life' is like here in Tanzania.
It was an 8 hour drive each way with a stopover in Morogoro but the girls did great with all of it! Here's a couple of photo's of where we took our break on the way there and back. From the reaction we got, I think they were quite surprised to see Wazungu's (white people!) stopping there! We ate chapati's and chips mayai, (a Tanzanian speciality ... chip omelette ... sounds kind of strange but taste's yummy!) and used the 'long-drops' before heading off on the second part of the journey!
The long drive was worth it though! Here was the view that greeted us when we arrived in Dar!
We were staying just north of the city. Close enough to explore different areas most mornings and hanging out at the hotel and the pool every afternoon!
Dar Es Salaam has moved on a lot since Jenny used to live in Tanzania. It was really strange to find so much that was familiar about the western world right on our doorstep. The shops and restaurants had developed a lot and there were more English goodies available to us there, than on our trips to Columbus when we lived in Ohio! Having said that ... you definitely had to know what you were looking for and where in the city, as the 'western' niches were quite well tucked away and spread out amongst the crazy pot-holed and traffic filled roads!
It was such a great opportunity to familiarise ourselves both with what there is to do, where to go and also what is available compared to what you can get here in Dodoma ... which is a LOT less, if you were wondering! Think 'kid in a candy store' and that accurately describes all four of us to each new place/shop/eatery!
It was a real treat, for Jenny especially, to go out for dinner each evening. There is so much effort that goes into the preparation of meals living here, that it was a definite bonus to swap that for being served in a selection of great restaurants that we'd been recommended by others who have lived in or visited Dar before! The girls enjoyed getting dressed up and driving out somewhere new each evening too!
We were on the look out for other places to go on future visits (and have a running list now!!) but two of our favourites this time was the Mediterraneo because of the amazing location right on the edge of the Indian Ocean and delicious food ...
... and Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant where the girls were super excited because they didn't have to use cultery, only fingers and we all got to share one huge plate, that we also got to eat! The fact that it was decorated with upside down umbrellas was also apparently a bonus, according to the youngest two members of the family!!
We all had a really good time, living in the 'real world' for a few days. The girls keep asking when we are going back to our 'home hotel' (as opposed to our 'home home'!). Learning to love a town like Dodoma is one thing ... learning to love somewhere like Dar Es Salaam is something else entirely ... but we're one step closer to that now and we are all looking forward to our next trip there!
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