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This morning I woke at 7 a.m., showered, and headed up to the lodge for breakfast. Before I go on, I need to comment about the shower. Now, I am thankful for hot, piped water at UCU because I really thought I was going to have to shower in a bucket when I planned to come to Africa. But the water pressure in my apartment is less than desired. So, this shower was amazing. It was the best shower I have had in four months! I had coffee and a pancake for breakfast and talked with everyone about the day’s events. There were people from London, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Canadian, and America. It was so great! I actually met someone at the camp from St. Louis! We checked out about 12 and headed to gift shop to catch our taxi to the bus station. However, the taxi was nearly an hour late and we were freaked out about missing the bus. We were able to catch the bus in time at Silver Spring Hotel and headed from Nairobi to Arusha. We left Nairobi at 2:30 and arrived in Arusha. The drive was paved, but there were a lot of potholes. The bus was like a shuttle bus, so it was smaller than a coach. We stopped at one of the rest areas right before the Tanzanian border and we also received a bottle of water from the bus company. The border area was under construction, so it was muddy, rough drive for about 30 minutes of the ride. We had to go through the border in Kenya and Tanzania. As soon we got out of the bus at the border, we were confronted with Maasai women who were trying to sell things. They would put a bracelet on your arm and say it was a gift. Then, when you come out, they would ask for money for the “gift”. At one point, I remember telling a woman, “don’t touch me” and she backed away. You just have to be as aggressive as they are and they will leave you alone. Kenya was a breeze because we already had a transit visa. We had to walk across the border to Tanzania, but we had a few minutes to take a picture.
When we arrived at the Tanzanian border I asked for a transit
visa since I was just passing through on my way to Dubai. The immigration
official was not having it. He refused to give me a transit visa at $30 and
said I had to pay for a full visa at $100. I argued and argued and argued. At
one point the official actually threw my passport back to me and I banged on
the glass…whatever! I even said I would just stay in Kenya. He began to ignore
me and I said, “Hey! You look at me. When I talk to you, you look at me. If you
were in my country, I would give you the respect to look at you in the face
when you are speaking to me.” Then, he actually came out from behind the glass
and I was able to involve other people in the debate (yeah for community
support). I even attempted to shame him by telling everyone I was a poor
teacher on a fixed income. He still refused. I even offered to cook dinner for
him in America when he comes to visit. He still refused. So, I paid the stupid
money and have a visa for Tanzania for 1 year. I am guessing many more trip to
Tanzania before next December. Unbeknownst to me, the driver was ready to drive
away, but a fellow passenger named Godbless (I know) told him I was still in
the office. So, he waited for me, but I delayed our trip at least an hour. We
arrived at the pickup point in Arusa SEVEN hours after we left Nairobi.
Immediately our driver, Milton, met us and loaded our luggage. He had been
waiting at the checkpoint since 7:00. Once Milton picked us up, we stopped at
Barclays so that the girls could get cash. Then, we headed to Arusha Travel
Lodge, which was adequate. We were shown the room and told about the water
heater, towels, dinner, etc. Then, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. We
waited a long time for them to actually cook dinner and ate around 11 p.m. The
food was delicious and then we drifted off to sleep.
This morning I woke at 7 a.m., showered, and headed up to the lodge for breakfast. Before I go on, I need to comment about the shower. Now, I am thankful for hot, piped water at UCU because I really thought I was going to have to shower in a bucket when I planned to come to Africa. But the water pressure in my apartment is less than desired. So, this shower was amazing. It was the best shower I have had in four months! I had coffee and a pancake for breakfast and talked with everyone about the day’s events. There were people from London, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Canadian, and America. It was so great! I actually met someone at the camp from St. Louis! We checked out about 12 and headed to gift shop to catch our taxi to the bus station. However, the taxi was nearly an hour late and we were freaked out about missing the bus. We were able to catch the bus in time at Silver Spring Hotel and headed from Nairobi to Arusha. We left Nairobi at 2:30 and arrived in Arusha. The drive was paved, but there were a lot of potholes. The bus was like a shuttle bus, so it was smaller than a coach. We stopped at one of the rest areas right before the Tanzanian border and we also received a bottle of water from the bus company. The border area was under construction, so it was muddy, rough drive for about 30 minutes of the ride. We had to go through the border in Kenya and Tanzania. As soon we got out of the bus at the border, we were confronted with Maasai women who were trying to sell things. They would put a bracelet on your arm and say it was a gift. Then, when you come out, they would ask for money for the “gift”. At one point, I remember telling a woman, “don’t touch me” and she backed away. You just have to be as aggressive as they are and they will leave you alone. Kenya was a breeze because we already had a transit visa. We had to walk across the border to Tanzania, but we had a few minutes to take a picture.
