Dar es Salaam

As I’ve mentioned before, I try to avoid taking pictures in the city where it just makes me more conspicuous. It makes a big difference to wear a modest skirt and sandals (rather than the shorts / cargo capris and “built for comfort” shoe uniform of the backpacker) in terms of the amount of hassling by street vendors and taxi drivers trying to make a sale. No reason to ruin the “local mzungu” mirage, so I’ll just have to paint you a word picture of my first few days in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Air Malawi (which we’ve heard horror stories about in terms of timeliness) is prompt and efficient and we arrive in Dar with a minimum of fuss. After helping an older woman at the ATM machine (she isn’t doing the 1500 shillings: 1 dollar conversion right and is befuddled when it won’t let her take out 500 shillings) and rounding up the other Malawians here to attend the flour fortification conference with Nathaniel, we’re off to the hotel.

Dar is definitely bigger and more developed than Lilongwe (no surprise). Two lane roads with traffic lights and plenty of street lighting and neon all give a sense of hustle and bustle. I’m thus surprised when I hit the national museum today to find that one of the items on display is the first ATM in the country, which arrived in…1997.

Determined to take advantage of “big city” amenities while Nathaniel is at the conference, I don’t venture out of the swanky Oyster Bay suburb where the conference hotel is located on the first day. Browsing air-conditioned bookstore, check. First haircut since August, check. Viewing of many souvenirs, all of which I want, check. I manage to restrain myself from buying except for two lengths of chitenje cloth – “congrats Obama” in bright yellow, and “remember Michael Jackson” in orange and blue – prepare to fight over these when we bring them home. :)

Oyster Bay is a contradiction: glitzy hotels and fancy gated compounds with entrances onto an extremely rutted and pot holed dirt road; an upscale ocean-front restaurant overlooking a giant tire (when the tide has gone out) that has clearly been there for years; huge construction projects with DIY scaffolding made out of local logs. Infrastructure struggling to keep up with developer dollars? Local image and customs competing with international demands? I’m sure it would take much longer than we have to understand the dynamics.

Today, I settle in a little. I find Nathaniel a local sim card for his phone (mine is apparently too cheap to function outside Malawi), take my first bus ride and check out downtown Dar. The guidebook promises a “love it or hate it” reaction and, while I wouldn’t go that far in either direction, I can definitely give it a strong “like.” People are friendly, distances are walkable, cleanliness and infrastructure are decent and there are a lot of trees. Otherwise it just seems like a mid-size city. A final verdict can probably be given once I’ve visited the main market tomorrow or Thursday.