My Week in Dar

So I’ve had an interesting week in Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam.

The trip to Dar itself was not uneventful, with the bus breaking down for a couple of hours and a fist fight at the station when we arrived.

The bus was lit up like a christmas tree.

This is where the fight broke out, moments before it happened.

A friend of one of my travel companions had arranged for someone to pick us up at the station. I was dropped at a budget hotel in the Kariakoo neighborhood, an area of town known to be a little dangerous. In the morning I took a look around the neighborhood.

Lots of car and motorcycle parts in Kariakoo.

People selling stuff along the major road through Kariakoo. This was taken in the morning so it is normally much busier.

This is a huge two story enclosed market that mainly deals in farming supplies, such as pesticides and hoes.

A busy market area in Kariakoo, In the streets people mostly sold produce, but all of the storefronts were selling clothing or luggage.

After a few days in Kariakoo I decided to check out the city center. City center is a more upscale area and the home of many government buildings and hotels.

There are a ton of new buildings going up in Dar. Mostly hotels and large apartment buildings. What is strange is that they are being designed and built by Chinese workers.

This bank advertises how easy it is to save and become a millionaire. For the record it is a lot easier when a million is only worth $625. Also, Ohio street?

So a lot happened after seeing the city center. First I met a local guy named Eddie. I was walking back towards my hotel and he stopped me on the street and invited me to come to his house for Eid lunch with his family. He is a super nice person and I am actually in his house right now using his wifi.

Eddie convinced me to move to a new hotel, closer to his house and in a safer neighborhood. We spend a lot of time hanging out, including trips to the German cultural center for movie night, lunches with his family at his place, and other trips around town.

So life had been pleasant and largely uneventful up until yesterday, when I had my wallet stolen. But this post is long enough already so I’ll save that story for later.

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