The Painful Journey Back to Zanzibar

Once back in Arusha, I was brought to my hotel that the travel agency had booked for me. Can I just say that it was the sketchiest hotel I have ever been in. When you walk in, all you see is a very dark hallway full of doors and unfortunately to get to my room, I had to walk to the other end of the hallway, go up a flight of stairs and then walk back down the second floor hallway. I only left my room to get something to eat at the restaurant that was connected to the Hotel.

The next morning, at about 7:30am, there was a knock on my door, and the travel agent in Arusha was there to bring me to the bus station. Now, when I told him about getting my ticket, I said that I wanted to travel on Scandinavian Express because I was pleased with the ride to Arusha with that company. But he reassured me that the company, Kilimanjaro Express was just as nice, so he took it upon himself to buy me that ticket. And in the morning, it was too late to change the ticket, so he dropped me off at the Kilimanjaro bus station to wait to leave. And when we boarded the bus, I was the only white, non-local on the bus, and it was packed! So needless to say, I was very unhappy with the bus company and the travel agent, but oh well!

And the day only continued to get worse when I reached Dar es Salaam. When I got off the bus I went straight for the taxi stand and found a decent taxi driver. He put my things in the back seat and I sat in the front. Then, just as we were pulling out of the station, he stopped the car and pointed to some other people. He said, “These are my friends, and they are going to the City Center as well, so they are going to come with us.” I said, “WHAT?” So I told him that I would not pay the original price we disgusted, but he wasn’t happy with that either. Then, the other people with us had a bunch of luggage and the trunk would not open, so the driver then handed me my backpack to hold on my lap!!! I was outraged! And to make things better, we got stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes! So when we got to the Jambo Inn where I was hoping to get a room, I chewed him out when he said I didn’t give him enough money, telling him how unprofessional his taxi service was. I’m sure it didn’t make a difference, but it made me feel better.

Things continued in a downward slope when the lady at Jambo Inn told me that they only have triple rooms and I would have to pay for the whole thing! Normally I would have gone to a different place, but it was already dark outside and being alone, I was not about to go around the city. And when we stayed there last time, they had a restaurant, but that night it was closed. So basically I was stuck in my room all night with three beds, my luggage, and a bag of cassava chips (a local snack).

Having a good night of sleep, I woke up early to head to the port to purchase a ferry ticket to get back to Zanzibar. But when I got to the port, the booking office was closed. (another lovely difficulty to add to my troubles) So a man nearby noticed that I was looking for a ticket, and he told me to come with him because he sold tickets. I followed him to a table that was set up, and he flat out told me that I was buying a “black market” ticket for the ferry because they were sold out and he had the only tickets left. So that made me feel really great! But I honestly didn’t have a choice because I would be stuck in Dar for another night.
Luckily, I had no problems on the ferry and I was just happy to be on the way back home to Zanzibar. It was nice however when we docked because all I did was show them my residence permit and I didn’t have to fill out any other customs information. (since I am a resident of Tanzania now) And since I was extremely exhausted, I took a taxi back to the house. When I arrived at the house, it felt so nice to be in a place that I was familiar with and knew well. Everyone was very happy to see me, and the most interested part about my arrival was that I was greeted by 3 other “students” that were staying in the house as well. There were 2 Americans that are part of the International Honors Program and they would only be in Zanzibar for 2 weeks. Then Ellen is from Norway and is learning Swahili to prepare to work at a cancer hospital in Dar for 9 months! So it was definitely a full house, but I was just happy to be back.