Tanzania

We're in Arusha. That shouldn't be a huge deal, as we've been planning to be here today for months, but there were a few hours yesterday where it looked pretty likely that we would either:
a) never get here.
b) get robbed, and then never get here.

We got into Dar Es Salaam late on the 29th, and then woke up early on the 30th to get to Arusha on the inexplicably named Scandinavia Express (a 9 hour bus ride). Unfortunately, about 3 hours into the ride, the engine started making funny noises, and the driver pulled aside in a small village to "check things out" (read: disassemble the engine with a pipe wrench and a hammer). After putting it back together and determining that it was still broken (elapsed waiting time: 1.5 hours), he called back to Dar to get another bus sent to pick us up. Estimated wait: 3 hours.

5 hours later (total elapsed waiting time: 6.5 hours), a bus showed up to pick us up, but it wasn't an empty replacement bus, as promised. It was a full bus heading to a city in the opposite direction from where we were headed. No problem, the bus driver said, he'd just offload the other people onto minibuses when we hit the crossroads, then we'd be taken to Arusha in the new bus. No big deal.

When we got to the crossroads, however, and he told the plan to the people heading to the other city (Tanga), one guy decided he wanted to be the biggest jerk humanly imaginable, and refuse to get off the bus and onto the minibuses. Why? No idea. Maybe his shoes were too small, or maybe his heart was two sizes too small. In any case, he sat there and raised a huge stink for 2 hours (elapsed waiting time: 8.5 hours), until eventually the bus driver caved and decided to drive us to Tanga first, before turning around and driving us to Arusha, a 2.5 hour detour (total elapsed waiting time: 10.5 hours). We did eventually get to Arusha, but our driver was supposed to pick us up at 6pm, and it was now 4am, so we had to wait for about an hour before he finally showed up and took us to our hotel. Total lateness: 11.5 hours, on a 9 hour bus ride.

In the end, we made it without any serious incidents other than having to survive on melty Reese's Christmas Trees and a granola bar for a day, but I think the moral of the story is never ride on a bus that claims to be an express service from a geographic area 8000km from where you are.

We start our Kilimanjaro climb tomorrow, we'll post a summary when we're back in town on the 8th. Happy New Year!