An Epic Day in Tanzania

We have arrived safely in Tanzania and were quickly very aware that we would have to adjust to a new culture, new transportation, new lanuguage, and new poeple. It is always a bit daunting, but today tested both Ari's and my patience (is this correct grammar, any english majors are free to edit that sentence!).

Have you ever been to an ATM that was temporarily down or out of money? So frustrating right? Have you ever been to 11 in a row? Ari and I felt like we were on The Amazing Race today and our objective was to visit every ATM in Arusha. The reward would be that when we got to the last ATM it would actually work! With a Mastercard though....try again. The race continued for about four hours! Needing to withdraw a hefty chunk of change to pay for our room and all of our safari, we had to utilize multiple ATM's, some working with Visa, some Mastercard, some with a limit of $100, some with a limit of $200. The ATM's have a camera and I think someone is watching so that if you are not crying - no money. Once the tears are running down your cheeks, you have clumps of hair in your hands, and you are saying a Hail Mary while you type in your PIN - ahhhhhh, sweet success!

If that were it, no big deal, just another day in Africa! Alas, the next challenge was to make a call with our cell phone. Ari bought a cheap SIM-capable phone in Rwanda, so that as we traveled we could buy a local SIM card and voila - phone acess. Hahahaha. The idea is sound, the network is only slightly better than AT&T in the US. Useless. Her phone, although the company works in Tanzania, her phone is locked to Tanzania SIM cards. No worries, we will just use the Rwanda SIM card at slightly higher rates. Hahahaha. We bought some minutes for her phone and saw what had become a mantra for the day. "Network failure" After about ten trips back and forth, in and out of cell phone offices, we eventually agreed that Ari's phone was cursed and would never work here. So, we decided to buy the cheapest ($16) cell that would work in Tanzania. After purchasing the phone, we were ready to make a call. Except we just needed to wait 5 hours for the phone to charge - ahhhhhh, sweet success!

If that were it, no big deal, just another day in Africa! Alas, the next challenge was to make sure that our safari price was not a ripoff. I had been working with an Austrailian woman to make the plans for our safari via email and she has been great! However, the number of people and price of our safari kept jumping around. Long story short.... we were on the phone with her about 10 times to finally settle on a price that will leave us paying a bit more than we would have liked and her company making no profit on this trip. She has been super apologetic and I have learned to get a set price or find someone else. We are excited about our trip, with this behind us and are hopeful that as soon as we set out for the Serengeti all our Arusha troubles will melt away!

Well, my computer says I am out of time and we need to walk back to the hostel where we will be picked up in about 45 mins! We are having a great time and know that these little setbacks are a mere inconvenience. Most of the people living here would be incredibly thankful to have any such opportunities that we do!!