The home of peace...

 

...welcome to Dar es Salaam...

 

 

Country - Tanzania, Africa

Time zone - GMT +3

The capital - Dodoma

Dar es Salaam - in Swahili it means the home of peace, it is also the country's richest city and important economic centre

Local currency - tanzanian shilling (tzs)

National anthem - Mungu Ibariki Afrika (swahili for God Bless Africa)

Official languages - Swahili and English

 

English vs Swahili

hello - hujumbo

goodbye - kwaheri

thank you - asante

how are you? - jinsi wewe?

I love you - i kumpenda wewe :)

 

Coming to this place for the first time I didn't really know what to expect except a lots of mosquitos and beautiful beaches :)

 

 

Because of the bad timing there's not much time to go around and explore so you just have to prioritise... First thing everyone wanted to do is to go for some sea food for dinner, surprise surprise! (sometimes I feel that's the only thing crew wants to do, eat and drink without any interest for anything else -.-)

 

That's what you call a drink! :))

 

Still...the girls were up for the beach so we went in the morning to find that Butterfly beach everyone's talking about :)

Long sandy beach, beautiful clean and worm Indian ocean...only the weather wasn't really on our side, and the rain decided to ruin that short time we had, but anyway, we had our beach time :) 

 

 

 

 

 

We were left with only one hour to do some fruit,vegetables and souvenirs shopping and get back to the hotel...

Wherever we've stopped to buy something from above we were asked where are we from, and surprisingly as it always is when someone knows WHAT and WHERE Croatia is, I was shocked when they started yelling Šuker Šuker! :))) And also naming other Croatian soccer players, hehe.

So after 10 days when I came for the 2nd time and went to the same place to buy some more of their extremly delicious fresh tasty tomatos and avocados, they have remembered me, giving me high fives :)

 

 

Do you know that feeling when you visit a place you have never been before and you just can  feel it...feel the vibe, that something inside of you that tells you ''I feel good here, I like it'' or just simply not?

Do you?

Well I do, and this is one of those places where I felt comfortable from the first second, enjoyed the heat and humidity, breeze of air through the open car window, sun...

 

People are working on the streets selling as many different things as they can, from fruits, water and nuts to belts, geographic maps, toys, brooms, lighters and all sorts of stuff, some men and women are selling the same on their small stands, men are repairing shoes out on the open, by the road, under the tree, some of them are selling t-shirts in the same way, some are sleeping on the grass, some are waiting for the over crowded buses to squeeze in and go who knows where...

 

 

You just drive by looking at them and all of the sudden you wonder why on earth would that girl wave to you and give you the biggest sincere smile you have ever seen, the one that assures your first feeling of comfort, that you weren't wrong about this place, so you just wave back and share the same big smile to her, traffic lights go green and you never see her again but her big eyes and chubby face will stay in your memory for ever...

Asante so much for that :)

 

 

On the other side, there's lots of children begging on the street, knocking on your car windows, carrying their smaller baby brothers and sisters on their backs, showing you they want to eat. We don't have food or local money at that point and you just feel so awfully helpless and sad for them...but what they do? Most of them smile and wave, just like the girl from the bus :)

It all comes down to...

“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love,

a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” 

Mother Teresa

 

 

This African country, the home of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain and the coconut crab (the largest in the world and apparently the most delicious, wouldn't know yet) deserves so much more time than only 48 hours. 

It is the country of diversities that takes time to explore and experience properly...

I'm just happy to have a chance to see at least this small part of it, and share it with you :)

 

 

Before I wish all of you a very happy Easter let me tell you one interesting fact about Tanzania I've found online - women here can breast feed in public without covering themselves (and not get any strange looks) but on the other hand they can't have their knees showing and must wear skirts...

I'll have to investigate that next time if it's true ;)

 

So, Happy Easter to all and have a great weekend!




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