And now it's time for a rant

This post is a product of my advanced travel weariness. I'm ready to lose my shit. So I apologize in advance if I say anything offensive.

I've been stuck in Dar es Salaam for the past 4 days, but it seems like 4 million. Now that wouldn't be so bad if this town wasn't both so paradoxically boring and high stress. And I still haven't figured out how my money is being siphoned out of my bank account so quickly here.

The rain: out of my 2 weeks in Tanzania, all of one day has passed without rain for between 1 and 18 hours. Walking down streets covered with more than a foot of water is just ridiculous. Obviously, it limited the beach experience in Zanzibar, and it prevents us from walking around Dar much. Not that there is anything to see but dirty, run-down streetscapes. Everything closed at 1pm on Saturday and was closed all day yesterday. Including every freaking tour company and airline.

The inefficiency: That meant that when Air Malawi finally picked up the phone at 9 this morning, I found out that today's only flight out of this black hole is at 10 am, despite the fact that the website lists it as leaving at 5:30 pm. Not nearly enough time to get to the airport, and the next flight is in 2 days. Casey is having much more of a struggle. She's trying to organize a trip to Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas with a possible stopover in the Serengeti to do a safari. Allow me to illustrate how the typical tour company here operates:

*** We walk into a shop labeled 'XYZ Travel and Tours'...
Casey: "Do you organize tours to the Serengeti?"
Automaton: *Speaks in Swahili to coworker* "No we don't do that"
Casey: "Do you organize flights?"
Automaton: *More Swahili* "No"
*** Silence...
*** Mike and Casey stare dumbfounded at each other...
*** Mike and Casey walk to the next tour company to repeat the same process

The pestering: Nanoseconds out of our hostel, a restaurant, a bar, an internet cafe or just crossing the street, multiple taxi drivers pounce: "Hello, excuse me, boss... Taxi?" I was standing on our balcony today 5 minutes after waking up and some guy across the street started waving at me then pointed to his taxi. We got out of a taxi the other day and a taxi driver asked us if we needed a taxi. I'm approaching the stage where I'm going to involuntarily unleash verbal fire and brimstone on these guys, and I hate that. I completely understand that they are trying to make a living, but the constant barrage of attention because of the colour of my skin is maddening. In the beginning, I thought it was really cool that every second person said 'Hello, how are you' to Casey and I. How friendly they are!!! When I'm greeted now, staring into space is the only option for my sanity.

The flies: Contrary to what the World Vision ads would have you believe, Africans are not always covered in flies. Actually, Africa has been pretty darn fly free for me. Until Zanzibar. Every time we sit down for dinner or lunch or a drink, the flies begin accumulating. It's normally not so bad that you have to move, but with creatures landing on you and your food every 5 seconds, you get to the point where you want to scream. And what are the restaurants doing about it? Not a damn thing. There is no hint that they are remotely apologetic. I'm convinced that all it would take to solve the problem is to wipe down the tables with some soap. I'm not even hoping for lysol, just break out some dish soap guys. Africaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!!!

Deep breath, count to ten...

I realize that my complaints are largely trivial compared to what millions of people suffer daily. I'm a product of a very comfortable upbringing in what I recognize more and more every day to be the greatest country in the world. I haven't yet learned how to prevent these things from stressing me. It's part and parcel of being sweaty and tired in an alien land and having no home or routine, so I don't feel unjustified for feeling this way. At the same time, I do feel guilty for losing perspective a bit...

Anyway, thanks for listening to the rant, it made me feel better (but no less sweaty). I'm off to Mbeya at 6:30 am on a 12 hour bus journey tomorrow, which is in the south of the country. Another barrel of laughs I'm sure. The day after I'm crossing into the promised land, MALAWI! where I'm going to be keeping my eyes out for volunteer opportunities and a place to settle down for the next few months. And I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but it's official now: Lesley quit her job and is joining me May 1st for our quest to save the world!