Welcome to Dar

My bedroom
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Well, I finally arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after nearly 30 hours of exhausting travel; from running through the airport in Birmingham and being personally escorted through security, and then almost missing my flight in Dubai only to sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes while they fixed the air conditioning (by the way it's about 40 C there at mid-day). Once I arrived in Tanzania I discovered visas are $50 as I expected UNLESS you're American... then they're 100. Oh, and by the way, they only accept USDs for visas and they have to be printed post 2000. Unfortunately I couldn't find any new bills. After begging and pleading, sneaking through customs, going to the bank, then the ATM (to get shillings), then back to the bank (to exchange the shillings for dollars) and sneaking back through customs I was finally able to obtain a visa!

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I think my time in Cuba has jaded me a bit because once I got through customs I assumed everyone who was being friendly was trying to take advantage of me. It turns out most of them are just nice people.

After haggling for a taxi we drove around the city for nearly an hour looking for the obscure hostel I was told about. My source says it is the best for the price (just under $10/night for a double). More details on my lodging to come. We'll see how it plays out in the upcoming days and weeks.