As they say, “We are writing the history of our lives.” One of their daughters joked with them before the trip that Dar is a place for only a few. Meaning most people they know will never see it.
What an Adventure it was. Only one had ever been there before. You can imagine coming from a village of a few thousand people and going to a city of millions, how different it must be. None of them had ever seen a large plane. The jet we rode in held more than 150 passengers.
On the way from the airport to our guest house, they were calling family telling them that they had safely arrived. A couple of them said that they would never be able to cross the street on their own because of all the cars!
We had the privilege of visiting the Logos ship in the port of Dar Es Salaam. We had a personal tour and it was amazing for all of us. We left the ship and headed across the harbor on a ferry. This was one of the highlights for them all. Just a short crossing, but they were amazed at all the cars and people that crossed on the ferry daily.
Our destination was the southern beach of Dar. What fun it was for everyone to touch the ocean and taste it and feel the strong rip tide. We were fortunate to see a Starfish and watch someone kite boarding. We could have stayed at the beach much longer, but we knew the traffice jams would be long on the return trip, so we headed back. Yes, there was a lot of traffic. It took a couple hours to travel the 10-15 miles back, but it included another ferry ride. This time the ferry had to wait for a large container ship to come into the harbor. We were able to see a large ship close up!
The next day was full of tourist shopping with my US guests. The prices for tourists are always higher than normal prices in local markets. My staff was astounded at the high prices for normal things in the tourist sections. They were able to see how ebony carvers work and to see a real mall. Again they were overwhelmed and just followed. While trying to take in even half of the things they saw!
In the following days we were able to visit the fish market and taste some seafood and shrimp. The ladies took trip on local transport to visit some relatives that work there. The guys were able to visit the national football (soccer) stadium and watch a match! I was able to visit with family via video chatting.
The last day we were stuck working on my work permits and going back and forth to make copies and get things notarized. It took longer than expected but took us near a place where they were able to ride an escalator and elevator. We had a couple hours left to do some shopping in a busy section of town, known for it’s great deals. We split up but some of them were pretty nervous about being on their own.
We returned home and we were able to see some of the earth below us this time. 30,000+ ft in the air is hard to explain. After we landed, they were able to see the jet take back off. They were in awe at how fast it took off, saying that it never seemed to go that fast when we were inside!
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