Prof Huster

The Trip to Tanzania

We left Pittsburgh Thursday at 1:50 in the afternoon and landed in Dar es Salaam about 27 hours later at about 10 PM local time. We stopped in Atlanta, Amsterdam, and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Yes, it was too long in cramped airplanes, but they fed us well (twice) on the long flights. I was bringing a telescope along, so we had to lug a 68 pound case with the telescope and a 3 and 1/2 foot long box with the tripod in addition to our luggage.

A funny story about out luggage. When we were waiting to get off the plane in Atlanta we were watching out the window as all of the luggage was being taken off of the plane. The telescope came down the ramp and the baggage handler, a big guy, lifted it, then threw it perfectly about six feet through the air and it landed perfectly on its side and slid into its place on the cart. It was amazing to watch him throw piece after piece of luggage and have each one go exactly where he wanted it. But I joked about my flying telescope for the rest of the trip. I haven't check it since we arrived, but the case is designed for this telescope, so it should be ok.

(If you are wondering about the details, the telescope is an 8 inch Meade LX-200GPS. It is a very nice computerized telescope, so it will give spectacular views of Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon, and other celestial objects. The case is made by JMI.)

A driver picked us up at the airport in Dar and drove us to the Serena Hotel, a very nice hotel in the downtown. We did not sleep much on the flight, so Kim and I both slept soundly Friday night. In the morning we had a nice breakfast buffet with cooked-to-order omelets at the hotel, then a driver picked us up at 10 for the hour and 45 minute drive to Bagamoyo.

Dar (short for Dar es Salaam) is a big dirty city, and Bagamoyo is 37 miles from Dar. The road is paved, but the driving is slow. There are lots of shops almost the whole way along the highway and many people walking, shopping, riding bicycles, motorcycles and just sitting around. The speed limit was mostly 50 or 60 kilometer per hour (33 or 37 mph), so it just took a long time. The police were very active at speed traps, so no cars or trucks were speeding, but motorcycles zipped by a lot.

The official language of Tanzania is Swahili, and that is the preferred language of the people here. Everyone takes English in high school, but most people are not fluent. Our driver talked most of the way but he was hard to understand and kept saying the same things over and over. Hmm. Kim says the same things about me talking.

20 Dollars is 20 Dollars, except when ...

When we got to the Stella Maris Hostel, I had to pay the driver $50, so I gave him two 20's and a ten. Then the driver and the hotel clerk had a discussion about the bills and the driver rejected two of them. I got upset. The driver claimed the YEARS on the bills were not good for the bank to accept. Sure enough in tiny print each bill has a year of its series printed on the front at the bottom of the person's head and to the right. He claimed that the year 2006 was no good, but 2003 was OK. I argued a for a few minutes then dug into my stash of cash and found a twenty and a ten that were OK. Later Zarek, one of the persons helping with the Maymester, confirmed the story. Even though in the US we never pay attention to the series year printed on our bills, some years have been counterfeited in Africa, so those series are sometimes not accepted for payment. This never came up during our December trip, so I guess I will have to pay closer attention and see if this happens again.

The Rest of Saturday

Our room is on the second to the top floor of the Hotel, and all of the rooms have nice views along the coast, either north or south. The Internet access goes on and off and is slow in general, but the rooms are clean and air-conditioned. There are small thatched open-roofed huts along the beach for outdoor dining and hanging out, so Kim and I met the two Duquesne staff that are here to be the resident directors for the students met us for lunch. We sat in a hut and ordered lunch. There was a big event going on so it took about an hour to get our food. Not a problem (people really say Hakuna Mata here!), and not a surprise. We were just talking about the Maymester any way. Life is slow here, people are not in a hurry, so I will have to adjust. It is their country and culture, not mine, so I should be the one adapting.

Sunrise, Sunset and the Length of the Day

We spent the afternoon settling into our room. We will keep the room for three weeks, so we started unpacking and took naps. The sun set very quickly at about 6:30 PM. Since we are near the equator (6 degrees South) the sunrise and sunset times only vary by 39 minutes over the course of the year. Basically if you say the Sun rises at 6:15 AM and sets at sets at 6:30 PM and the day is 12:15 minutes long, you are within 15 minutes of being correct any day of the year. Very different than in Pittsburgh!

Dinner and the End of the Day

We met for dinner at 7:30 PM. Since it was after dark, we put on insect repellent. Ryan, Zarek, Kim and I were joined by Samuel for a long meal. The culture and atmosphere are very relaxed, and it was late before we went back to our rooms. I popped up awake at 3:30 AM, probably due to jet lag, so I am composing this in the dark.

Ryan and Zarek are leaving at noon to meet the students when they arrive, so Kim and I will have a day and a half to ourselves.

That is all for now.

- Michael -