Well, the Fourth of July was pretty uneventful. This photo above is from the US embassy on America's day-after-Indepdence-Day: July 5th. How did Dar do on the more typical July 4th holiday checklist?
- Hotdogs? Negative.
- Fruit-based red, white, blue baked goods? Nope.
- Watch baseball or any of the news coverage on Americans “being American”? Nada.
I woke up around 8am – went for a longer run around the Peninsula and stopped at a local shop to buy my vegetables and bare-bones staples for the week. I returned home to finish reading a book on our porch, prepared a salad (takes about an hour of step-wise treatment to get the lettuce from “local” to “edible”), and caught up on the news from traveling last week. Perhaps I was a lazy American, but it was pretty boring for America’s birthday.
The crew of TechnoServe had planned on going to the 4th of July party at Trinity Hotel – we arrived by 10:30pm and we doubled the attendance. It was slow to start. Really slow. As in, I don’t think you could register it as a party until about 1am – but then it picked up with lightning speed.
Highlights from the party include:
- Met a guy who is here for a 3-week celebration of his sister’s wedding. That’s right, a 3-week wedding. He has some friends who run a hotel down in the Selous Game Park – a small group of us from TechnoServe might go visit the park and meet up with this guy and his friends. Details to be worked out in daylight.
- Observed a token Rastafarian dance to his own music sorta near the bar but not really on the dancefloor. I hope he didn’t have to pay the cover charge as every party here seems to have its token Rastafarian – just doesn’t seem right otherwise and is a good counter-balance to the working lady population.
- Met a US Marine who is stationed at the US Embassy. He offered to take a friend and I for a run after again advising me not to run solo. Our trio ran the next day at a good, slow pace with decent sight-seeing. The six Marines stationed here share a small motor-boat called “Dar She Blows”. Ha.
- The owners of the bar decked the place out with strips of red, white and blue bunting – it looked great and they definitely catered to the ex-pat crowd. Around 2am – when the party was at full force with no sign of stopping – the party looked like what many US clubs strive to be. They’d be smart to keep up the Red, White and Blue décor as France’s Bastille Day is only 2 weeks away and it rarely rains. Might as well maximize the decoration!
We ended the night around 3am – although the party momentum was definitely still going. This shindig certainly lived up to its hype.
The 5th of July was truly a Tanz-American celebration.
A small group of us then ventured to the Saba Saba market festival. Saba Saba is technically July 7th (Saba means seven in Kiswahili) but the festival lasts for about a week. If this festival had a theme, that theme would be chaos.
Here are a few observations from our fieldtrip to the fairgrounds:
- Budget-friendly entry fee. 2,000 TSH. About $1.75. Nice and low barrier to entry. This worked to enable all Tanzanians to attend b/c it was PACKED.
- Plastic things. While you could buy metal security doors, fresh juice, semi-groun coffee, handi-crafts, cell phones, etc. at this fair – the prevailing good of popularity was plastic. Plastic chairs. Plastic bins. Plastic trays. You name it, it’s in plastic and people were buying. The local Tanzanian brand, “Cello” would have had a big day on the Tanzanian stock market. That said, it’s not listed (only 14 stocks are), but should be due to sheer market presence. Tanzanians do not need to be convinced that plastic is their way to the future.
- Coffee. Tanzania makes great coffee. I usually don’t drink coffee – but I had some that comes from the Kilimanjaro region – which was great tasting and makes for easy marketing. Who doesn’t like Kilimanjaro?
- Herbs. Herbs were available for purchase to cure anything. There was the “avoid malaria” herb – not malarone, but who am I to judge. There were performance herbs and calmness herbs. There was also the HIV prevention herb. That was disheartening.
- Honey. There was a lot of it for sale; it was a funky color. No purchasing by this crew.
- African salad spoons. Kelly and I each bought a pair of matching African salad spoons – large wooden spoons w/ cool detail on the handle. I would say they are authentic and not “Afri-crap” spoons except that locals don’t really eat salads. However, they look classy in that Pier One / Pottery Barn Out-of-Africa theme way; works for me.
After investing our time in local culture, we went to the US Embassy for their 4th of July celebration. Mind you that the party hosted on July 4th was black-tie and invite only for staff and local government officials (our tax dollars hard at work) --- but they did let the crazy American public inside the embassy gates for some fabricated fun for July 5th.
Kelly, Sarah, Me, and Chrissy with an oddly placed replica of New York's tallest Lady
The embassy is a huge complex – its sand-colored buildings contrast nicely with the palm trees and green grass – it’s a nice place. They served burgers, fries and popcorn – featuring fireworks just after dusk. It was sorta strange to look around knowing that everyone had to show a US passport to enter – but it also reminds you that there is a thriving ex-pat community here, albeit small. Fireworks finally felt festive – and I respect the fact that they had the appropriate Bruce Springsteen / Neil Diamond / God Bless America soundtrack to really drive home the patriotism.
After the fun, we returned to the realities of Dar, trying to get taxis to come pick us up – “Yes, come to Embassy Merikani” – and negotiate the price on how to get home.
It was a memorable 5th of July to say the least. :)
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