Friday April 25th 2008: From Funga Funga to Mvomero and then off to Dar Es Salaam

This morning I wait for the truck to come back from Funga Funga to pick up Amos, Heather and the other boy whose name I don’t know. When the truck arrives, only Amos and Heather are in there. I find out that the other boy wishes to stay in Funga Funga as it is close to town. He likes to beg and go out for drinks. Mvomero is in the countryside, so there is not much nightlife, and the Amani centre is a religious organization so there are strict rules to abide if he moves there.
So, with Heather, Amos, Mama Bakhita and myself in the pick up truck, a new mattress and equipment in the back, we head out to Mvomero. 40 minutes later we arrive. As usual, we get a very warm greeting. We show Amos his new room. He smiles but you can tell he feels a bit shy and shell shocked as this is a completely different environment… in a good way. Mvomero is a beautiful and peaceful place. The Amani property is surrounded by mountains. There is a garden and a little further away fields. I really love it there. As Heather and I approach our departure to take a bus to Dar Es Salaam, Amos has already struck up a conversation with one of the local able youths who works at Mvomero. So we leave, curious about how he will adapt but also excited about our journey up North via Dar Es Salaam.
As usual, the Dalla Dalla ride to the bus station is scary. 2 of them (ours included) are racing and taking over each other with very little space.
We get on the bus to Dar Es Salaam and arrive at night only to be greeted by aggressive taxi drivers who grab our bags. My first impression of Dar as we drive to the WMCA is that it is a grim city and for the first time since my arrival in Tanzania, I feel a real assault to my senses and actually quite unsafe. I realize I am very happy now to have a travel companion. Heather is 24 and from Canada where she works as a nurse. She has a good sense of humor and so far we have had a good laugh and have bonded over our love of coffee!
We arrive at the YMCA and take the cheapest room, a whopping 7 dollars a night. The room is basically a dirty dark closet and we laugh as we have also just had a harrowing cab ride to get there.
We please ourselves by having a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant overlooking the grim harbor. I order a Thai beef salad and chew on the spiciest pepper I have ever had. My nostrils don’t quite recover all through dinner but it still feels nice to relax.