8.11.10 Dar Es Salaam
An exhausting night spent on the S.S. Flying Horse ferry from Zanzibar to mainland Tanzania...mass crowds and a near-riot at the gates to the pier, pushing past the crowds to board a boat to be sheparded into the dank, dark crew's quarters instead of the paid for "VIP" section with actual places to sleep; making a racket, American style, pushing past the guards stating that the section was "full" to be standing in front of a Colonel and two of his guards, machine guns drawn, eyes blood shot, liquor breath, who had comindeered the VIP section for themselves...this is Africa I think to myself...one cannot argue with a man with a loaded weapon in his face, the ultimate conversation ender, if you will...stumbling off the ferry at the break of dawn into early-morning Dar Es Salaam, slaloming past taxi touts with the skill of a downhill racer, beginning a desperate search for coffee and sustinence...flight doesnt depart the continent until 4am, meaning I have 22 hours to kill, no small task in this place....
