Getting around in Kiliminjaro

Well, I did it. I took the Daladala home yesterday from Moshi. It was quite an interesting and even fun experience. The Daladala refers to the van/bus that Tanzanians use for inter and intra-city travel. It is basically a minivan which comfortably seats about 13 people. It's really cheap (20 cents)and goes everywhere all the time, except maybe late at night.

So yesterday I climbed in and got myself a comfy seat near the door. It looked to me as though there were three empty spots were a person could sit, so I didn't expected much of a wait. The daladalas won't leave until the van is stuffed. Three poeople got on a minute or so later, and I thought to myself, "Oh, good. It's full. We'll be leaving now." But we cotinued to wait. Then three more people got on and I thought, "Now it's really is full. Off we go!" Well I went through this process about five times as more and more people entered the van and moved to the back black hole that was the back of the bus. When we finally left, we had about thirty passengers, a number of whom had to stand hunched over filling up every inch of space in the van.

The good thing about the daladala's is that they are so weighed down with humanity and therefore have to drive slowly, so I wasn't so worried about traffic accidents (as I usually am) The ride took about 20 minutes through town and then on the highway. You inform the condutor who stands near the door with his body hanging out through the window when you want to stop and he pounds on the van so the driver knows to stop. It was a great adventure and now that I know how to ride the daladala, I will take it more often.

Daladala, I am told comes from "dollar dollar" which is what the conductors used to yell out the windows to attract passengers, although a dollar is way too much for a doladola these days.