Day 60. November 3: Taking Care of Business

After breakfast this morning (again with fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee, and home-made bread!), we spoke to a safari operator who was sent straight to our door by Jan. His name was Abu, and while he came highly recommended in terms of knowledge about the animals, he was sub-par from a business standpoint. He seemed unsure of what to charge us, and finally said that we should 'drop by' his office, 4 km from there. We said we'd think about it.

We all got ready, then walked into town. Karla and I tried to figure out flights from Arusha to Dar for Friday (when we're flying out), while the boys talked to more safari companies. Karla and I settled on taking an Air Tanzania flight, but halfway through the transaction, we realized that Air Tanzania only takes cash. Jeez! So we had to walk about 5 min away to find an ATM that deals with more than just Visa, then stood in line for about 7 min to use the machine. But when it was our turn, the ATM didn't work, so we had to go across the street and wait on an even longer line (about 30 min) to use that machine. Luckily it worked!

We found the boys on our way back to Air Tanzania and they told us to wait to buy our tickets, because they found a safari operator that was also a travel agent and could get us a discount. (Don't worry, the operator was recommended by our guide book as a legitimate business!) We ended up being able to plan out our ideal safari with them and negotiate a price below what we'd been quoted before. We were sold! We were scheduled to leave the next morning at 7.

The company took us in one of their safari cars to the bank, then to the airline company to buy our tickets. Our important items of business taken care of, we parted ways with the boys again, this time to do some khanga-shopping. We realized very quickly, however, that our two items of business (khanga-shopping and going to the hospital) were in exact opposite directions, and that we were likely to miss the doctor if we waited much longer. So we headed toward home, arriving at the hospital in the nick of time to see the doctor to make sure we were 100% healthy, and to get a note from him to justify our flight change to the insurance company. Phew.

We walked back toward town, and this time were receptive to a young man who approached us, asking if we wanted to see his fabric shop. It was a bit of a hike, but it we both ended up finding almost exactly what we were looking for, and left happy.

Back at home, we freshened up and helped with dinner. Jan had of course prepared yet another extravagant meal, which we enjoyed with one guest who might be a contact for Graham and Chris to start volunteering. When the guest left, we were all in a jovial mood and danced for a while before packing for the safari and heading off to bed.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry