to Amsterdam and Dar es Salaam

June 21
My trip to Dar es Salaam was a good day to forget. The airport confused my middle and last name and sloowwwllly located my ticket - found it about 5 minutes before boarding, so I ran to the plane. Ten hours later, when I got to Dar es Salaam, the immigration officials gave us trouble for 1 1/2 hours, and then my main bag was missing. (I got it two days later, and the lock was cut off – luckily nothing is missing) The redeeming part of the journey was flying over the expansive desert of the Sudan, a stunning field of peach lined at the horizon by a white glow [see picture]. For dinner I had a spicy brown-yellow curry with ugali – maize meal – a sort of white corn porridge that stands alone – almost like a huge dumpling.



June 20
It was pleasantly easy to ditch my stuff in the airport locker. On the train to Amsterdam I met a shy lanky fella from a small Norwegian town who studies logistics. At some point along the way he confided in me that his big goal in life was to become a “real” American – by his definition, that meant becoming a Texan! Can anyone explain that one? Central Station in Amsterdam is in an attractive old building [picture posted]. On the way to my hostel I got lost (didn’t know that the other side of the canal was considered the other side of the street) and wandered into the University of Amsterdam. There I found some sculptures and a colorful graffiti wall with bushes beneath lined by student bikes. Since I only had a few hours to visit all of Amsterdam, I asked a this ruddy cheeked man at the desk for some help. He said walk, and circled what he thought were the best spots around town – and so I did – I walked for 6 hours strait. I saw the red light district, the manicured lawn of the National Museum, canals, 16th century houses with horizontal line designs and functional architecture of glass and metallic tubing, a park at the film museum and what they call the “flower market”, rows and rows of bulbs and flowering plants. Bicycle was by far the chosen transportation – kids, parents, businessmen on bikes, even couples walking their dogs on bikes! People were polite too, I couldn’t take a picture without stopping the whole parade of people walking the sidewalks – I’d wave one on, and the next little group would stop – along with everyone behind them. That would never! happen in New York City. At night the red light district and surrounding area was quite a spectacle – I won’t give all the details here – but besides the girls, the small cobble-stoned streets were overwhelmed by wall-sized world-cup soccer games and waves of cheering fans. The local food seemed rather generally European – a lot of good bread, cheese and olives. At night there was a choice between falafel, Chinese, and waffles covered in sugary icing (banana, strawberry, hazelnut, chocolate…) I went for a second outing with a Spanish group I ran into at the hostel & it’s amazing – at 2am there is nobody left in Amsterdam – not even drunks in the gutter… (1am the bar closes) – from sin city to ghost town in 1 hour flat.



June 19
I hurried around the day I left over-thinking the details – will I need a razor if there won’t be a hair salon? On the way to Amsterdam, my ride didn’t come, but the flight was fine – I thoroughly learned about my new camera and got to know a couple of young German punk rockers sitting next to me. They were having some relationship drama, so I’m glad I had my camera to occupy me, and Clint Eastwood to teach me French on the video screen in front of me. If you were worried, don’t, by the end of the flight they’d kissed and made up ;)