Vacation (PART 2)

10/14/05

This morning I had to go to the bank and cash some traveler's checks. I was down to $6 and still needed to pay for my room. And of course, my larger mission was to research Kilimanjaro Trekking companies and find a reputable group leaving the next morning, at a reasonable rate. I got to the bank and it wasn't open yet, so I walked up to the Tourist Board office to get a list of all the companies to call. The touts were already all over me, telling me to book with this place or that. I told them all No and made my way up to the office only to find out it was closed as well. Then a tout told me that it was a first annual national holiday, a day of remembrance for Nyerere. It sounded so suspicious (a first annual holiday?) that I didn't believe it, but my fears were confirmed when I got back down to the bank and it was still closed. Now how the fuck are you supposed to book a Kili trek when you have negative $4 and it's a damn holiday?

To make a long story short, I used the ATM to pull out $40 (I'm surprised I still remember my pin it's been so long), I paid for the room and then found an internet café, made up a list of operators using traveler recommendations, bought a phone card and called all of the companies until I found one that had a trek leaving the next day, and was reasonably priced (actually, surprisingly reasonable.) They even came and picked me up from Arusha and brought me to Moshi. They brought me to the office and briefed me and then dropped me off at the hotel, the room is included in the package, and I assumed it would be only slightly better than Hotel 7-11, but it's actually nice… And tomorrow we begin.

BACK