Road Trip to Dodoma

Road trip time! While we have been trying to socially distance as we can (social distancing is not really a thing here, and we are only at the early stages of the pandemic here, unlike the US), the Allisons and I are all still trying to get our residence permits (still...I've only lived here a year and a half...), and one of our current issues is that our work visas we got last year are not coded correctly for the type of residence permit we need.  Fielden has been on the phone with the labour department in the capital city, Dodoma, but it's hard to get much done over the phone here.  Without school, we've got plenty of time anyhow, so the Allisons decided to just drive down to Dodoma and ask at the office in person, and invited me along. 

It's about a six-hour drive to Dodoma.  Dodoma is not a huge town; the capital was moved there from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's biggest city, a few years back because Dodoma is so centrally located.  Dar es Salaam is on the coast, which made for quite a trip from the western parts of the country.  The highways only pass through one city of any real size on the way, Babati.  Other than that, the scenery is rural countryside.  I took these picture from where we stopped alongside the road in case anyone needed to use a bush.  

We packed our lunches to eat along the way so we didn't have to stop; I had peanut butter crackers and yogurt and we bought some bananas along the way.  

I took some photos of the streets of Dodoma as we arrived; I took them through the car window from the backseat so sorry about the reflections.  We were fortunate to have beautiful weather for our drive (not a given in April, the middle of rainy season).

Above, I didn't get a good picture of the parliament buildings, but here's a photo of the entrance to the Bunge (parliament) complex. 

We went directly to the labour department office.  We got the information we needed, but unfortunately, we can't get our work permits corrected until we have a certain document that is dependent on the school finishing an audit that has been put on hold due to the coronavirus closures.  Maybe someday...

Although our trip didn't yield the results we hoped for, it was really nice to get out of Monduli and it was a beautiful drive.  After we left the labour department, we went to Dodoma's new Shoppers (one of the small chain of grocery stores that we often shop at in Arusha).  They had the chocolate that I like that the Arusha Shoppers' had been out of, and a new flavour of Doritos, as well as a few other things that I picked up.  

Below, some of the items in the bakery at Shoppers.  I'm not sure Americans would always recognize things that are labeled American, and I'm not sure they quite understand the meaning of the word pie, but they tried.  We decided to just buy some snacks to eat for supper rather than trying to find a restaurant, especially as the Allisons are older and trying to wear masks when in public spaces when it's necessary to be in public.  I bought a little mini pizza (edible) and a spring roll (not edible), and I have some bananas as well as the chips and chocolate I bough just to stock up, so I've got plenty to munch on if I want it.

We stayed the night at the Zebra Lodge, which the Allisons had stayed at on a previous trip and liked.  It was clean and comfortable and had a gated area to park, so it was fine, although my shower didn't work.  I was looking forward to a real shower since I take showers with a bucket at home, but oh well. 

We checked in and sat around reading on the front patio for a while, but we still had a nice afternoon and we weren't ready to eat the snacks we'd bought at Shoppers for our supper yet, so we went on a walk through the nearby neighbourhood.  

Here's my room for the night.  It was nice to be in a city, as I had really good phone service.  I never could quite figure out the lights, though; the bathroom had a normal light, but the room seemed to only have an odd red bulb (trust me, it's not the red light district ;) ).  The room had an air conditioner, but it didn't seem to actually be cooling much, but it also had a ceiling fan which was plenty to be comfortable. I had a pretty good night, and we'll be up for the provided breakfast tomorrow and then drive back to Monduli.