When wazungus went to Kariakoo

Yesterday was supposed to be an easy day. Easy Sunday. I had agreed with my friend Nina that we go to Logos Hope (without kids, since they went with school) to grab some books. Maybe pass by Kariakoo to find some back bags for my boys, since I've been planning to do so for about a year. For those of you who don't know Kariakoo, it's CHAOS and then some. To the point where most of us with white skin avoid going there.. at least without an escort. But we are brave and usually our outings go nice and smooth... Sunday was not one of those days.

Since I still don't have my Tanzanian licence and this requires driving through the city, we agreed, as usual, that she comes to pick me up with her car at 11. 10:50 she calls. They had just realized that her car is out of oil - this was the first sign to give up. But why, oh, why would we??

She then tried her husbands car, that for some odd reason didn't start. Which resulted in me hopping behind the wheel... We could've understood that this is sign no. 2. But no giving up: we made a plan and we will stick to it. The drive was easy enough, and no one asked for my licence and I even found parking in a second so we parked, locked the car, and headed happily for the shop. I found awesome bags for boys and bargained like a true Tanzanian and was happy with the result. Part 1 done, now lets head to the boat for some book shopping.... Car hadn't been stolen, mirrors were all there, no bumps or scratches. I would call this trip to Kariakoo a success.. Except that when we tried to open it, it didn't. Open. Kabisa. At that point, what else can you do than laugh.... This area which is known for it's car thieves and we can't get into ours.. Luckily this is Tanzania so help is always near - within minutes there were about a team of 7 guys trying to open the lock. We had to endure also seven questions of "did you try the other door???" as if we have no brain, but hey they were helping so I was not going to complain. Eventually they concluded that even if a man no 7 tries with the key we are not getting the lock open. This is where it got interesting...

"mama.." - they start - and continue with swahili so fast that I can't keep up... Slowly please, tell me the plan.

Then this happened:





And about two minutes later we were driving off...

TIA - TIT. Help is always near, and if you have to get locked out of your car, Kariakoo might be the best place in the world to do so..

By the way, we got to Logos Hope in the end and kids got so many books to last couple of birthdays and Christmas.

Not a day I will forget soon. Life is never boring in Tanzania.