We arrived back in Dar Christmas Eve and were greeted by Cristiano at the apartment. I was so thrilled to see that he was doing so much better and he told us that he found out he suffered a slight case of pneumonia. I was so happy to see him on the road to recovery and back to his usual witty, hilarious self. Apparently, the power had been out in the apartment building for about 8 hours by that point and it showed no sign of returning any time soon. Power outages are common in Tanzania and Ethiopia for that matter, but the lack of power is more immediately noticeable in Tanzania where the simmering heat needs to be offset by the cooling effects of fans or AC.
While Christmas Eve is typically associated with sleeplessness in children excited at the prospect of Santa’s arrival and opening presents Christmas morning, my sleeplessness had no similar cause. I was hot and sticky and unable (even with my tendency to fall asleep in any situation) to sleep soundly. However, as any good Christmas film, we were awakened Christmas morning by the flicker of lights and the humming of the overhead ceiling fan. I jumped up, yelped for joy, and ran out into the living room where I met Cristiano and Roanna. I screamed while jumping up and down that it was a Christmas miracle – the power was back – a Christmas miracle! In hindsight, it may seem foolish, but at that moment, the return of the power seemed like the most perfect Christmas gift.
We decided that we would walk around downtown for Christmas Day and visit the Dar Es Salaam fish market. En route, we enjoyed fresh coconut water from a roadside vendor. The fish market was as expected – a bevy of activity – with a smell that marked its presence from a mile away. The sticky heat and the smelly fish made for quite the combination – but it was so interesting to see the hub-bub in this central marketplace (which admittedly was quieter than usual given that it was Christmas day). We then walked further downtown, past the Court of Appeal and past the Tanzanian Bank Building which is quite the institution in Tanzania not because of any particular architectural feat or historical significance, but because it cost more to build than the World Trade Center. Now, let me just say, that this is not an exceptionally tall or unique building. I found out that the building was so expensive to build because so much money was expended in bribes, construction delays, etc. etc. I believe I have a photo of this glass building in my Dar photo-album.
We decided that we would have a fancy lunch in honour of our Christmas in Dar. We went to one of the fanciest hotels in Dar - the Kempinski Kilimanjaro – and enjoyed a lovely meal at the Oriental Restaurant including a delectable chocolate dessert to cap off the meal. Before our lunch, we came across a Santa Claus in the lobby and we had our photo taken with him. Let me just say that Santa was working out too much this year – because he was not sporting his trade-mark belly. Santa was skinny! (See our photo with Santa and decide for yourselves).
On Christmas evening, we assembled at Cristiano’s apartment and cooked dinner for a group of friends. We had a decidedly East Indian meal including chic peas curry (chole), basmati / carrot rice, and cucumber and tomato raita. We feasted on Purdy’s chocolate (from Vancouver – thanks to Cristiano) and oatmeal raisin and cinnamon cookies (from Addis). All the while, surrounded by laughter and food and friends and our mini-Christmas tree supplied by our friend Taya, I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Christmas, so far away from home, while completely different, was still very special. Merry Christmas indeed!
