It seemed like home...for a few minutes

Dar Es Salaam is not a cosmopolitan city the way Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Sydney, Moscow or Bangkok would be considered. It doesn’t conjure up images of a mysterious far off land the way “Cairo” or “Shanghai” does in the minds of Westerners. Instead it generally elicits the response...where the hell is that? I personally use two litmus tests when determining the sophistication of a foreign city:

1) Have any fashion designers ever splashed the name “Dar Es Salaam” across a tote bag or watch?

2) Has it ever been the back drop for a Bond/Mission Impossible/Bourne type of action adventure?

So now you don’t have to feel bad for having no clue where this city of between 3-4 million is located.

While the majority of folks that live here today were born and raised in the East African Nation of Tanzania, there are some ex-pats present and the bit of capitalism that is here has responded with services clearly designed for Muzingas (white folks). So far I have yet to enjoy most of these services but I do hope to in the coming days...particularly the book store and cafes I have read about. But I did make it to the grocery store today...and it was like walking down memory lane from previous travels.

I think the buyer for the store surveyed every pale face they found in town and enquired as to their favourite foods to purchase – he then scoured the world for these products and placed them in the store. This is the only explanation I can find this grocery store that has a proliferation of unusual sauces for marinade, imported chocolate and copious volumes of foreign alcohol but only 3 loaves of bread.

I amused myself by wandering the aisles after I was done shopping, but waiting for my housemates to finish up, and took photos of goods from far off lands (it was an attempt to stop shopping - it didn’t work...I still walked away with far more then I needed...honestly this place had the same effect as a Target does to me in the US).

The store clearly meets the intended market, the aisles are full of pale faces and judging by the languages and accents I overheard – a global audience. (There must be a thriving Australian community somewhere for I can’t imagine anyone else buying vegemite) I was even able to find some Aero chocolate bars, Smarties and Canadian Maple Syrup products.

So for a few minutes today there was a little glimpse of home, grocery shopping for familiar products, it felt very normal – until you walk into the parking lot and a Masai Herdsmen helps you load your groceries.