Visit to the hospital

We woke up yesterday morning with no power in our little apartment. So far, in our experience in Tanzania, the power goes out regularly, so we didn't think anything of it. After an hour or so, I went outside and noticed that the air conditioning was running in the apartment next to us!

So I sent a message to our host, and he was on it right away. 

Here in Tanzania, every home has an electronic meter box that you have to purchase digital tokens for, and load them into your meter. When the tokens run out... so does your electricity. It took a half an hour or so, and then I saw a guy outside our window where the electric box is located... and seconds later the lights came on.

I turned our air conditioner on... but it didn't take long to realize that although the fan was running, it wasn't putting out any cold air. I tried all the different buttons, but it was definitely on the right setting. But, we left it for now because we were on our way to the hospital to check out the procedure for this Covid PCR test that we need for our flight on Sunday.

It was only a ten minute walk over to the big Muhimbili University Hospital. It's a huge campus, and very busy with lots of people around. Nothing to do with Covid... I would expect it's busy all the time. We put our masks on. We had no problem finding the Central Pathology Laboratories, and asked at the reception where to go for the Covid test. She directed us to a door at the other side of the building where there was a sign taped to the window saying "Covid Test for Travelers".

There were only two people waiting, and we went and spoke to the guy at the desk. He said we had to book online, and I knew that. The cost is 230,000 shillings ($125 CAD, $100 USD) each and they do not take credit cards. You have to pay through one of the cellular company billing systems, or cash at the NMB Bank.

I said our flight was on Sunday, and he said we should book our test for Friday. We can go in anytime between 8:00am and 5:00pm.

We left the hospital and went for a walk the opposite way down the coast. 

New bridge being built.

The new Selander Bridge is being built by a South Korean company. It's scheduled to be opened by October of this year, but I don't see that happening!

What the finished product is supposed to look like.

Looking back at Dar es Salaam.

At one end of the bridge construction.

Ships out at sea.

The area we walked through had lots of beautiful old homes, most of them belonging to embassies.

Nice tree covered street.

Back at the apartment, I tried once again to get the air conditioner to blow some cold air, but with no luck. So I contacted our host again, and he said he would send someone over. It didn't take long when a guy showed up. He hit all the same buttons that I did, and came to the same conclusion that I did! He said they would get a repair guy.

Then, I went to the Tanzania government Covid test booking website. It was surprisingly efficient! You put in your passport number and personal information, and choose the location you want to have the test done. It then assigns you a control number, and you use that control number to pay your bill electronically. The test results are linked to your passport, and are available electronically to the staff at the airport.

So today we have to go get some cash, and then tomorrow at 8:00am we will go get our test samples done.

Around 5pm there was a knock at the door. It was the a/c repair guy! He poked around at the outside of the unit for a half an hour or so, and I glanced out every now and again to see what he was doing. He has some of it taken apart and it looked like he changed some kind of capacitor. He came inside and turned it on, and it was blowing cold air!

Nice!

We left things to cool off and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Ruth had the prawns (shrimp).

And I had spicy chicken and chips.

Almost everything in Tanzania is served with "chips"... or french fries as we call them. Up until we arrived here, it had been years since I had french fries. I actually enjoyed them the first few times we had them, but I'm tired of them now. But the chicken was quite good, and Ruth enjoyed the shrimp.

Total bill for the two of us was 24,000 shillings ($13 CAD, $10.35 USD) including tip and two soft drinks.

So, today we are off to the bank to get some cash to pay for our tests. 

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