Name: Hotel Destefanos
Where: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Double: 20,000 Tanzania Shilling (16,5 USD) bed and breakfast
6 December 2006. 'Do you like it?" My wife Mariam is smiling very wide above a bowl of hoof soup. She"s laughing when I describe the stuff as a rubber based compound with the taste of tyre solution. We"re in Destefanos Hotel in Dar es Salaam, in the middle of Kariokoo estate. We came here by foot, like you discover most good things in life on foot, and not knowing where you are going. It happened when my wife Mariam and me left the Durban Hotel in Dar es Salaam (Kariokoo as well). Their service was not too good, the room too small, and too humid. Maybe it was because we arrived there late by a far too expensive taxi. 'Where are we going?" asked Mariam the next morning when we were pulling our suit cases over an unpaved road in Kariakoo, known for its thieves and other petty criminals. 'I don"t know,' I replied. 'Another hotel,' I said, wondering why we always end up places like this, which actually are quite nice. On every odd metre of the narrow streets there is some business housed in a shack covered with corrugate metal sheets. The make shift walls are blue and it"s incredible how versatile these constructions prove. There are salons where women have their hair braided, kiosks with milk, matches, Coca Cola, bananas, and on top of that scratch cards. At some points there are restaurants, referred to as hotels where the smell of goat is sneaking through the front door curtains.

CNN

While walking for five minutes, and complaining about the weight of our luggage we discovered a brand new building with stained glass windows. Hotel Destefanos it shouts from a huge sign board. Why not? It"s always nice to step through silver stained glass doors, and see what shows up on the other side. In this case it was a small reception with a big television, a flowery sofa set with some silent men, and two ladies smiling and working on their nails. Above their heads was the image of CNN, the only channel they seem to offer in hotels. 'Yes," said the one lady in a white shirt, which was holding her breasts tight together. She kept filing her nails. 'We have a double available for 15,000 Tanzania Shilling. There is also the executive." The last word of her sentence was pronounced a bit slower. The price was just 5,000 Shilling higher. So we went, and happily this time it was on the second floor. Don"t know why, but many hotel receptionists tend to book you as high as possible. Unless you like this exercise it"s okay, but I and certainly Mariam don"t.

The executive

She smiled when the bell boy carried our huge bag against the stairs, containing my camera stand and all that. Travelling light doesn"t mean things can"t be heavy. We were in Dar es Salaam for reports of which we didn"t know the subject yet. The same concept applies here, the best things happen when you"re not prepared. We just took a bus from Nairobi to see what would come up on the way. We booked the standard room, but when the lady upstairs handed out the key, we noticed another room with the door open; the e-xe-cu-ti-ve. It was spacy, and it even had air-conditioning. So we decided to grab it. It was like they stacked a suite into one room. It had a twin bed, a table and a television, but also an Indian styled sofa set with a glass coffee table.

Roof terrace

The shower though appeared to be cold. Mariam told me later that they still had to fix the hot water. The room would be good for work. The first thing to do was finalizing the editing of a report on tuberculosis I took from Kenya. Mariam had some discuss business proposals to for her sister in Zambia. Editing from the room can easily be romantised, but it"s a lonely process with no feedback on what you're doing. As usually when thinking I am staring through the window, and here from Destefanos I enjoyed the view on unfinished multi story buildings. Judging from the drying lines parts were already inhabited. Laundry swaying in the breeze always gives these building their colour. The editing went well, and Mariam returned. Then we took the stairway to the roof terrace. Here from the sixth floor the view is stunningly wide.

Warm beer

Don"t know how we managed but when we reached from all the mosques around the call for prayers started. We were here right in the month of Maulid, the celebration of the prophet Mohamed"s birthday. It"s not exactly clear on which day the prophet was born, so it seems that"s why the celebration takes a whole month, to make sure that his birthday is some how included. At least that"s my theory which I didn"t present to Mariam yet, she being a Muslim. Also I became careful, because I noticed that it"s difficult to ask Muslims questions about their faith. It"s a delicate matter, which easily can lead to misunderstandings, don"t know why. The view over the corrugated roofs is deep, and stunning. We decided to have a beer for sun downer. It's a beautiful sight to see the night slowly covering the roofs with patches of darkness. Mariam is taking a warm beer, which is custom in Africa, and me (like a Westener) a cold one. You have to tell the waiter which one you like, otherwise they bring you warm. I do that, and even in Europe I started to mention cold or warm when ordering, which the waiters find funny. Think it has something to do with saving energy. In Europe we are used to take hot showers and cold beer, here they prefer cold showers and warm beer. In both cases you save energy. We"re enjoying the beer in the warm breeze on the roof.

Hoof soup

The waiter also happens to be the cook, and he"s preparing food in the open kitchen. The only thing we can see is smoke emerging from the charcoal stove. He is stirring throug a huge pan. 'Shall we take a soup?" Mariam asks. She hauls the waiter who inmediately leaves the pan, as if he is happy to leave it behind. 'Do you have bone soup?" Mariam asks in Kiswahili, the national tongue in Tanzania. The man replies with a long sentence, while he is holding a wooden tray with serviettes. 'They only have hoof soup," Mariam translates for me, with a big smile. 'Bring it on," I say, wondering how that would sound in a movie. The television above our head is showing some East African rappers on the wildly famous Channel 5.

Maulid

The sun is down now, and in the middle of the corrugate roofs there is a patch of light, a bit too small to really see. There are men in long white dresses walking rounds, and people sitting around them. Didn"t mind to go downstairs to the room to get the video camera. It has a good zoom, and now Mariam and me could see what was happening there. In the view finder we can see the men have beards and small white caps. They"re singing to the people sitting. 'They"re celebrating maulid," says Mariam. We decided to switch off the camera, otherwise it would have been reli-peeping. The waiter is now bringing the hoof soup. It"s not my cup of tea, but still I enjoy it in the warm breeze on the roof of Destefanos. The best things in life you discover by foot, not knowing where...