photoaday

first- the greatest mustache in the world.
second- my sweet tanzanian visa.
third- the best jersey!

this photo was taken in arusha, tanzania. my friends and i were just driving through saying hi to a friend's friend who worked in the city. since where we were going was very remote, we decided to get some cash out of the ATM. there are not many ATMs around, so we waited in line for a 1/2 hour, and even then our host could only get a few dollars out of his new account, something about his card not being fully activated or something. anyway, once the 8 of us were finished at the bank, we headed back to our van. crossing the main street i noticed someone talk to my host, and didn't think much of it because people talk to us all the time "hey, give me money, give me your shirt", stuff like that. but he looks like a local so it was a little strange that this guy was hassling him instead of me. just as i thought that, the guy turned to me and said- "show me your passport".
"hahahaa" was my response. i mean- do i look like i fell off the hay wagon yesterday?
"no, really, show me your passport. i'm with immigration".
"ahhahaaha. show me your papers then dude."
but astonishingly he did have some papers. they were legit, but they were crappy looking. after my host talked to these guys, he said i should show them my passport. so i flipped it open to my visa, which you see above you, and put it so he could see it. he reached for it and pulled, but i didn't let go. i looked at him and said "no one has taken my passport from me, and one is taking my passport from me bro."
he got mad at that and started talking big. to make a long story short, he and his friend just wanted a bribe and while i told them that my visa was in order and that i had no business with him. he kept yelling at us and saying that we needed to "come down to the office and have a chat." i kept telling him flatly "NO!"

so that went on for a while and they wouldn't let up. everyone in the street was telling these two guys to leave us alone, which was really funny.
in the end, my host went with them to a police station. my friends and i felt terrible, and didn't want him to go, but he said it would work better if he did. i knew it was a mistake, but oh well. they threatened and pushed him into giving them the $40ish dollars that he had on him to pay some "fee" that they completely made up.

that day sucked. we got asked for a few more bribes which we laughed off successfully, and i think the same thing happened the next day too. white people are targets for bribery, but if you just laugh at them and tell them to move along, it usually works.