We are in Dar Es Salaam and we realized that Patrick’s US drivers license is expiring this month! We can not be back to the JS for more than a year, probably two years, so we had to do something so he doesn’t get caught out like the last time his license was expiring. He had to take the written and driving test back in the US to get his new license. What a pain!
So this was our second day today, trying to get the CORRECT TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority) Office to go to. There are offices, it seems on every street corner, and only ONE has the authority/ability to issue “Conversion Licenses” for Non Tanzanian Citizens.
Finally we found the right one. It’s a unlabeled, dark hole of an entrance in a building called “The Samora House”. It’s near the tall Exim Building which houses the Exim Bank, and the Central Police headquarters. Finally, 5 tries at 5 buildings, the lady behind the counter snooker her head “yes” instead of “no”. We were covered in sweat, and hungry for lunch as we walked in the front door. Who knew this would be the place it all starts.
Her first hoops to jump was to fill out an easy form, and return with copies of passports, visas, and our current drivers licenses, front and back.. Patrick got busy filling out the forms, while I ran to look for the photocopy shop she explained was downstairs. Down the stairs, and out on to the hot street I hurried.
The photocopy store was closed for lunch, so I made fast work at finding another one down the busy road and across a busy intersection. Crawling up in the rafters of this business on the second story…likely someone’s home, the copies were made in sign language and I pad my 56 cents. That’s when I realized I didn’t bring much more money than $1 with me, and I had to return with some money too. So on the way back, I dipped in to an STM and took out a minimal amount. I thought I had read the equivalent of about $18 for each license, so I got about double that. If someone wanted to mug me, I didn’t want to have too much for them to take!
So in another pool of sweat, I hurried back, ran up two flights of stairs, just as Patrick was finishing the paperwork. The nice lady behind the desk took our applications right away. But then she says we must get photos, and fingerprints taken, so it’s off to line 2 or 3. It’s a good thing she told us which lines to go to because there were so many!
The network went down during that process a few times, so it was a little time consuming, but they finally got through it, and it was back to line 10…the original lady, although this time she had a bit of a line. That’s Ok. We have time.
So after in entering some more data in the computer, she tells us our next step is to go get verified by the traffic police. So down around the corner, we manage to find the correct police after just 3 police stations. The police takes our paperwork, types something in the computer after a lot of joking around, and sends us back to the lady.
So back up the stairs, and in to Line #10 again. lady tells us we now need to bring her two bills to the bank to pay. She tells us to go to NCB bank..it’s close, and an easy walk. I think I may have been dripping on her floor and she was starting to feel a little bad.
So down we go again, and tromp off to the Bank. I ask Patrick to walk a little slower…that I don’t have much more in me. I’m still hungry for lunch.and it’s hOt
We wait in the line at the bank. We got so spoiled in SE Asia where foreigners are somehow always pushed to the front of the line. Here we are just another customer…all are equal..which we kind of like. Especially since the air conditioner was cold here! We paid our bill, signed our names (to pay a bill?) and off we went, to climb the stairs one more time, and get in lIne #10.
This time she took our receipts, and told us that our 3 year licenses would be ready next Wednesday or Thursday…to stand in line #7 for that. So to be sure…next Friday we will go stand in Line #7.
We asked a well spoken young local guy after we left there if getting the drivers license is easy, and he told us that usually you just pay someone some extra, and they go do it for you…so it’s really easy 😉 I guess us second class citizens are the only ones that jump through these hoops and wait in these lines. He even said that if you pay the right people, you don’t even take the drivers test! This explains why we often drive on the wrong side of the road to get home during rush hour in some of these Uber taxis 😉
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