Bus from Dar to Arusha (Not for the small bladdered)

We arrived in Arusha last night after a twelve hour bus ride.  Tanzanian buses seem to be designed for the iron bladdered.  We only made one scheduled stop (and one unscheduled one - more on that in a second).  Apparently the bus will stop on the side of the road for bathroom breaks when necessary - it just means that you end up going in a field.  No one exercised that particular right on our voyage.  The bus we rode was fairly comfortable, similar lay out to a Greyhound back home.  There is no air conditioning, but the windows are open for the whole trip, allowing for a decent breeze when the bus is moving.  When it's not moving, it is pretty uncomfortable, but that was only really noticeable when we were waiting at the station to leave.  Everyone on the bus gets a water and a bottle of pop to drink and a small candy.  The bus stops about halfway along the way at a rest stop (of sorts) where you can go to the bathroom (in a washroom, not a field) and get lunch.  That was our scheduled stop.  Our unscheduled stop came about thirty minutes before lunch.  Well it would have been 30 minutes if we'd been able to keep driving.  Our bus driver apparently cut off the Tanzanian minister of finance, so he called the police and had them pull us over.  It took almost an hour to negotiate getting our driver back on the bus (with the assistance from all the other Dar Express bus staff that passed us - they pulled their buses over and immediately jumped out to join the discussion.).  We were able to get out and stretch and knock on the door or a local family for use of their washroom.  Then it was back on the trip.  While I'm not sure I would recommend twelve hours on a bus to anyone, it was a pretty amazing way to see some of the Tanzanian country-side and get a closer look at life outside the major cities.  I will certainly count it as one of the more memorable periods of my trip so far.  I think the trip back in seven weeks is far enough away that I will still be able to see the value in it.  Just don't ask me to get back on the bus before then.