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We awoke to the sounds of heavy rainfall. The same as yesterday but today it doesn’t appear to be abating. We were met by Aswani and his father who we remembered. His father was the unlucky one who had to stand out in the downpour and put our bags in the van. It was raining so hard you could barely see. Plus the windows were fogging up. We relied on Aswani who was driving. The streets were rivers. There is no drainage. We were making huge splashes everywhere we went.
It would have been interesting to see the sights on the way but we really couldn’t most of the time. It was similar to Kenya though. Poor, cement block houses or wood shacks. A rather thin and scraggly looking cow here and there standing by the side of the road or next to a house. The occasional cart being pulled by a cow or a donkey or a person. We passed a couple of police check points which Aswani’s father seemed to find very humorous. He’s really a fun loving guy. He’s always smiling and laughing. It seems to put the policeman at ease too.
Most of the road was paved but there were a few stretches where it wasn’t so much. I guess it was actually paved but big chunks of it had given up the ghost. The last 1.5 Km to the hotel was on a road worthy of a game drive. The van we were driving in did not handle it as well as the Land Rovers did but we made it.
The hotel is nice, right on the ocean but there’s not much beach. The tide was out (way out) and the reef was exposed. People were out there looking for crabs or shells. But by mid afternoon the tide was back in and the waves were crashing right up against the hill the hotel is on. I can’t tell how deep it is. Maybe 6-8 feet. We may explore that tomorrow.
It stopped raining but was overcast until about 5pm when the sun started sneaking through. We are pretty much trapped here. There is one restaurant. It’s, not too surprisingly, not cheap. But breakfast and dinner are included. We made a tactical error and ordered seafood tapas for lunch. Or I guess I did. Marion saw something on the menu that she called seafood tapas but that wasn’t the seafood tapas I pointed to and either way it wasn’t what she thought it would be or what I thought it would be. But as we’ve learned on this trip, when food is offered you’d better eat it because there isn’t any place to get anything else. Dinner isn’t until 8pm. (And whoever thought that was a good idea needs a good talking to. Nothing like having a meal and going to bed an hour later. We’ve been doing it all trip.)
After lunch we sat in the lobby area and read for a bit. There was a kitten we had seen at lunch that discovered us and came running over to visit. Maybe a year old. He’d pounce on anything that moved. Your foot, your hand, the string on the camera. He was very cute and played with us for a bit
We took a little walk around in the afternoon and put our toes in the water. It’s VERY warm. But as the tide was coming in the surf was a bit rough. So we’ll see about snorkeling or swimming. We had a dip in the pool which is also pretty warm and very nice. We’re clearly going to have to work on our relaxation skills here. Take it very slow and easy. There’s only one PC with internet in the main lobby and there always seems to be someone on it. There’s no Wi-Fi or hook ups in the room. No TV. Swimming and reading seem to be the prime activities.
In the late afternoon (still hours before dinner, ugh), Marion had a rest and I went back and tried to get on the Internet again. Still no luck but I found the TV room and watched a little World Cup Rugby. When I came back to the room, I closed the door, turned to walk into the bathroom and there was the little kitten! He somehow sneaked in when I opened the door. And he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to play. So I found a USB cable in my bag which he happily chased for quite some time. We finally had to throw him out so we could go down to dinner. We’re trying to figure out if we can smuggle him home. But I’m not sure Sparky would be pleased.
Dinner was quite elaborate (starter, soup, main and desert) but quite good. And reasonable portions so you didn’t get too filled up. Tuna with prawn sauce tonight. The sauce was spicy but not hot. Very tasty. And brownie with a cream sauce for desert. Not bad.
We tried our hand at a little ping pong after dinner. But it was fairly dark and depth perception (not to mention hand eye coordination) was a bit of a problem. So after chasing the ball around for awhile we gave it up.
The next morning it’s raining again. Or I should say pouring. It’s really coming down. It’s good for the area. They don’t get much rain. And given we didn’t really have any plans but to sit around, it’s not really cramping our style. It’s kind of nice to sit and look at it. And it’s warm, not bone-chilling like Portland rainy days can be. Still, we’re hoping it will stop at some point so we can maybe go out and explore the reef a bit. But heck, if we have to do it in the rain, big deal. All our clothes are quick-drying anyway (although nothing dries very fast around here, it’s pretty humid.)
We took our books and sat out near the lobby to wait for the rain to subside and for the tide to go out so we could walk on the beach. Our kitten friend came by to visit but couldn’t be convinced to hang around. The only time he came close was when I put my foot down on the floor from the couch and he pounced on it. He pretty much attacks anything that moves. Maybe he’s still learning what is and isn’t prey.
The rain did finally stop and the tide was out. And when I say out I mean maybe three or four hundred yards or more. You can walk way out there, which is fun. There’s not much to see in the way of sea life though. But some pretty shells and if you watch them long enough you notice that most of them are walking around. Hermit crabs.
We noticed a procession of African women walking to and fro on the beach. In one direction they’re carrying large rocks on their heads. We wandered down to investigate. It would appear that part of the retaining wall has fallen down and these women are very slowly, one rock at a time, taking them down the beach about 100 yards or so where they are handed up to a line of more women and presumably carted off somewhere. It’s going to take some time to clear the rocks that way but I suppose in the absence of any sort of machinery it’s the only way. We actually thought the rocks were still doing a pretty good job of being a retaining wall the way they were but obviously someone thought differently. Their dresses are amazingly colorful and they don’t seem particularly suited for rock hauling. But it made for quite a scene.
We were wandering around in the shallow water when one of the dive shop people came walking out to us. He said hello then asked me a couple of questions. Between his accent and the wind I couldn’t understand him. He tried three of four times saying different things then finally looked at me quizzically and said “do you speak English”? I almost said “yeah, do you?” but I was nice. Just trying to sell us some snorkeling. Much better than the streets of Stone Town but we still get accosted to buy things. As we walked back down the beach a man wanted to carve our names in wood shaped like a fish. We didn’t go for it.
There’s a bird here that sounds like a screaming child or young girl. It’s very disconcerting. Very human sounding. Either that or children are being tortured nearby. But we’re pretty sure it’s a bird…
We’ve been taking it very slow here. Mostly reading, occasionally doing a little Internet or wandering around. We played a bit of pool today. Marion was well on her way to a resounding victory but she faltered and I made a stunning comeback. But in fairness her cue was cracked.
In the afternoon while Marion napped I went down to the water and had a swim. The tide was coming in but hadn’t yet reached the cliffs so there was some beach left and the water was only a few feet deep. Very warm. Maybe as warm as Cairns in Australia. There’s just no feeling of chill at all. I sat on the beach for awhile and watched the tide come in. A dive boat came back with a few couples on it, and a few people wandered down the beach. We’re not supposed to go walking by ourselves so I didn’t venture too far. But it was very pleasant.
After Marion woke up we went down for a bit more Internet. Our kitty friend came to visit us. I tried very hard to get his picture but he’s a speedy little guy and by the time the camera focused and the shutter snapped (I was using Marion’s little point and shoot) he moved. He especially liked attacking the wrist strap on the camera which made getting a shot tricky. But I managed to get a few and a few more of various moving body parts.
The sun came out today which was nice. It didn’t get too warm. There was a nice breeze blowing. Hopefully it will be like that tomorrow. Our last full day of vacation.
Dinner wasn’t quite as good as last night but still pretty fancy. I had lamb with rosemary (very strong) and Marion had snapper. I had cheesecake for desert, Marion had a fruit salad. It was not as good as the brownie yesterday though.
The staff does this thing where when they give you something they say ‘you’re welcome’ before you say anything. It’s a bit weird. They seem very shy like they’re still new at this. We feel like we’re constantly not doing something quite right. But one more night and that will be that.
It’s a bright sunny day for our last day. We slept in. A bit of Internet (had to see if the Phillies won. They did 11-6), then breakfast. We hung out for a bit waiting for the tide to go out some, then went down and had a swim. The water was a bit cooler than yesterday. It hadn’t had a chance to warm up. Not that it was cold. It was very pleasant. We walked/swam out to where the boats were moored and hung out a bit bobbing in the waves. Some rain clouds started to look ominous so we thought we ought to head in. It turns out they just passed on by but we didn’t want to get caught in a thunderstorm. It takes awhile to get back into shore because it’s very uneven and rocky in places. So you have to walk slowly and step carefully. And you can get pretty far out because it’s a reef. It’s probably half a mile to where the breakers were. We didn’t get anywhere close to that but we were still out a ways.
We hung out a bit more then we headed down for some lunch. We ate at the bar today and had the assortment that Marion had originally intended the other day. It was quite good — chicken and teriyaki on a stick, a quesadilla (sort of), an egg roll, french fries and fried calamari rings. Very tasty. I wish we had figured it out on the first day.
After lunch the tide was way out and we walked out to where we had been swimming in the morning. It’s pretty amazing the difference between high tide and low tide. In depth it’s probably 5 or 6 feet but it totally changes the view. I decided I wanted to go out to where the end of the reef was. We went up and got suits on (well I did) and went back down but the tide’s been coming in and the opportunity had passed. I still went out quite a ways. About half again as far as before. It’s very cool.
We were a bit worried about our pickup tomorrow since Anwari and Ali didn’t know anything about it when they dropped us off. But we checked with the front desk and after some failed attempts at communication we finally determined that not only had the travel agency confirmed they were coming, but instead of 10:30 they were coming at 1:00 which is great since our flight is at 6:30 pm and we weren’t relishing the idea of hanging around the Stone Town airport for 6 hours (3 will be bad enough). And as an added bonus we can stay in the room until 1 as well.
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