Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Oct. 9-10

       The day has arrived that we can leave the city behind and lie around on the beach for the next five days. Woohoo!
We got a free breakfast at Abuso today (it normally costs $15 per person) because Becka is the breakfast host - and he loves us. He made each of us an omelet, and we got fresh papaya, watermelon, an orange and a small banana. And as much instant coffee as we wanted. Ha!
We visited with him some more about basketball and gave him the money we and our generous friends contributed to buy his girls uniforms then we went and packed.
Osman, Becka's friend who drove us to and from basketball practice last night, picked us up at the appointed time (10 a.m.) to take us to Darajani Market to purchase a suitcase. Becka told us Osman knew all the vendors, and he was right. Osman took us directly to a place that sells suitcases, and we purchased one for about $35.
We returned to the hotel and packed what we bought at "Memories of Zanzibar" the previous day, which we'll check for the flight home.
       We threw everything in Osman's "taxi," and off we went to Jambiani Villas on the east side of the island. It is DEFINITELY what we hoped for - a really nice reward for our almost two-month trip.
We have a two-story villa with a kitchen that looks over a nice pool, and beyond is the beautiful Indian Ocean.
       We unpacked, put on our swimsuits and hit the pool. And we stayed in the pool most of the afternoon, although we did trundle out to the ocean when the tide came in.
After a nice shower, we hung out until around 5 p.m., walked along the village road (because it was high tide, and you can't walk on the beach) for about five minutes to a bar for a couple of drinks before shifting to the Jambiani Villa restaurant next door.
       Supper was pretty good. If I haven't mentioned the soups they make here, I must tell you that I have never had better soup than the soup we were served in the bush camp, and the seafood soup we had last night. We've got to figure out how to make them when we return. They are all very smooth, a little creamy, and seasoned so beautifully.  Last night's had seafood in it - fish, shrimp, and octopus.    Yum!
       We returned to the villa via the beach - it's a new moon so we don't expect to see it at all while we're here, although we might see a thin crescent on Saturday or Sunday night.
       We submitted our grocery order - we are going to cook in the villa because it's cheaper than eating at a restaurant but we may eat lunch at a local eatery. We also asked that breakfast be delivered to our room at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.
       Sleeping was very comfortable.
       We awoke early - around 6:30 a.m. - to briefly watch the sun rise under a bank of clouds, clouds that are very persistent this morning. We had coffee on our terrace, read the day's news and waited for breakfast to be delivered.
       Breakfast was yummy because we both were hungry. Omelete, toast and fresh fruit - what could be better.
       We also made arrangements yesterday for a full day of sailing, snorkeling and swimming with dolphins on Friday. We start at 6 a.m. (because that's when we'll see the dolphins), we'll snorkel several sites, have lunch and, apparently, get back to the villa around 6 p.m. I suspect we'll be exhausted but contented!
       Beth got a one-hour, full-body massage this morning, and we had no other plans for the day.
The staff delivered our groceries so we can cook in the villa the remaining time we're here (until Monday afternoon) so we ate hot dogs for lunch. We were in and out of the pool, went into the ocean around 3:45 p.m. when the tide was almost in, read and basically, just took a holiday. No sweating, no bouncing, no voyeurism into the lives of locals. Just a real holiday.
       I also sent some inquiries to two other dive centers to get prices on snorkeling. We can do the Chumbe Island Coral Park, a marine reserve, but it's USD 90 per person with a USD 80 two-way transfer. Just thinking about a transfer back to near Stone Town makes me grimace so I've contacted two places within three miles of where we're staying. If nothing else, we'll just do the trip on Friday.
       Bingo!
       We're snorkeling tomorrow. They're picking us up at 10:30 a.m. - don't know how long we'll be out but the USD 35 per person includes transfer, water, fresh fruits, boat and snorkel gear. Hope it's a good day; if it is a good day, perhaps we'll do it again on Saturday!
       I asked for a grill tonight, as we ordered a ton of chicken in our grocery delivery so we're cooking 'em all tonight!
       I had an interesting conversation with Diana, one of the staff who brought the grill to us. She was kind of cautious but she asked how things were in the United States. I told her we very much disliked Trump, that he was an idiot and had done everything to alienate any allies we possessed. She agreed; she said no one in Africa likes Trump, and it was a very bad situation. All I could do was agree. She invited us to move to Tanzania (they pronounce it as Tan (with a long a) - zania (with a long a). It's not the first time we've heard the sentiment.
       BTW, I'm almost through half of Louise Erdich's latest novel. Very dystopian - but very good. I love her writing!

Our first sunrise at Jambiani Villas on the east coast of Zanzibar. We're here for another 5 days; we leave Monday afternoon for our monster trip home.

Low tide in front of our villa. Our villa actually opens directly to the swimming pool, above, then you can see the fence of sorts where we can go directly into the ocean.


A woman gathering seaweed at low tide.

Some men on a boat in the Indian Ocean. They just took down the sail and you can see the guy in the back propelling the boat with a long stick.

A young female that was hanging out at the steps to the ocean in front of our villa complex.

Beth enjoying herself at the villa.

Preparing the grill for supper tonight. :)


1 comment:

  1. Cindy great pictures and commentary. I think you and Beth should have a presentation when you come home. I think I would have some questions.
    Look forward to seeing you
    Susan

    ReplyDelete