As you may have guessed....one of these photos is from our spice tour yesterday and the other is from today.
January 27, 2015
January 27, 2015
Whew! It's our first lazy day in a loooonnnngggg time! Slept in a little, had breakfast and then took the opportunity to get some laundry done in our rooms so we could take advantage of the little common patio we have off our rooms on the third floor. The only sketchy bit is that when the breeze comes up there is the risk that someone will lose their clothes and since Darlene already lost one pair of underwear to the African winds....she can't afford to lose any more! LOL!
Lynda made our server laugh this morning when she came down for breakfast in a very wrinkly shirt from the bottom of her suitcase. She said, "I had to look a long time till I found a shirt that would match the wrinkles on my face". Our server started laughing then and continued to laugh right through Lynda's order for "everything on the menu please". People laugh very easily here and everything is "cool" and "hakunamatata" no matter where you are or what the topic.
Lynda wasn't the only one who got our server laughing this morning. Darlene started it all off when she first came down. The server commented on how nice Darlene and Gail looked in their pretty dresses and asked if they bought them here. Darlene said "no, they came from Canada" and "thank you". A few minutes later the server came by to whisper in Darlene's ear that she might have her dress on inside out as there was a tag at the top and seams were all showing. Sure enough...a trip to the bathroom was in order and before long the dress was right side out again. LOL....
While it might have been easier to send our laundry out today...we decided to take on the task ourselves and now I'm sitting on our patio amidst all our hanging laundry with the call to prayer sounding again. It comes 5 times a day and is really very pleasant to hear. There are two mosques on either side of us so we can hear the prayers too. Another sound we hear twice each day is an old air raid siren. Once at 7:30 a.m. and once at 3:30 p.m. Years ago when the Arabs were in authority here it was to notify the locals that they had to be on this side of the river by the 7:30 siren and away to the other side of the river at the 3:30 siren. Today it is to notify everyone when the official workday begins and ends.
Washing the laundry is a little more challenging here than it is when you have a washer and dryer like we do at home. We decided to use the tub in Darlene and Gail's room as it is smaller and square whereas the one in Lynda's and my room is massive! So....a couple of inches of water, some laundry soap, a lot of time standing on your head swishing filthy clothes around (at least two rinses to get rid of the dirt!!) and then to find makeshift way to hang laundry for four people in a small area in such a way that they won't blow away! Yep....we have it pretty easy at home!!
We've been informed that there will be a dinner served up on the rooftop patio just above us tonight so hopefully all of our laundry will be dry and out of the way before people have to pass through our patio to get to their fancy dinner! Although if they're African they will just say "hakunamatata" and smile.
Just ordered some lunch to be brought up to our patio location as the girls are back from their swim. Avocado and Pomelo salad and veggie samosa for me - yummy!! I think Lynda and Darlene are having the same and Gail is gonna go for the salad and some fries. How lucky are we!!
....back again.....
Just in from the main street and Fodorhi Market where Zanzibarian pizza was on the menu for dinner. The main course for Lynda and I was from Mr Happy's table of a wide variety of seafood and our option for the entree was spicy potato, flafel, coconut bread, and a rice ball. Our pizza was a dessert option. Mine was snickers bar, nutella, and banana wrapped in a rice flour crust and then fried in ghee at an outdoor stand. After all that it was drizzled with chocolate syrup. Lynda had a nutella and mango also drizzled with chocolate syrup and both were delicious. Oh ya...we shared a bite with D & G too. Flat white coffee was a perfect accompaniment for the sweet pizza. Yes...we're all watching our diet go out the window!!!!
Gail and Darlene headed back to the Archipelago Restaurant on the beach as they wanted to try the chicken with pico de gallo burger tonight. We were all happy with our choices.
Lots of laughter over coffee tonight as we reminisced about the time that Gail walked into the women's washroom at Lake Eyasi Lodge. As she opened the door to the main washroom there in front of her sat one of our male companions....yes.....he was on the throne in the womens washroom by mistake. All the rest of us heard was a simultaneous male and female scream (yes, men scream too!) as their eyes met through the open door. I won't mention the aroma that Darlene is referring to as we recollect the incident. Soon enough the women's washroom was once again a safe place and Gail was able to return for a "quick" stop.
We also revisited the peeing with the wildebeast migration as it was only tonight that Gail disclosed one of the men was out of the vehicle which is why she had to come so close to me with the result being that she peed on me. (this is the pee sister story if you missed that blog entry). We also considered the fact that both sides of the vehicle have mirrors and oops...we hadn't thought much about that till tonight. More on the peeing business again features Gail and Lorrie. This time it was during the spice tour and although Lorrie was able to keep her distance from Gail's spashing abilities there was another animal involved again. Instead of wildebeast this time it was a cow and they were all in the middle of an orchard...in fact they were under a mango tree. So....next time you have a mango think of us. Speaking of mangos....Darlene reminded us just how huge they are here! Maybe everyone pees under mango trees in Zanzibar. LOL!
Another story that came back to us tonight was when Gail played draughts (checkers) with the checkers king of the Kati Kati camp. He beat her but....it was a close game and the men were shocked by her ability. Her next game was against the guy who is second to the king and it ended in a draw. They play the game on a regular checkers board but for their men they use bottle caps. One person is right side up caps and the other is upside down. It works pretty well until you get kinged and your caps tip over. As well, draughts has slightly different rules in that a king can run diagonally up and down the board so it is a challenge to figure out where the next strike will come from. Gail did Canada proud though so we toasted her with our coffee tonight.
On our way to dinner tonight the boys were again jumping off the docks into high tide water. It was all good until Lynda agreed to pay $1 for a photo and then they all wanted to be the photo she took so the competition was on and since she had agreed to pay the expectation that she would take all their photos was high. She did her best but as her kids will understand...only 3 turned out since her trigger finger is a bit slow. Since there were only 3 photos to pay for the competition continued as all 20+ of them vied for position to prove that was them in the 3 photos. In the end...Darlene and Gail watched from the safety of the sidelines as the mob closed in on the two white women who were left. Lynda put up a hand and shouted "back off" (she thought it was swahili but really it was english ......but it worked). She showed the pics, identified the star of each and paid her bill. Three dollars later she had 3 photos on her camera and the mob subsided to a dull roar. Gail and Darlene are telling us now that the bystanders were growing in number as this event was the entertainment of the week.
Another little story that happened on our way to Fodorhi Market tonight included a cute little boy who was about 1 1/2 yrs old. His dad had left him in the car for a minute while he talked with a friend at the back of the vehicle. The little boy was to watch the people walking by for entertainment. This was all well and good until 4 white women walked by and the poor little boy (who had never seen a white person before as he is from a very rural area) started to cry in fear. His dad came running and rescued the child. We tried to show him we were okay but he was having none of it! As far as he was concerned we were from outer space!
Today was such a relaxing day for all of us. After our work was done this morning we spent the rest of the day focused on R & R. Gail lay down and then did some primping, Lynda just plain slept, Darlene and Lorrie had a really long swim, and then we all played Skip Bo as the breeze washed the heat of the afternoon away.
Off to Nungwi in the morning so gotta get packed again tonight. Won't miss climbing the 38 stairs at Kholle House but will miss Stonetown just a little. So....Princess Gail (who has changed her mind and no longer likes being dirty) and her entourage are off on the next adventure.
Kwaheri,
Darlorlynga
As you may have guessed....one of these photos is from our spice tour yesterday and the other is from today.
January 27, 2015
January 27, 2015
Whew! It's our first lazy day in a loooonnnngggg time! Slept in a little, had breakfast and then took the opportunity to get some laundry done in our rooms so we could take advantage of the little common patio we have off our rooms on the third floor. The only sketchy bit is that when the breeze comes up there is the risk that someone will lose their clothes and since Darlene already lost one pair of underwear to the African winds....she can't afford to lose any more! LOL!
Lynda made our server laugh this morning when she came down for breakfast in a very wrinkly shirt from the bottom of her suitcase. She said, "I had to look a long time till I found a shirt that would match the wrinkles on my face". Our server started laughing then and continued to laugh right through Lynda's order for "everything on the menu please". People laugh very easily here and everything is "cool" and "hakunamatata" no matter where you are or what the topic.
Lynda wasn't the only one who got our server laughing this morning. Darlene started it all off when she first came down. The server commented on how nice Darlene and Gail looked in their pretty dresses and asked if they bought them here. Darlene said "no, they came from Canada" and "thank you". A few minutes later the server came by to whisper in Darlene's ear that she might have her dress on inside out as there was a tag at the top and seams were all showing. Sure enough...a trip to the bathroom was in order and before long the dress was right side out again. LOL....
While it might have been easier to send our laundry out today...we decided to take on the task ourselves and now I'm sitting on our patio amidst all our hanging laundry with the call to prayer sounding again. It comes 5 times a day and is really very pleasant to hear. There are two mosques on either side of us so we can hear the prayers too. Another sound we hear twice each day is an old air raid siren. Once at 7:30 a.m. and once at 3:30 p.m. Years ago when the Arabs were in authority here it was to notify the locals that they had to be on this side of the river by the 7:30 siren and away to the other side of the river at the 3:30 siren. Today it is to notify everyone when the official workday begins and ends.
Washing the laundry is a little more challenging here than it is when you have a washer and dryer like we do at home. We decided to use the tub in Darlene and Gail's room as it is smaller and square whereas the one in Lynda's and my room is massive! So....a couple of inches of water, some laundry soap, a lot of time standing on your head swishing filthy clothes around (at least two rinses to get rid of the dirt!!) and then to find makeshift way to hang laundry for four people in a small area in such a way that they won't blow away! Yep....we have it pretty easy at home!!
We've been informed that there will be a dinner served up on the rooftop patio just above us tonight so hopefully all of our laundry will be dry and out of the way before people have to pass through our patio to get to their fancy dinner! Although if they're African they will just say "hakunamatata" and smile.
Just ordered some lunch to be brought up to our patio location as the girls are back from their swim. Avocado and Pomelo salad and veggie samosa for me - yummy!! I think Lynda and Darlene are having the same and Gail is gonna go for the salad and some fries. How lucky are we!!
....back again.....
Just in from the main street and Fodorhi Market where Zanzibarian pizza was on the menu for dinner. The main course for Lynda and I was from Mr Happy's table of a wide variety of seafood and our option for the entree was spicy potato, flafel, coconut bread, and a rice ball. Our pizza was a dessert option. Mine was snickers bar, nutella, and banana wrapped in a rice flour crust and then fried in ghee at an outdoor stand. After all that it was drizzled with chocolate syrup. Lynda had a nutella and mango also drizzled with chocolate syrup and both were delicious. Oh ya...we shared a bite with D & G too. Flat white coffee was a perfect accompaniment for the sweet pizza. Yes...we're all watching our diet go out the window!!!!
Gail and Darlene headed back to the Archipelago Restaurant on the beach as they wanted to try the chicken with pico de gallo burger tonight. We were all happy with our choices.
Lots of laughter over coffee tonight as we reminisced about the time that Gail walked into the women's washroom at Lake Eyasi Lodge. As she opened the door to the main washroom there in front of her sat one of our male companions....yes.....he was on the throne in the womens washroom by mistake. All the rest of us heard was a simultaneous male and female scream (yes, men scream too!) as their eyes met through the open door. I won't mention the aroma that Darlene is referring to as we recollect the incident. Soon enough the women's washroom was once again a safe place and Gail was able to return for a "quick" stop.
We also revisited the peeing with the wildebeast migration as it was only tonight that Gail disclosed one of the men was out of the vehicle which is why she had to come so close to me with the result being that she peed on me. (this is the pee sister story if you missed that blog entry). We also considered the fact that both sides of the vehicle have mirrors and oops...we hadn't thought much about that till tonight. More on the peeing business again features Gail and Lorrie. This time it was during the spice tour and although Lorrie was able to keep her distance from Gail's spashing abilities there was another animal involved again. Instead of wildebeast this time it was a cow and they were all in the middle of an orchard...in fact they were under a mango tree. So....next time you have a mango think of us. Speaking of mangos....Darlene reminded us just how huge they are here! Maybe everyone pees under mango trees in Zanzibar. LOL!
Another story that came back to us tonight was when Gail played draughts (checkers) with the checkers king of the Kati Kati camp. He beat her but....it was a close game and the men were shocked by her ability. Her next game was against the guy who is second to the king and it ended in a draw. They play the game on a regular checkers board but for their men they use bottle caps. One person is right side up caps and the other is upside down. It works pretty well until you get kinged and your caps tip over. As well, draughts has slightly different rules in that a king can run diagonally up and down the board so it is a challenge to figure out where the next strike will come from. Gail did Canada proud though so we toasted her with our coffee tonight.
On our way to dinner tonight the boys were again jumping off the docks into high tide water. It was all good until Lynda agreed to pay $1 for a photo and then they all wanted to be the photo she took so the competition was on and since she had agreed to pay the expectation that she would take all their photos was high. She did her best but as her kids will understand...only 3 turned out since her trigger finger is a bit slow. Since there were only 3 photos to pay for the competition continued as all 20+ of them vied for position to prove that was them in the 3 photos. In the end...Darlene and Gail watched from the safety of the sidelines as the mob closed in on the two white women who were left. Lynda put up a hand and shouted "back off" (she thought it was swahili but really it was english ......but it worked). She showed the pics, identified the star of each and paid her bill. Three dollars later she had 3 photos on her camera and the mob subsided to a dull roar. Gail and Darlene are telling us now that the bystanders were growing in number as this event was the entertainment of the week.
Another little story that happened on our way to Fodorhi Market tonight included a cute little boy who was about 1 1/2 yrs old. His dad had left him in the car for a minute while he talked with a friend at the back of the vehicle. The little boy was to watch the people walking by for entertainment. This was all well and good until 4 white women walked by and the poor little boy (who had never seen a white person before as he is from a very rural area) started to cry in fear. His dad came running and rescued the child. We tried to show him we were okay but he was having none of it! As far as he was concerned we were from outer space!
Today was such a relaxing day for all of us. After our work was done this morning we spent the rest of the day focused on R & R. Gail lay down and then did some primping, Lynda just plain slept, Darlene and Lorrie had a really long swim, and then we all played Skip Bo as the breeze washed the heat of the afternoon away.
Off to Nungwi in the morning so gotta get packed again tonight. Won't miss climbing the 38 stairs at Kholle House but will miss Stonetown just a little. So....Princess Gail (who has changed her mind and no longer likes being dirty) and her entourage are off on the next adventure.
Kwaheri,
Darlorlynga
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