29-08-2011
The under the table transactions:
We left, stuck in traffic had a police officer stop us cause he suspected our driver of something when really there was nothing. He said the tags were wrong the driver said he would pay him 5000/= upon his return. The joys of under the table fun…the police officer let him go. Upon getting to the airport, we get Laura’s bag, and we expressed our joy of relief and happiness. We were both hungry and the restaurants did not have the chicken meals mentioned on their menu as there was no more chicken to kill. So, we bought a bag of chips and had almonds neither of which we finished. We had snacks and met some more people. Upon arriving we immediately got our baggage. We landed and were bombarded by taxi drivers who said they would charge us $10 to Pyramid Hotel. We contacted the hotel they said they would come get us for the same cost….
The lesson learned:
We waited for 15 minutes, got our money converted. We saw a guy who kept looking in our direction with a sign that said 2 girls and Pyramid, we went with him. He told us we would pay him not the hotel. He parks in the parking lot and asks for directions. When we reached are hotel it was a bunch of people yelling as this person was not the driver sent. He said that we need to give him the money and he would leave; the receptionist said half, and he said 75%. We gave him half. Laura finally got to change! We got a safety lecture on when not to be in town due to prayer and how we can be killed by people with lives, etc… so we only took our camera packs and small amounts of money and our whistle. The first night definitely posed anxiety for the both of us. I finally ate Pilau. We asked the hotel to book our spice tour
The evening at Pyramid:
The evening at pyramid is interesting. I was waiting for the internet and was bombarded with questions and they learned I was Indian and put on the discovery channel which was in Hindi. The receptionist said I had a beautiful name for a beautiful person. How many cows will I get? I only paid for 60 minutes instead of 65!
30/08/2011
Spice Town:
So, I will make this brief, but the spice tour was awesome! Our guides on the spice tour made us baskets made out of leaves, bracelets and necklaces made out of coconut peel and we got to keep the spices. Laura tried to climb the coconut tree and got hurt under her foot. She had a first aide kit. Our guide tested out the “lipstick” powder on himself. For lunch we sat on the carpets in a little hut, the German group we were with sang a prayer and since I couldn’t eat a lot, I had the Cashews. We did not see the Persian Baths, but we did go to the slave caves and the beach. The ladies in the group made a person towel so she could change. Markus, a guy on the trip tried to take me down in the water-try being the key word. When we left, the hike was like a mini Mt. Kili. In the bus the drive went so fast, I said Pole Pole Tafadali (slowly please) making everyone laugh. We also had a big bug in the bus that I did not want to kill so it was somewhat interesting to get him out; we used TP :D So Kate, Laura, and I had dinner and then went to the park. A young boy tried to sell me his paintings so bargaining it went. He said he was going to charge 25/= and corrected himself saying 25,000/=. I took him down to 5,000/= and we went back and forth agreeing on 7,500/= and then I finally agreed on 2 for 10,000/=. I had a sugar cane juice which is delicious and apparently very high content in sugar as I couldn’t stop laughing the rest of the night. Apparently, Tani (changed spelling) and I were asked to go to the disco tomorrow night. :/ Oh, I forgot to say that everyone went crazy hectic over seeing the moon that took me forever to see! Markus found us at this point, his tall height helped him.
We had a late lunch sitting on the grown at Monsoon and then Laura was in pain so I took her back. I got Markus and we went to an ATM where the security guard wasn’t really watching. Then we went throughout stone town to find different places but ended up in the middle of dark alley ways and enjoying figuring out the maze of stone town which I finally did. We went back got Laura, finally had food at the food bizarre and were charged an insane amount then tried to find a disco without a cover fee, only to end up at home playing cards till midnight. We informed the gentleman that had asked us to go to the disco yesterday that we weren’t going to go. Markus, and his competitive self did not want to lose but did to Laura and left around 11:30/12. Everything was so expensive because it was the first day of Eid. Girls in beautiful outfits and colors, everyone chatting and happy. It seemed that the whole all of Stone town was at the park yesterday. Laura and I went to bed putting toothpaste on our nasty bug bites to prevent the itchiness.
The hitchhike is better:
Already September! Laura and I went around Stone town asking people where the Dala Dala. After a bus driver showed us I messed up and said 300/= instead of 3000/=. We were squished in so tight that my tushy hurt. We stopped for supplies to be picked up, dropped off, stored, etc… people sat in the middle. Everytime the polisi were seen our money collectors made us squish so they could sit in so as not to get into trouble. It was humorous. We kept asking if we were near Josani Forest but they did not understand, but I finally saw a sign. It took an hour and a half to get there and our tour started at 12:30 and we needed to get back by 2:30/3:30 as we needed to get our Ferry to Dar-Es-Salaam. We wanted to see the monkeys and one more thing that was 1 km away but we needed a bus or a bike so we saw the forest instead. We loved the monkeys and I really wanted to see a cobra or a python but we didn’t have time to go deep into the forest. We left thanking our very nice guide. We didn’t even have to hail down a Dala Dala for a Matatu saw we were mzungu and stopped. They charged us less. We were the only two, like a hitchhike. There were the two of us and one other passenger that we did not know was a passenger until his stop came. I asked for the driver’s id and he said it will all be fine. And, it was, he dropped us at Mercury and asked if we were married and said, maybe we will marry someone in Zanzibar, another cow offering. Laura and I grabbed our backpacks from the hotel and took a new route to the docks where we were charged an insane amount and told yet again another time of 3:30=departure. We went around asking and finally finding a restaurant and asking for tuna and chips (fries) which took too long to make. We were ready to leave and they had it in foil for us and we walked practically ran to our ferry. It left 5 minutes later, but all the same, we weren’t going to pay $35 for another ferry. They were playing On Bak in the ferry, but we were too busy eating another late lunch.
Next stop, Dar-Es-Salaam and Back to Kenya.
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