When we woke up today, Brian and Natalia were at work so we just chilled and took our time getting ready and actually watched half of a movie – The Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew Mcconauhay or however you spell his last name. I was just getting into it and then we both agreed we should go out and make something of the day. We called Brian and had him call his taxi friend to have him pick us up. He came shortly after 11:00am and we had him bring us to this carving market called “Marengu.” Our cab driver, Messiah, waited for us here while we spend an hour or so walking around the different “shops” perusing all the wooden sculptures, salad spoons, jewelry, etc that we had deemed too “negali” (expensive) earlier in the trip. Today was the day to drop the hammer. I negotiated sculptures of an elephant, a hunting lion on a tree, and a two foot long giraffe that should be interesting getting home. I think in total I spent maybe 50,000 Tsh on these. T got salad tongs and flip flops for herself and her sister. Our cab driver had to pick up a client at the airport at 2:00pm and our time was running short so we had him drive us to Coco Beach which was located right near where Brian works. It was our plan to hang out here until B got out of work and then we could go finish our adventures with him.
When we got to Coco Beach, we got dropped off at a restaurant there and found a table on the sand with a view of the ocean. The tide at the beach was extremely low and you could see a jetty way out in the distance where the waves were breaking. This formed an incredibly large tide pool where all the little children were allowed to roam and play. I must make note that if you looked, you wouldn’t find one person lying out in the sand at this beach. This was a local beach and you’d be hard pressed to find someone that was in need of a tan.
Lunch was kebabs and chips again. T got one stick of fish and I was served four sticks of beef. Somehow I was able to eat them all and I declared them the tastiest meat I’d eaten all trip. I also declared that by saying that it probably meant I was in for some stomach trouble later on. More on that later. The fries were again soggy – I’m going to write someone a letter, but overall, the meal was completely satisfying. An hour or so had passed and then Brian called, so we paid our bill, went across the street and met up with him.
Brian took us to this artist coop(Tinga Tinga) which was a lot like the carving market or any other set of shops you would likely see, however here all the artists shared the profits. Also, here you were actually able to see the artist producing the work which was a thrill. There was this very large room indoors in the back of the area where we saw about 10 painters at work. The room was covered with color. A very fun and eye opening experience to say the least. The most interesting part was seeing all of the various stages of development from artist to artist. T bought some fun little stools for future children and I snapped up a 3’x2′ abstract of a mother carrying a baby. We also both got custom made name plates with little cartoonish safari animals on them. While T was off shopping for one thing or another, Brian and I went to this supermarket around the corner so I could get my fix of ice cream. We found a good selection, all for under 1,000 Tsh and a 5kg bar of chocolate. That is 11 pounds. As tempting as it was to buy it, I resisted and went with a small bar of ice cream instead.
We bajajed it home and rested for a little while. Tonight we had street chicken for dinner at A place downtown called Summy’s. Brian and I got this tasty crispy chicken and chips dish, T got a fish filet with chips and Natalia had a lentil soup. During the span of dinner, the power went out twice which left us eating in the dark on the side of the street. There were also some street hustlers that tried to sell us ripped movies. I had no interest in buying these, so instead I tried to strike up conversation about the movie on the top of their stacks aka was just being an asshole because these guys barely spoke English. All in all it was a good dinner.
Following dinner, we drove around the corner to Snoopy’s. Snoopy’s was an Indian run ice cream establishment where I was able to get my second helping of cold, creamy goodness for the day. Brian and I each got sundaes that were snarfed down with ease. At 7,000 Tsh per, it was slightly overpriced especially as it was half melted just two minutes into the gorge experience. All problems aside, I still managed to basically lick the glass clean even if I had to drink what should have been the last few spoonfuls of mocha nut sundae.
The rest of the night was highlighted by some mild packing, or barely any packing at all and the enjoyment of the movie Derailed with Clive Owen and Jennifer Anniston.
