Well, what can I say. Moshi served it’s purpose as a place for us to stay before and after our complete and utter victory over Kilimanjaro. There were ups and downs. Mostly ups. We didn’t really venture more than two blocks in any direction while in Moshi, even when we were shopping.
This morning started no differently than any of the previous ones. We woke up before 8, packed our bags and scrambled out the door to pick up some last minute items we weren’t able to get the night before. T picked up some more hand bags from the same sweet old lady we met last night. Today she told T that she reminded her of her daughter. I guess Michael Jackson was right when he said “it don’t matter if your black or white.” We then went to one more shop where I wanted to pick up a t shirt with a knock off of there slogan in relation to Kili – “JUST DONE IT”. We got that and a bunch more. I picked up some really neat wall pieces and T snagged another piece of jewelry.
At this point we were finished with Moshi. There was just one more thing we had to visit. On our way back to the hotel we revisited the scene of T’s fall the night before. I have no idea how she didn’t destroy her cabesa or pantaloons.
We got back to the hotel, checked out, and brought our stuff down to the driveway where our favorite security guard gave T his stool. She thanked him with beer we had in the room. I killed a package of sour straws and we shared a diet coke. Our ride came and we kissed Moshi goodbye.
The ride to the airport was boring and the weather was overcast, however the airport experience was far more interesting. You see, there is an extremely low weight limit on the check bags. Your bag can’t be over 20kg and let’s not even discuss carry ons. T and I each had two super packed carry ons plus our large bags we needed to check. So what did we do? We walked in away from the check in counters and stowed our checkins. I stayed behind to watch guard and T went up to the counters to check in our large bags. They were 10kg over the 40kg weight limit. So, naturally, T bribes the lady with what else, but the 4 cans of beer we had leftover. No penalty. Wow. She was also able to get my boarding pass also by saying I was her husband. This counter lady was bordering winning the sweepstakes for a first class ticket on the EHDEAT train. T comes back to me with a mischievous smile and we put our four very large, very-obvious-that-they-are-ours carry ons on the push cart that our check in baggage was just on and go look in shops and eat chippies as we have time to kill.
While we are eating chippies (fries), we meet a couple also going to Zanzibar that we saw on the mountain just days earlier. We chat up about the middle east as they live in Dubai. Time passes and its about 12:20 and T and I decide it’s time to go through security. Then comes interesting airport situation number 2.
We get all of our bags through security. We have 4 items confiscated. Two each. T has sunscreen spray and bug spray. I have a carbonated apple seltzer product in a see through can I think mom will like and a bomb ass unopened glass bottle of Heinz chili ketchup I haven’t seen before. Figures mine would be food products. T is not pleased, so she insists they let her check her two objects of joy. She has the security guy escort her out of the checked in area with her products and goes to the check in counter where she proceeds to try to check in a new bag with these things. The clerk says good luck and that if she checks the bag, she might as well kiss it goodbye. So she comes back to the security area where I’m waiting on the other side and tells me get my goods that are sitting right behind the guard and give them to her. She then puts the bag through xray again and immediately opens up the bag on the other side and says “you probably want this” and hands the guard the seltzer drink. He says yes and she gets through with the other three important pieces of contraband. Gangster. We book it to the boarding area and board the plan.
An hour later…
We land in Zanzibar with all of our fucking luggage, which by the way is a lot. Negotiated a cab for 45,000 Tsh to take us on our hour long journey to the north tip of the island where we are staying for the next few days in Kendwa. The drive went like this: the driver, Mr. Rajab, was a happy honker and honked maybe 200 times during our trip. We passed thousands of banana and coconut trees and when we started to finally make our way to the northern part, the smell of “musaki” (fish) started to fill the air. Every so often, through the trees, you would get glimpses of white sands and crystal blue water with thousands of sparkly diamonds in it. We were getting very excited to get out of the car and lounge.
We got to Sunset Bungalows around 4:00pm, checked in… changed and made the 2 minute walk to the beach. I don’t even know how to describe the beach. All I know is that the next few days are going to be amazingly relaxing if I want them to be. Within the few hours we had at the beach before sunset, which we watched in a bungalow, we saw several party boats drive by, dhow boats everywhere, a bunch of ripped locals practicing kempo or whatever form of semi-homosexual, aerobic fighting is in style these days, and even got to take part in a Dutch families conversation. God that language is ugly.
Sunset ended and we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. One word. Sucked. It’s the perfect example of a place that capitalizes on it’s location and doesn’t work to make the product they put out match. I had a burger, don’t judge, that was as tasteless as a… It just sucked. We will go somewhere else tomorrow.
It’s 9:36pm right now and I’m tired. Have an early day tomorrow. T’s brother and his wife are coming in to hang and we are waking up at 7:30am to get some sweet spot on the beach. Yeah doggy.
Lala salama.
