Mary's Nice Place

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  Bagamoyo, Tanzania
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

In my previous blog I believe I said I would be moving to Francesco's. We did that, and have since moved on. Francesco's was a little too open for us - meaning that sleeping at a bar/hotel was maybe not the best idea because people would get drunk and then wander to our room.  We moved on around the corner (we are now exactly a block from where we have been all month) to a quiet little place called Mary's Nice Place. I love it there. It is like a little cottage and similar to Zukri in that it has chickens and goats and cats rather than drunkards.  It is very comfortable and still in a familliar location of Bagamoyo.  It is strange though because I was completely comfortable at Zukri and moving down the block seems to take some adjustment - I think becuase no one is preparing meals for me.  I have been eating a lot of chips coocoo (chicken and fries) the last few days. It costs about 2100 shillings to buy chips coocoo, 2100 shillings is about $1.90. Last night we ate at Mary's Nice Place and our only option to eat was rice and cabbage. At home if someone told me I was having rice and cabbage for dinner I would have wondered where the meat or something substantial was, but now it seems perfectly normal and perfectly filling. In fact, I was very excited when they told me that is what they were serving.  They did have fish as an option for lunch yesterday, but I have yet to eat fish here. They have a huge fish market down the beach where I watch them catching fish all day. The few times I have walked through there I watch the stray cats munching on the fish that is just laying in piles. Yesterday when the fish guy brought a pile of fish to Mary's Nice Place there was a line of three cats following him. Scenes like that make me hesititate to eat the fish, but I am sure once it's cooked it is fine. I guess anyway. 
I am almost finished with my carving, it looks very good. Again, I think it looks so good because the artists shows me exactly what to do, and I am okay with that. This way I have something good to bring home to show rather than some stick with holes in it that I would have made without such guidance. 
In one week I will be in Berlin, so the next few days will be very busy with travel and organizing. My plan at this point is to travel to Dar es Salaaam for a couple days to visit all the musuems and things I intended to visit before but that were closed. Then fly to London for one night, Berlin for 4 nights, back to London, then HOME HOME. I can't decide if I am excited or sad to leave. I guess a little of both. I am not excited to have to pay for gas or to drive.  I am however excited for Taco Bell. 
Today is Wednesday which means we are taking the kids to the beach again, this week I am in charge of the sandwiches so I will spend the rest of my morning making 40 peanut butter sandwiches.  I think in my last message I described the weather as really hot and no rain. That has changed again, it has been very cloudy and sprinkling the last few days, causing me trouble because I need to get my fill of beach time before I leave. 
I suppose that is all for now. Hope all is well with everyone.

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