TAN: Once More to Lazy Lagoon

I awoke from my slumber on a bed made from three chairs in Maina’s office at 5:45 a.m. Checked my email one more time before gathering up my things to head for home. Went out in search of something suitable for breakfast and nearby. Was happy to find that the office door had not been locked and that the attendant was quick in coming to unlock the door at ground level. No luck on breakfast. All the restaurants looked at least an hour away from opening for morning business.
After collecting all my things, I headed out to get a cab to Micocheni B. I was hailed by a gentleman in a car where they usually operate car washing. After some negotiating, we agreed on the usual fare of 3500 Shillings. We were off, but only as far as the filling station. Got to play the fill up game, but this time with a bit of a twist. The driver claimed that the tank was in the front. He raced out with an empty water jug to get two liters of gas. The hood was lifted and using a smaller water bottle for a funnel, the gas was poured into a reservoir at the back of the engine block.
On the first long stretch of road the car started to fill up with smokey exhaust fumes. I became a little concerned that the engine might be on fire or soon to ignite. The driver seemed unconcerned, hugging the steering wheel, as we hurtled to my destination. As we drew near Maina’s house, the driver started whining about how far it was and that he wanted 4000 Shillings. I said no a number of times and finally asked him to stop a little short of the house. I paid my 3500 and walked away.
Got to the house a bit after 7 a.m. to find Maina just getting up. Started some DVD backups of my trip data and worked on getting my things repacked for the trip to Bagamoyo. By the time I had showered and gotten everything sorted out, the cab had arrived. We piled in and headed over to Hanif’s to collect some propane tanks from Alex Fox. Jeannie was out getting them filled so we headed over to Shoppers Plaza to avail ourselves of the ATM. I popped into the supermarket in search of something for breakfast. The sort of breakfast convenience food that is popular in the US is non-existent here. I ended up with some cashews and a strawberry rolled cake that looked vaguely breakfast pastry-like. Neither Chantal nor Kamau had any interest in the cake, so we all had cashews.
By the time we got back to Hanif’s, Jeannie had returned with filled propane tanks. We got them loaded and were on our way. The trip to the launching point at the Kasiki Fish Camp in Bagani seemed shorter than last time. I think I had a better idea of where we were going, so it didn’t seem like an endless road through the sparsely populated coastal area. The suspension on Ebrahim’s car seemed a little more shot than it had been when we came this way with him a couple of weeks prior. Many of the speed-bumps were negotiated with rather sickening sounds of metal colliding with metal.
We got to the launch point to find Vlad and some of the staff having just launched a newly restored large wooden boat. We chatted with him over some mangoes while we waited for the boat to be sent out from the island. The boat eventually arrived and we were whisked over to the island. The only other guests were an American family. We got settled in a banda each and looked around for a couple of hours before sitting down for a delicious vegetable curry lunch. After lunch, I brought out my computer to show Vlad some of the pictures from the trip to visit the Apopo research center in Morogoro. Kamau enjoyed watching the DVD and Daryl, the father of the American family got sucked in while it was playing.
Daryl turned out to be a Minnesotan who has been in Tanzania for the past six years. He has been working as a college guidance counselor at the International School in Dar es Salaam. His eldest daughter is in her first year at Pepperdine, just north of Los Angeles. His two sons are at the International School.
After the show and tell was finished with the family moving off to play Paintball, I went for a swim. An hour or so later I had had enough. I spent a while working on the computer before dinner. Had another vegetable curry and conversation centered around workers in Tanzania, currently Vlad’s topic of choice. Was in bed by 10 p.m.