14 March - To the BEACH!

14 March

Stone Town – Jambiani

~30 Miles on the Dala Dala

Steph:

We had to negotiate quite a bit today. The guy at the dala dala completely tried to rip us off with the Mzungu price when we knew that the actual price is a third of that. We had none of it and actually walked away before he came running, laughing, saying, "ok, ok". I felt a little bad because we were haggling over a dollar but the next mzungus who walked up immediatly agreed to the ridiculous amount they asked us to begin with, so they more than made up for it.

When we sat down, a guy came in with us and asked if we needed a place to stay in Jambiani. He claimed that his cousin has a place for us for a good price and wanted us to agree right there. I thought it was slightly sketch but he called his cousin and handed the phone over to Erik (I don't exist here, btw – all the men only talk to erik). They had a conversation and hung up. Erik said we'd see when we got there. Hmmm.

When we arrived, Habitu (the cousin on the phone) was waiting for us and lead us down a street while all the other mzungus in the dala dala went somewhere else. I thought, "uh oh, here we go". But it was GREAT! Habitu is super nice and manages a two room house that he rents out. It's lovely, right on the beach, two room, two bath, with a kitchen, at a great price. Way better than anything else we've heard of. Score.

The water is beautiful. So clear.

Erik:

We got the price down from 4000Tsh pp and 2500Tsh for our bag to 5000Tsh for the both of us including the bag. Not bad for a 50k drive and still more than the locals pay. The interior of the island is "bleh" but the beaches are spectacular. We got a room in a house on the beach for $22/night. Woot. Our neighbor is an older South African cat lady.

The water is really warm at first high tide but it should cool down in the morning. We went and ate at the Starfish, which is the place that Nick had told us about in Livingstone. Had a beer, played some pool, got owned.

All in all, a pleasant day. It's darn hot though!

Our house!