The first part of the week mainly entailed discussing future plans. I found my way to the British High Commission and found they don’t record the presence of British citizens in the country anymore. I was very sweetly told to be careful and to take care.
On Thurs I went to Bagamoyo for their festival…all ready to stay the night. It took 4 hours to get there….Only about 42 miles, a bit tedious. I went down to the beach to enquire about sea front hotel prices. TSH150,000…about £50. Hmmm.! Walked back towards town and got talking to Happy who helped me find some lodging for TSH25,000..8-9 pounds. Bit basic but adequate. I didn’t see the A/C switch until the next morning!!! But there was a fan.
The Festival was fun; Arts & Crafts. Lots of artefacts for sale and the stage acts in the evening were interesting. International in the sense there were acts from Kenya and Zambia; didn’t notice any other countries. Maybe showcasing TZ mainly.
I hung out at the beach for a few hours on Friday before heading back early enough to miss the rush hour traffic. Bagamoyo is quite quirky..an interesting place to spend a few days. Although I wasn’t allowed to photograph a huge fish catch at the fish market…well unless I handed over some money !!
Yesterday a goat was slaughtered in my honour. I was offered the privilege of doing the necessary, which I declined. I kept well away from the preparation process. When asked whether I wanted white or red soup, I went for the white because I guessed correctly that the red was caused by the addition of blood !!