Mbudyo Island

Today was our day off. Since Tanzanians don't work on Sundays (they usually have at least a half-day on Saturdays), it's hard to get a training set-up. We had a little trouble deciding as a group what we would do on our free day, until we found out that the owner of the hotel had a boat and that we could take to one of two islands just a little ways out into the ocean in front of the hotel. We decided to go to the farther of the two, Mbudyo, which is technically a Marine Reserve.

The place was gorgeous (sorry, no pictures still - I'm hoping the internet in Arusha is much faster). It's an uninhabited island, so there wasn't much of a crowd - just the people that come via their own boats or possibly a ferry, but we never saw one come in. There was one grill there which served only seafood with rice or "chips" (french fries to us Americans). We got hassled right off of the boat by a sketchy guy telling us to pay to get into the reserve. Since he didn't have any official documentation - just a printout he'd taken, he couldn't convince me that he wasn't just trying to steal our money, so I refused to pay. Nothing happened to me, so I think I made the right choice!!

We swam in the clear water, which was very warm and I had fish and chips for lunch. The fish came looking just like a fish and was actually really good. While we were sitting there eating, we saw a few fishermen come up to the grill and sell their fish, a lobster, and even an octopus to the bar owner! It was extremely fresh and local! (Legal? I'm not quite sure.) Anyway, it was a good time and we avoided being spilled into the ocean on the way home even though the sea had gotten really rough. I have to admit I was pretty nervous for a while.

For dinner we went to Cine Club, which had a live band (The B Band) and made us a Tanzanian buffet. All of the food was excellent - there was curried rice, bananas (which did indeed taste like potatoes when cooked), chipatis (a tortilla-like thing), and we got to try goat. (I prefer beef.)

It was a really nice day. I'm sad to leave my nice ocean-front room tomorrow, but we'll be in Arusha by Tuesday and I'm ready to settle down!