thwarted by Tanesco

The whole power situation in Dar is getting on my nerves, as our access to electricity is never predictable. On Saturday, we had planned for a lovely TV night of watching episodes of 24 and curling up with pizza (yes, there is a lot of Italian food here in Dar, apparently, the Italian tourists are many). We sat in frustration and in the dark willing the damned lights to turn on until, defeated by the hunger, we made grilled cheese sandwiches on our little kerosene stove. Finally, the power came on at around 10:30 at night. Good grief, I didn't think it would be so boring without power, but what is there to do but read under the candlelight? And when you start running out of candles (and you do, pretty quickly), all you want to do is sleep. Our plans are always thwarted by some unpredictable thing - no power, no water, high traffic whatever. No wonder people here take it so easy, I am already irritated by this, and I'm the most laid back person in my family.

So Aaki, Rebecca and I decided Sunday would be beach day, because well, the beach doesn't "turn off". Poor Kelly, who was bent on not getting malaria, and was the most diligent in terms of wearing long sleeves and pants, nevertheless got sick and had to stay home. We took a short ride to White Sands resort, where we chartered a speedboat to Mbudya Island. What a beautiful place, the speed boat ride was definitely the most fun, bumping up and down along the waves. When we arrived, we set up camp underneath a rented banda and ordered our lunch, which was a simple but OH so delicious meal of fries and fresh grilled whole fish. It can with a bit of sea salt and no cutlery. Such yummy fresh food, I was so happy. The weather was a bit rainy, and there were more clouds than we'd like, but it was a spectacular day nontheless to relax on a hammock. The best part was getting soaked riding back on the speedboat, as the waves get really choppy near the evening. We even saw a whale in the distance!

*Sigh*. I have a fundraising workshop to go to all next week, which also falls RIGHT on the only four day weekend of the year. So all my friends are going to Zanzibar, while I get to stay at home and then attend this workshop all week. Boo hiss. I hope I get to go to Zanzibar soon, this will be ridiculous if I can't.