One thing I noticed is that the African men are very affectionate w/ each other, in a friendly loving manner. When they greet, they will shake hands and then sometimes walk and talk while still holding hands. Or they will shake hands and then lean in and touch shoulder to shoulder. It was very sweet and I liked it.
So, after our safari, we ended up at a nicer hotel and had one day to shop. Since Travis had been with the girls for two weeks straight, he opted to stay home and nap and drink beer. Missy, Shauna and I headed out.
We were warned ahead of time that the guys on the street will sometimes follow you into the curio shops and tell the clerk we are his "guest" without us knowing. This way he makes commission on what we purchase. We would walk into a store then walk out and be bombarded by guys trying to get us to come to their stores or they wanted to escort us to our next destination for a fee. They had business cards for which shop they were working. These people don't take NO for an answer, after the 5th time of saying NO politely, you have to be a bitch to get rid of them....it is really frustrating!! Shauna was very nice but firm and one guy asked me for his business card back bc he thought she wasn't a "nice lady." They just wouldn't leave us alone. We went to a local market and the vendors are very forceful and aggressive to sell. "since you are first customer, I give good price" I fell for that ONCE in Zanzibar and got ripped off. So bartering is the system.....
Since I really liked the Swahili food in Zanzibar, we tried a local restaurant and had a fabulous meal. Chicken, beef, spinach, beans, rice w/ some fabulous sauce, coke in a bottle, it was delectable.
At our hotel, this big funny bird was hanging around and chillin' with the guests.
My cousins and Missy had to load up and leave for home the night before I left for South Africa. I moped around the rest of the night and didn't want them to go. It was wonderful to have company and laugh and not be alone and explore w/ others and fit in w/ my own peoples. I was very sad to see them go.... :(
I opted to have my clothes sent to laundry since they didn't have a laundromat. Mistake. I looked out my window and my clothes were hanging on the clothes line, some were in the dirt, the worst part was they burn all sorts of stuff, leaves, branches, trash etc. So my clothes came back damp and stunk of bad campfire. So at my next hotel in Johannesburg, I had to have them rewashed, I couldn't take it. That was 35,000 shillings well spent. ($35 US)
Oh well, Hakuna Matata. All is good.
THERE'S A MONKEY IN MY ROOM!
During our safari, one of our lodges had a sliding glass door. Missy had already packed up and headed down to the jeep and I was just getting ready to do the same. Our room was on the 2nd floor and had a very small balcony. I headed to close the door and this Velvet Monkey (not the baboons, the white smaller ones) this Velvet Monkey was standing on the rail, hanging onto the roof w/ one hand, sorta stretched out and his red wiener was sticking straight out! He was looking right at me. I thought, "Oh no, this ain't gonna be good." He jumped down into the room and went over to the trash can, tossed it looking for good stuff. All I could say was No.No. No. No. I ducked into the bathroom, grabbed a towel and tried to scare him, like a matador would taunt a bull. And that didn't work out. He came towards me instead of running out the door. I ran out of the room, shut the door and was yelling "there's a monkey in my room! There's a monkey in my room!" I was scared to death. The maid and the maintenance guy came over and banged on the door and the wall and scared him off. I was shaking and really scared, I was surprised how afraid I was, my stomach dropped and I couldn't shake that feeling for awhile. Plus, my camera, phone, all of my stuff was laid out for him to grab. According to maintenance man, he got away w/ something, he thought looked like biscuits, but we didn't have biscuits in our room so I don't know what it was, guess I won't know until I need it.....Scary!!
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