It's Saturday again so no assignments planned except for what we want to arrange for ourselves. As is the norm for me here I always wake up quite early (I know Sally won't believe me but it is true), and as I went for my cup of tea I met some of the house mates from Holland who are also early risers and who were heading for the market. This was lucky for me as I also wanted to go, surprises for back home, and I managed to tag along. This was in fact really really lucky for me because I would have gone to completely the wrong place and would have failed to get what I wanted.
The market we went to, situated some way from the town centre was in fact a very large and busy place even at this early hour. There they sold all the usual commodities, food and clothing etc, along with some strange ones such as recycled bicycle tyres, recycled screws and other assorted recycled household items that would be discarded in the UK. I have to admit that some of these items that looked completely knackered were resold which just goes to show what has to be done when there is so little money.
Because I wanted to get a particular item it meant that I had to wait at least 2 ½ half hours, which as anyone who knows me is a bloody long time even at the most luxurious of shopping places. However as one of the girls I was with was a nurse who spent part of her week at one of the local clinics I was able to while away some of the time with a guided tour of the clinic and see its facilities. I have to say, unsurprisingly, it was very basic as expected, but not a million miles away from some of the parts of Kingston Hospital that I have been to although I know which place I would want to be treated. In fact I would say it looked like the NHS I used when I was a kid which is probably of no surprise given the British Influence in this country specifically back in the 50 and 60's when this place was built.
When we returned to the house I decided, that although I should go to Zimbabwe today, to head for the Zambezi Sun for a lazy day by the pool. I have to say that on hind sight I think this was an excellent decision given that the weather was good and the pool was cool. I even treated myself to the Steak club sandwich which is the house speciality and it was just fantastic. I was also able to have a proper look at the damage to my nose from the previous night's activities and was pleased to see that although slightly bruised no lasting damage appeared to have been done.
The evening was slightly more fraught however as I headed back to the internet cafe to sort out my connecting flights from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam and book hotel accommodation in both Jo'burg and Dar Es Salaam. Being Africa though, I again mainly failed except for the confirmation of my stop over at the Jo'burg Safari Lodge which was at least a step in the right direction. I have started to worry a little bit about these final arrangements because it is all getting a bit tight on timings etc but there really is not much more I can do without proper email and internet access and if the worse comes to the worse I will just have to turn up at the airport in Zanzibar and see if I can get a ticket on the day.
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