Kwa heri Zanzibar

Our room at the Dhow Palace
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Thank goodness the Dhow Palace's sister hotel, Tembo, lets you use their pool! We weren't ready to give up on the sun bathing yet and our pool was half indoors/ half outdoors.  So we've continued to be very lazy for a few days in Stone Town to end the holiday before going back to work.

Funny how within 3 days we managed to make so many 'friends'.  People are genuinely really friendly. A lot of people want to sell something but even if you are not interested, they smile and greet you.

The painting I helped paint.
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One day I got back to the hotel before Anita.  She said she was stopped by about 5 different people telling her 'your sister/ your friend... she went that way'.  They all seemed to know us.  Perhaps its my fault. I cant resist a joke with a guy who tries to sell you sunglasses when you're already wearing some, or cashew nuts when you are sitting outside a restaurant, lol.  And there was the guy who walked us to several different restaurants in order to earn himself 10% commission, the guy who accompanied us to lots of shops to help Anita find a necklace and the guy who persuaded me to buy his CD by singing me 'Jambo,jambo bwana, habari gani...'  Haha, that song annoys the hell out of Anita!!

The real artist.
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The guy who took us shopping,led us finally to the artists workshop where he sells paintings.  Here I met one of the artists and took the opportunity to ask for an art lesson! So we arranged a time and the next day he delighted in being my teacher... although I have to admit I wasn't the best student, using a spatula and oil paint to create Maasai figures was harder than it looked! But it was fun, and a different experience.

So our holidays have come to an end. We've just splashed out on one last nice meal here in Dar es Salaam before Anita flies home tomorrow and I go back to the village. Its going to be weird after having so much time away, but I'm really excited and can't wait to get back into it.  Just wish I could take the fans and air conditioning too! Its sooooo hot!!