First Saturday

Yesterday was my first Saturday in Africa.  It was also national cleaning day.  Which in turn means that the 7:45 departure to the beach was delayed until 9:45 which was alright b/c that gave me time to do other things that I hadn't had time to do earlier this week.  The beach was amazing.  I didn't bring my camera b/c I knew others would bring theirs and I didn't want it to get all sandy.  We have a shared media folder in a common drive so I hope some people put theirs up so I can post some for you all to see.  So the trip starts out at 9:45 in a 'poda poda' van which is like a mini bus that supposedly holds 18 but of course we couldn't leave some late comers out so we actually fit 20 in there.  It was a bit squishy, but we made do.  (so much fun and a great way to meet new people!)  We arrived at No. 2 River beach about 105 minutes later, but were confused b/c that was not the original beach we planned on going to....the driver didn't really know where we were going apparently  :-)  love Africa.  It was alright though b/c No. 2 River is rumored to be better than Laha Beach, so we took it as a blessing and continued down the sketchy dirt road until we got to this gate in which we had to pay per vehicle to use the beach then it was extra to rent a chair for the day on top of that, not complaining, just giving you the whole scoop.  It was kind of funny to see some of the others that were on our canceled flight there already when we got there.  Some guys from the U.S. Coast Guard that are working here for a couple of weeks.  The sand was white, the water beautiful and the current strong.  Was knocked off of my feet within the first 10 seconds of entering the water, but it was a welcome blow to the backside saying: "beware of the ocean".  It was a glorious day bobbing in the ocean, laying in the sun, getting to know new people and trying to convince the vendors that I didn't really want what they were selling.  :-)  When shopping at home it's common for one to touch the cloth while shopping, here I think if you touch something they think that you are starting to barter.... 
Today is a day of recovering from the sun.  I didn't get too burnt, just where I missed with the sunscreen, so I'm currently a little stripe-ed.  I think I will just relax today and go to church on the ship tonight.  My body is not up to walking to a church in the city today.  Not much else to say except I had the best frapuccino last night...mmmm...a bit of home away from home.  On my next blog, I'll post where letters etc can be sent.  Some people have been asking about that, but along with that I do want to say that I have to pay per kg on packages, so if you do send something please make it nothing too heavy.  We have chocolate and coffee on board, so that is a non-issue  :-)  Thanks for reading my novel.  :-)