Eat, Drink, Sleep, and Repeat

Seems like our brief stay in Dar Es Salaam has refreshed everybody.  The itinerary here was intentionally light.  No commitments and no worries.  Just a chance for grandma and Bea to work out he aches and kinks for the trip while Tony, Carol, Tree, and I fatten up for the lions.

Turns out our hotel is really top notch.  Its the same one that the George Bush stayed at when visiting Tanzania a few months ago.  So we have started the last two days very early (easy to do when you are wide awake at 4am) and then feast on a breakfast buffet that is (a) gourmet, and(b)  mind blowing.  Start with made to order omlets.  Fresh passion fruit and mango.  They'll do a waffle for you.  They have an entire table of pastries.  And the best coffee ever.

So naturally, the first thing you do after a breakfast like that is go right back to bed.  That's some kind of vacation when your first nap is before 9am.

By noon we taking a light lunch.  Maybe splitting a few sandwiches between us.  Who needs food when Tree is ordering champagne and I've made it a personal mission to sample every local beer?  My favorite brand is called "Tusker", which was named for the elephant that killed one of the brewery founders.  No joke.  After a few adult beverages, its time to rest up again but not before we look ahead to dinner, the last round of the cycle.

Yesterday Tony put me on point for dinner arrangements.  It was the least I could do.  After all, he did arrange every detail of this transcontinental venture.  This was a simple task.  Get input, find a place, arrange for a ride.  Simple.

Seemed like everyone was jonesing for some comforty and carb-o-licious Italian food.  Seems like this craving just seized everybody in the group at about the time we passed over US boundry waters.  It was an insatiable craving.  We had enough smoked salmon to last three lifetimes on the trip over.  Nothing against fish.  We just felt like loading up.  Pizza was essential.  So I find an Italian restaurant at a nearby hotel called L'Ovieto.  I make reservations for 6:30pm and we are ready to roll.  

When we arrive, Theresa checked us in.

Tree: "Tobin party of 6"

Host: "I'm sorry...no Tobin"

Tree: "Is it under Richard?"

Host: "I have a Richie, partie of 4?"

Tree: "Hmm, no."

Host: "Richmond, party of 6?"

Tree: "Yep, that must be it." (figuring there was a Rich to Swahili translation mixup)

We sit down and order drinks.  Tree was the first to notice something odd.  

"This place doesn't look like the picture you (Rich) showed us in the magazine."

A few minutes later Tree piped up again...

"Is it odd that they have fishing nets as part of their decor?"

Then Tree finally said it.  "I think we're in the wrong restaurant."

They don't give Phds away to dummies folks.  She was right.  Turns out we went to the wrong L'Ovieto restaurant.  The italian restaurant by the same name was actually right down the hall in the same hotel.  We accidently found ourselves in the seafood restaurant and slipped in quite accidently.  Since our drinks were ordered we decided to ride it out and we had one of the best seafood meals ever despite the fact that no one was in the mood for it.  You basically picked out your fish and they'd cook it in front of you.  It was great, and since we're on a coastline it certainly made more sense than a Tanzanian Italian restaurant.  Thankfully the family played along with my gaffe and didn't bust my chops to badly.

They did however bust my chops over one of my better Swahili mishaps.

Me: "Kuna Choh" (Where is the tiolet)

Hostess:  "Huh?"

Me: "Kuna Choo??" (The uncertainty in my voice clearly evident)

Hostess:  "huh?"

Me:  "Restroom? Toilet?"

Hostess:  "To your right."

Perhaps out of curiosity, but more likely out of awkward embarrassment, I asked her how to say "Where is the toilet?" in Swahili.  She looked at me and said straight faced "John".

Awesome.