When I arrived on the Ilala ferry from Monkey Bay, me and some Dutch friends had planned on staying at big blue backpacker; it was the cheapest in the Lonely Planet.The boat arrived in Nkata Bay at 1 in the morning and wasn't leaving until 7 am, so we decided to go back to sleep and get off right before it left, so as to save a nights accomadation somewhere. When we got off at 6:30 we started looking for a taxi to take us to Big Blue, when someone from a more expensive lodge pulled up announcing free pickups. We were tired and my friends took the offer. I reluctuntly decided to walk on to the cheaper backpacker, and told them I would see them in town later on. I was grumbeling to myself about being lost and too tired to walk around town when the Big Blue people pulled up. MY friends had already left, so I shrugged and happily jumped in. After talking to them later, I found out that I ended up paying less for my room than they did for a rocky campsite. I definatly had to pat myself on the back for mot taking the easy way out.
Big Blue Backpacker is the typical hostel found in Africa. Pretty nice, with different perks. It has it's own little stretch of lake shore, and offered free cannoes, free snorkeling gear, even free hair cuts. At $5 a night for a dorm, you can't really complain about anything. What was the main perk for me, which I'm kind of ashamed of, is the free wifi. But hey, the place turned into a great place to relaxe for a few day and have internet whenever I wanted. I signed up for the advanced scuba course down at the local dive shop, Aqua Africa,which would only cost $300. That night however, my instructor got malaria and hasn't gotten well yet. Now I'm back to that nagging feeling telling me I should keep moving. If I can't take advantage of the cheap diving, well not much to keep me around. My new Dutch and Irish friends left a couple days ago, saying they would see me in Zanzibar. So, I suppose it's time to move on. I probably wont leave tomorrow, I'm waiting for some paintings to be delivered that I had made of some underwater photos I have; got the painting for an old cell phone I had, figure I'll mail em home to ma. I probably wont have internet for a few days, but next time you hear from me, I'll be trekking around Tanzania.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
wow, blue backpackers sounds like a good find- annie
ReplyDeleteOoh - can't wait to get the paintings! Sounds like your choices are really good ones so far. I like that you don't feel obligated to stay long anywhere. After you see all of the places and countries you have always wanted to, you can then know more of where it is you want to light for a spell.
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