Done and dusted

Last night after writing the blog I wandered off to the night market just to walk around a bit and also to find something to nibble on. It was a beautiful evening and there were lots of people at the gardens, both tourists and Zanzibaris. The clouds had been around all day but they slowly dissipated so that the full moon was visible through a foggy haze. At first I just walked around looking at all the stalls to see what was on offer. I was after some vegetables. I am only one week into this three week trip and already I am craving veggies. The only vegetable items on sale were some vegetarian samosas so I got one of those, a beef meat ball and some French fries. Well that samosas was so unbelievably hot that my taste buds were numb for half an hour after I had eaten just half of it. There was no way I could finish it. The meat ball was okay but I could not resist sharing it was three of the market cats. And fries are fries. In all it was a disappointing meal even though it was dead cheap Tsh4500 (just under $3 or R22).
 The night market gets underway
I love this scene! Choosing dinner under a tree

It was nice to be out in the evening though and I was completely rewarded with the most beautiful sunset yet! 
A beautiful sunset!

I returned to the hotel and sat in the lobby checking my emails, etc. when along came the guy who is staying in the room next to mine and we started chatting. He is from New Zealand and is staying in Zanzibar (and the hotel) for two years. He is a contract manger for a water works project. It was interesting to hear how he is managing the long stay away from his home and family. Eventually I took myself off to bed but sleep eluded me until well after midnight. Then I woke up just before 4am so it was not a good night. I had to face the day and the heat feeling like I had been pulled through a bush backwards.

The day started off in a typically frustrating way with everyone arriving in dribs and drabs and the last to arrive was the project focal person. Eventually everyone was there and work got under way. Today had been set aside purely for data validation. We started off with the smaller groups presenting their data  to everyone else but that was a mistake. It took so long and ended up with some people arguing about things for the sake of arguing. Eventually we made the decision that the smaller groups would swap data and validate each others' work. This worked very well and might be the way to go in the future. Despite everyone hoping that we would finish just after lunch though, the workshop concluded at 16:00.

Now I am back at Livingston's writing and keeping half an eye on the ferry loading process which seems a little more chaotic than normal. It is not all that pleasant here because all I can smell is burnt clutch!

So the official work in Zanzibar is finished and I have a day to spare. I'm sure there will be time to roam around a little tomorrow but I have some other work to do too. I am, however, looking forward to a quiet day!

Take care everyone!

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