Wednesday 21 December 2011

The river no 2 beach trip

Today has just flown by... Before I knew it breakfast was bleeding into lunch - and it was time to check out the shops here at this compound area....

The now obligatory swim in the sea pre and post breakfast ...just enough time to have another dip before putting in a t shirt and checking out the vast array of shopping options  ...

Well the 4 souvenir shops ... That's it !... 3 clothes and 2 handy crafts... A loud shirt and a loud dress later and a few souvenirs.. all taking about 3 hours to negotiate price .. we are done.

 Loud dress and shirt are made from bright patch work cloth which we have to first select from about 30 pieces of material, negotiate the price of the material, the wastage, the cutting, the style, the design, then the labour costs, but they are unique in every way ... So a dress for the meerkat - and a shirt for me ... And another dress that made it a more commercial deal .. Although I am still not clear which of us will be wearing the second dress !!!



At some stage tonight we have to sit and make a decision about what we are bringing home ... most of the shopping done - with one or two items left, and an item or two for ourselves. It's not like there are many options as you are restricted here by the amount of cash you have been prepared to carry with you.. We are up country .. In the bush ... No ATM - no bank - and no visa card here .. if you want it ... It's cash ... No cash - no purchase - simples !!!!

So that stops the potential of binge buying ... It's worth noting that there are about 6800 leone to the pound .. And you can only get 5000 and 10000 notes ... So for example £300 is a huge amount of notes ..50 x 5000 leone bank notes is worth about £35.... Worthy of being called a multi millionaire !!!! To buy an expensive item here .. For cash .. You need a wheelbarrow to move the money around ...

So we found out that the same tailor who works for my family out here ... And for my cousins ... Is Abu ... Who has based himself here ... And must say his workmanship is very good...

So decision time about what is being taken home ... Over "no chicken again" fish dinner ... Some beer - and the rest of my White wine ..



We did go on the river no2 boat trip to see the secret waterfall ... The monkeys fishing for crabs with their tails .. And the Nile crocs .. Check from the list !! Well almost check from the list as - no fishing monkeys .. But 2 tree monkeys .. No crocs .. But we found the waterfall....


The only thing is this - a 2 hour trip - hand paddled up a river -
I was constantly reminded that this is romantic .. to hear the nearly silent sound of a paddle kissing the water, combined with the smell of the sweat from the rower who normally works with another person as its pretty hard work, in a small boat, on hard wooden planks, progressing at 2 mph ... Romance wasn't the first thing that came to mind and it lost something to my numb bottom .. A bottom bruised by over a week of hard wooden seats ... And hitting the sand banks twice didn't help ... I guess romance comes at a slightly higher cost if comfort is required  ...

No one can challenge the fact that being rowed up a deserted river ...With a landscape backdrop of jungle and mangroves is the thing of a sky wildlife channel nowadays .. But in my mind, having the lost tribe of river no1 (lost as they are on river no 2!!! ) jump out on you with chalk marked faces and bones pierced through various orifices ... Or a hippo or two floating in the river, (floating the right way up preferably), would have finished the landscape perfectly !!!! Instead I faced the builders bottom of a Meerkat, sweaty arm pits, and 2 monkeys .. Well that's what happens in a slowed economy !!!

Bareguitarist can't have everything I guess !!!



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