No Boxing Day Sales Here
Friday, December 26th, 2008Day 270
We planned on spending 4 or 5 nights on the beach here but with the jacked up price of accommodation for the holidays we have decided to head back to Stone Town today. Bwejuu has been a relaxing few days however, a much needed break from the rigours of African overland travel.
We caught the 10am mini bus back to town and arrived in a heavy downpour just before noon. We thought we had booked the same room at Florida Guesthouse, when we arrived the housekeeper directed us to another room upstairs. No problem, this room was identical to our old one and the same price. About 15 minutes later, just as we were settled in the room we heard a knock. Jordana answers the door with the housekeeper standing there staring at the wall like a zombie. She muttered something about downstairs and walked away. We thought it either meant our old room was available or that they wanted our passport info for check-in. No more than a minute later another knock. This time its the owner. He rudely tells us we shouldn’t have this room and that we in fact don’t have any room. Huh? We thought we made a reservation. He tells us that he never confirmed and that a family has booked the room. Sure, now we figured it out, a family that he can get more money out of. So we got our stuff and left, quite angry with the fat, lazy, greedy owner. Can you tell we were a bit upset? If you are ever in Zanzibar stay away from Florida Guesthouse, sometimes referred to as Florida Hotel. We should have known better the first time we were here and he was quite pushy about tours. Maybe if I mention the name it will appear on a google searches, Florida Guesthouse Zanzibar. STAY AWAY!
Moving on, we went to Stone Town Cafe where I left Jordana and our bags while I went searching for a room. I quickly discovered this wasn’t going to be easy. It was December 26th, places were either full or have increased their rates. One hotel listed in the guidebook at $30 was charging over $70/night just during the holidays. I looked at the room, at $30 it would have been a bad deal. After some searching with frustration setting in I found the Chavda Hotel. An old restored hotel that had some character and was quite beautiful. I managed to bargain down the room to $60. Our room has a/c, BBC, a nice large bed and the biggest balcony I have ever seen. Seriously we could have opened a bar out there. At least if we were overpaying we had a good room for it.
We relaxed in our a/c room most of the day as rain fell outside, creating a very sticky, humid day. I had a few beers chilling in the fridge that we enjoyed at sunset on our balcony while listening to the call to prayer ring out across the city. As night fell we headed back to Archipelago for dinner. We scored a great seat overlooking the sea and had our best meal in Zanzibar. Prawns for Jordana and fresh snapper for myself, this is probably the best food in Stone Town with a great setting. It was a perfect ending to a great week in Zanzibar. Actually the perfect ending was the great cool sleep in our huge and comfortable 4 poster bed. In the morning its back to the heat and dirt of Dar es Salaam for one more night before heading out on Safari.
Michael Coroneos