Keeping it local

Ever wondered how heaven would look like? How the scenery and sounds would feel like and trigger our minds? These are the thoughts running in my mind as I look up the beautiful sky. The stars are pretty lined up as if they are trying to convey a message to us earthly beings. Life should be like this. We ought to escape regularly away from the daily interference from cellphones, structured life and traffic.

Fred and I are seated on the white sands with some of the other guests in a mini-circle with a fire lit in the middle to keep us warm. We are being entertained by some traditional dancers singing some soulful Swahili songs to us. I look around and notice most of the eyes are fixated on the women’s waist especially when they changed the beat to chakacha. The way they shook their waists made me jealous. They shook it hard but they hid the effort from their faces. I felt like standing up and going to ask for some lessons and maybe act it out in front of Fred.  I sip my cocktail drink and lean my head on Fred’s chest. I feel secure with me wrapped up in his frame.  One of the couple seated next to us stand up and join the dancers for a jig. Encouraged by them, we also join them. Happy times!

Earlier, after being shown our room, we relaxed before taking a tour on the resort. As we explored, we found out that the hotel had hosted some of the biggest celebrities in the world.  People like Naomi Campbell, Fernando Alonso, Bono, John Galliano and Roberto Cavalli were some of the few guests that have enjoyed the facility. We also enjoyed a walk along the white sandy beach. We met up with some locals who were walking with two camels. As we engaged with them, we asked if we could ride on them and they agreed but for a small fee. We quickly said yes and rode on them. I had never been on a camel before so it was frightening to be carried at such a height. Good thing we had carried a camera. We took several pictures of each other with the picture perfect landscape serving as a background. With the ocean providing the best view of sunset, I found the walk so romantic.

We returned to the restaurant later on and prepared for dinner. It was a buffet type of meal of different kinds. Fred suggested we sample the Swahili dishes that were on the menu. This would be a perfect way to get to know the local cuisine. There were different kinds of rice prepared i.e Pilau, Biriani, Wali wa Mnazi and some stew from different vegetable and beef varieties. It was really tasty. We also sampled a traditional type of wine called madafu. It was sweet but a little bit strong as I became tipsy after a two glasses.  After dinner, we went back to the room as we were tired and jet lag was starting to kick in.