News from Lazy Lagoon

We were able to have a short conversation with Sara today on a borrowed cell phone. Lazy Lagoon is unlike anywhere she’s ever been. The island is only reachable by a two hour drive followed by a boat ride. Her job includes meeting the guests as they arrive by boat, offering a cold drink, then acquainting them with the rules of the island, such as “beware - a bush pig is on the loose and is vicious”, “don’t drink the water”, and “when you walk on the beach, look out for the poisonous cone shells”. The latter is a concern because each night the guests are served dinner on the beach. She has been working in the kitchen with two 25-year old Tanzanian guys who don’t speak English. The food and even the utensils are different and she’s learning slowly how to cook their way (mostly chopping onions at this point, she says), and working diligently on Swahili. Her favorite time – each noon a piercing whistle sounds signaling the arrival of the local fishermen in their hand carved boats. She and the manager, Lara, rush to the beach and watch as the catch is thrown on the sand – every type of fish imaginable. After Lara bargains and strikes a deal with the fishermen, the fish are carried to the kitchen for the night’s meal. The guests are very diverse – no Americans yet, but many Canadians, Brits, Belgians, ex pat South Africans who now live in Dar Es Salam, Finns, and even Russians. For entertainment, oyster-loving guests are given hammers and chisels to gather oysters from the oyster beds for a snack. For you snorkelers - she saw three lionfish at the bottom of a tidal pool. Sara will probably stay one more week at Lazy Lagoon and then will be sent to Mufindi Highland Lodge, a tea estate in the Great Rift Valley, or Vuma Hills in Mikumi National Park. She says that she misses you all and appreciates the comments posted on her blogs (old and new ones), which we read to her.