Saturday evening was a sad day, that was when one of my new friends left the ship to return home. She was really cool, and a lot of fun to hang out with, plus we had lots of fun times!!! It's going to be hard to learn to make friends and then have to say goodbye...that's one part of this ship's life that I don't like.
So on Sunday, there were 4 of us that decided to have an adventure. We wanted to go to the Angola border and back. We knew we wouldn't be able to cross the border, but we just wanted to see Angola. It only takes an hour to drive there from the port.
We were suppose to meet up with one of our day-workers from the ship, but for some reason that didn't happen and so we left to find a taxi to drive us there. :) Negotiating a fair price can be somewhat challenging, especially when you have language difficulty's. Luckily for us we happened upon a day-worker who was able to find us a taxi, tell him where we wanted to go, and negotiate the price for us.
We all (the 4 of us) piled in and headed to the border...
Our taxi driver took us within 5-10 kilometers of the border but wouldn't take us any closer. He had stopped at a 'outdoor restaurant' (I'm not really sure what to call it.) There were several local people making fish to sell, and there were also tables and chairs set up under a pavilion/roof.
We got out to walk around and 2 of the people in my group knew a little bit of French and so they started talking to one of the local grandma's and asked how much farther it was until the Angola border.
She looked at us, and told us to get in her car and she would drive us there. We managed to tell our taxi driver to wait, that we would be coming back, and got in the car. She took us to the border and we were able to get out and walk up to the fence but didn't cross over into Angola. Now I can say I've seen it, but I haven't been there. The police wouldn't let us take pictures of Angola, so I don't have any to share, but really the best part of the day is what happened next anyway.
After we had seen the Angola, we got back into grandma's car and drove back to the restaurant where she worked. We decided to go ahead and get something to eat. While we were waiting for the food to cook, they allowed to walk around and watch what they were doing and take pictures. Also during that time, they allowed us to help/taught how to make whatever we were going to be eating. It turned into quite the adventure!!!
Before I share the pictures, some of you may wish to know (and will laugh), I didn't even make it a month before eating fish. Dinner was fish and fried banana's. The sad part is that I couldn't bring myself to try the banana's but I did eat several bites of fish before I had to stop. It wasn't that it tasted horrible, and in fact if I liked fish it would have tasted great. Small steps...
After we finished eating, it was time to get back into the taxi and return to the port. Upon our return to the city, we asked to be dropped off at the beach, and went to the Chinese restaurant where we had something cold to drink while sitting on the outdoor patio watching the waves. It was after that, we decided to return to the ship.
That's the story of my random Sunday adventure...hope you enjoyed!!
So on Sunday, there were 4 of us that decided to have an adventure. We wanted to go to the Angola border and back. We knew we wouldn't be able to cross the border, but we just wanted to see Angola. It only takes an hour to drive there from the port.
We were suppose to meet up with one of our day-workers from the ship, but for some reason that didn't happen and so we left to find a taxi to drive us there. :) Negotiating a fair price can be somewhat challenging, especially when you have language difficulty's. Luckily for us we happened upon a day-worker who was able to find us a taxi, tell him where we wanted to go, and negotiate the price for us.
We all (the 4 of us) piled in and headed to the border...
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| this was taken from the car window while driving |
We got out to walk around and 2 of the people in my group knew a little bit of French and so they started talking to one of the local grandma's and asked how much farther it was until the Angola border.
She looked at us, and told us to get in her car and she would drive us there. We managed to tell our taxi driver to wait, that we would be coming back, and got in the car. She took us to the border and we were able to get out and walk up to the fence but didn't cross over into Angola. Now I can say I've seen it, but I haven't been there. The police wouldn't let us take pictures of Angola, so I don't have any to share, but really the best part of the day is what happened next anyway.
After we had seen the Angola, we got back into grandma's car and drove back to the restaurant where she worked. We decided to go ahead and get something to eat. While we were waiting for the food to cook, they allowed to walk around and watch what they were doing and take pictures. Also during that time, they allowed us to help/taught how to make whatever we were going to be eating. It turned into quite the adventure!!!
Before I share the pictures, some of you may wish to know (and will laugh), I didn't even make it a month before eating fish. Dinner was fish and fried banana's. The sad part is that I couldn't bring myself to try the banana's but I did eat several bites of fish before I had to stop. It wasn't that it tasted horrible, and in fact if I liked fish it would have tasted great. Small steps...
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| three of us sitting at the table with our taxi driver |
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| the 4 of us who went with the 'grandma' that drove us to the border... an interesting note, there are 5 different country's represented in this picture :) |
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| cutting onions...funny, I do that in the states too |
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| the fish and veggies (a few onions and peppers) would be wrapped in banana leaves |
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| the final wrapped product, and it's ready to be placed on the coals |
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| here are several meals cooking |
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| this is what it looks like finished, and dumped onto your plate |
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| I'm eating fish!!! |
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| a panoramic view of the restaurant |
After we finished eating, it was time to get back into the taxi and return to the port. Upon our return to the city, we asked to be dropped off at the beach, and went to the Chinese restaurant where we had something cold to drink while sitting on the outdoor patio watching the waves. It was after that, we decided to return to the ship.
That's the story of my random Sunday adventure...hope you enjoyed!!
I laughed really hard when I read that bit about fish and bananas.... Hmm... maybe by the time you get back, I can take you for real sushi. :o) You're making progress though - fish, banana, chicken... okay banana is a stretch. Can you remind me again, what you find so unappealing about the bananas? :o)
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