October 5th

We awoke around 06, and readied. Left around 730 for breakfast; we were early. But it worked out the other couple just finished. We were served coffee/tea; juice and same two kinds of bread. But the difference being the jam. It was like an apple butter taste with sweet, mild fruit and cinnamon, but like a jam texture. This was an added bonus. George met us as we were finishing. We went back and gathered our stuff. “Loaded and headed out.” It's 0830.

We are only going around 2 hours to our next hotel – another by-the-sea resort. The “road” again is very much in need of 4×4 vehicles. We are like, bouncey, bouncey, bounce! At one point George found it humerous and chuckled out loud, he said, “It's like being in a boat!” George did have to turn around twice today to try a different track to avoid getting stuck. There are only couple other things to mention from this drive. I finally saw a huge black butterfly – landed and open! It is a Madagascar Giant Swallowtail. It is all black with large white spots. I have been seeing it flittering about, but never open. An absolutely stunning and beautiful creature. The other thing was a small flock of green birds, called Love Birds.

We arrived at our place, Shangri La Lodge. We checked in and ordered lunch – I was actually hungry. It was 11, and we ordered lunch for 1230. So siesta time because our day has been sooo taxing! LOL!! 🙂 Lunch was for me penne pasta in a pesto with carrots, green beans and green squash. Jeff had Fricassee of chicken with rice (he used my tomato sauce for his rice. We had both eaten most of our dish, when George showed up. Onja and Tsiry could not make the itinerary changes and so we are back to the original agenda. It is a disappointment but will be more laid back and by-the-sea, instead of adding two more days in a couple national parks. Also there was a mix up and we are just here one night here, not two.

We went back to our place, more siesta time. I did not mention we both were surprisingly sunburned a bit yesterday. So this is the main reason to stay out of the sun today. Around 530pm went down to restaurant area. Beautiful sunset, but the aftershow was spectacular! The deep reds and oranges were a fantastic canvas!! We had ordered supper for 7, but that came and went. They finally set out the serviceware at 730. We were served at 748!!! I had a pizza. Jeff had Zebu tongue – it was prepared a totally different way – having a onion/tomato sauce and accompanied with the same mixed veg (carrots,green beans, and squash). we both had the chocolate for dessert. It was like a very solid torte with maybe bits of rice. It was a rich huge portion – I could not finish mine!! We talked a bit with a German tourist. I started fading so I went back. Jeff and he talked a little longer.

It was another good tour day.