Shells and Sugar and an Evening Walk Around Stonetown

Thursday, September 8, 2005

This was our last afternoon in Stonetown, so Jeff and I decided to go for a nice long walk by ourselves and get utterly lost.

(But first we stopped for ice-cream at a quiet little Italian-speaking ice-cream parlour just down the street from our hotel. It was dim inside, and painted a dingy pink.We were the only tourists in there, but the owner and a friend sat nearby watching African soap operas on the little television set behind the counter. Ice-cream first, exploration later...)

I've always found that wandering around a new place without a particular destination in mind is a good way to see things you might not ordinarily notice.

We decided that it might not be a bad thing to just wander around and not worried about getting lost. The town is small enough that you can usually find your way back to the beach eventually even if you do get turned around in the little narrow alleyways.

Away from the main streets Stonetown was far quieter and less touristy and vendors did not approach us.

There were lots of tiny open stalls along the streets selling all sorts of goods. The one most memorable sold hairy animal skins (I couldn't figure out what sort) in thick stiff bundles and various animal parts for "medicine".

Later, finding our way back to the main road by the beach, we saw fresh sugar cane for sale and had a walk along the shore where I picked up a number of tiny shells.