{"id":25255,"date":"2022-09-27T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=25255"},"modified":"2023-01-17T11:22:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T16:22:59","slug":"the-guard-made-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=25255","title":{"rendered":"The Guard Made The Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Zanzibar Serena Hotel, Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania<\/em> \u2013 \"\"<\/a>Our plane was not due to leave the airport till 10:30 PM today. It was the only flight this entire week headed from Zanzibar to where we wanted to go. 10:30 PM Tuesday, a flight to Zurich, then Iceland. One flight per week. Otherwise we\u2019d have to fly, or ferry, to the airport on the mainland, Dar es Salaam, 30 miles away; then fly from there. The good thing was \u2013 the late flight gave us another full day to enjoy Zanzibar! Our hotel desk was agreeable, no extra charge. Our transport was arranged with Ali from the day before \u2013 he\u2019d get us to the airport in plenty of time and \"\"<\/a>help us through the Tanzanian hoops. So why the heck did Rick have his suitcase zipped and ready to go at 9 AM? There he sat, long warm pants on, long sleeves, decked out for cooler weather. Arms folded, hat on, sitting in a straight-back chair! \u201cDo you want to go on another Tour today?\u201d I asked. \u201cWe have plenty of time.\u201d There were \"\"<\/a>two more Tours that we\u2019d talked about; one to Prison Island, which would give us a cruise on the Indian Ocean for about 30 minutes and the chance to visit with giant tortoises that live there. The Jozani Forest tour was another; it would give us a chance to spot the red colobus monkey, a species that only lives on Zanzibar. But we agreed; our \"\"<\/a>animal count to date was high enough for one trip. We thought about a few restaurants \u2013 one in particular, the fancy Tea House where you sat on cushions on the floor, gazing across the rooftops to the sea; the other a hangout bar, named for Freddie Mercury, right on the beach.\u00a0 \u201cOr we can just sit here on our beautiful porch and look at the Indian Ocean,\u201d I said. And then I remembered – I have not yet touched the Indian Ocean – one of my main reasons for being here!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where our Serena Hotel sits; this point jutting out into the Ocean; facing west, looking towards the mainland. Its history is marvelous; it\u2019s really two historic buildings joined together \u2013 an 18th<\/sup> Century Chinese doctor\u2019s home and a 19th<\/sup> Century office building. They were careful, when turning the spaces into a hotel, to preserve the original architecture and the decorative finishes; or to restore them if necessary. It is \u201cZanzibar Style\u201d \u2013 you expect to come face to face with a Sultan any moment. Arabic and Swahili designs, tiles, wood finishes, cool whites and blues. Gardens. One other thing Zanzibar Style means is \u201cclose together.\u201d Buildings touch buildings, all around the oceanfront. Our Serena is midway, see the turquoise pool our room overlooks? Below is another view of the hotel, our room is ground floor, right in front of the boat’s sail. The pool is left of the sail, see the umbrellas?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Security Guard paced the sidewalk between our porch and the ocean, back and forth, day and night. We\u2019d become nodding acquaintances with our daytime guard; he was a friendly fellow; making sure nobody on the BEACH climbed into our secure hotel space. There was a high wall (for high tide) and a wooden fence above that. Which also kept hotel guests from accessing the beach, directly. I caught his attention, stepped out to ask: \u201cHow can I get to the beach?\u201d He told me I\u2019d need to go to Forodhani Park. I pointed to the rickety wooden steps by our pool, behind a locked gate. \u201cWould you unlock the gate and allow me to walk down, just for a minute?\u201d I went into my long story \u2013 my plan for dipping my foot into ALL FIVE oceans; I had the first four, this was Number Five. And we were leaving TODAY. I put on my sweetest plaintive smile. He smiled back. \u201cIt\u2019s too dangerous,\u201d he said. \u201cJust look.\u201d We peered over the gate together. There was no rail (a bad sign for me, the rail-grabber.) The tide was about halfway out (or in), jagged rocks lay against the base of the wall, water fiercely lapping against stone. \u201cI simply cannot allow you on these steps,\u201d the guard said. \u201cIt\u2019s treacherous.\u201d Well in fact, it was, for me, for sure. \u201cI just need the WATER,\u201d I said. “I don\u2019t need to walk ON the beach. So, would you walk down a few steps, get some Indian Ocean water on your hands, and then just SPRINKLE it on my feet?\u201d This set off so much laughter between the guard and Rick; so many grins exchanged over an old lady\u2019s head, that, next thing you know, he unlocked that gate and headed down those treacherous steps.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>He was WADING in the waves; his shoes, his PANTS were getting soaked. \u201cJust a teeny bit of water is OK!\u201d I shouted down. \u201cBe careful!\u201d And then, he spotted a plastic bottle floating, banging against the rocks. This (precious, sweetheart) guard grabbed it, rinsed it out, and hopped back up the steps with an entire BOTTLE of Indian Ocean water! He poured it on my left foot! He poured it on my right foot! He laughed! Rick laughed! I squealed like a kid! Sometimes the most unexpected thing can lead to a tick mark on a bucket list. Ocean #5 is now on my feet! Just 78 years after Ocean #1. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The guard made my day. Of course I tipped him generously!<\/em><\/p>\n

Zanzibar Serena Hotel <\/strong>https:\/\/www.serenahotels.com\/zanzibar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Fisherman\u2019s Tours <\/strong>https:\/\/fishermantours.com\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Next Post: Till Time To Go<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Zanzibar Serena Hotel, Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania \u2013 Our plane was not due to leave the airport till 10:30 PM today. It was the only flight this entire week headed from Zanzibar to where we wanted to go. 10:30 PM Tuesday, a flight to Zurich, then Iceland. One flight per […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4318,4319],"tags":[3774,4538,4344,4541],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25255"}],"version-history":[{"count":96,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25529,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25255\/revisions\/25529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}