Alouta Revisited...

Thursday, February 5. Cloudy. Hot. 30 C.

To those of you who are still following this blog you will know that Fellette and I were stranded here almost five years ago to the day. We did not have fond memories of that visit, but in spite of that we decided to walk off late this morning just for the heck of it and see how things have changed. Things have improved I am glad to say, remarkably. The place is cleaner, litter is less, still incredibly dirty though. People are happier than I remember, but the place is just so tired looking. It just needs a darn good rain to get the place looking less dirty. Even that would not help it. Mind you I am looking through a very old set of eyes that have seem much over these 90 years.

The heat was incredulous, the inside of my nostrils seem to be scorched! Walking was an issue, for me at least, nothing underfoot seemed to be level, everything sloped. We were unable to find our Hotel/Compound where we holed up five years ago and we hobbled back  to the ship where we each had a cold shower and changed clothes as we were soaked to the skin with sweat! At least we tried today. It took some time to get our bodies back into sync and we had to do that with food and drink. I can't believe how fast we got dehydrated!

I had a very long chat with Wally this morning, nice to get caught up with many issues at home. I always feel better after talking to family, it lasts for a few days and then runs out, if you know what I mean.

A Very Interesting Day!!! 

And we slowly make our way into port this morning, leaving only our wake to tell that we were here.

Holland America pays the locals to come and dance for the passengers. These are performers, nobody walks around looking like this in the town, maybe out it the bush a bit.

Many locals chew what they call Betel Nut and spit it out on the street. It give a bit of a buzz and destroys their gums. It is revolting.

Looks civil enough, this is inside a waterfront private property that can pass as acceptable for some time. It can only be for a short while as everything else is Third World unfortunately, and not in a fresh outdoorsy way. It's stale.

Sacks of coconut meat fill most of the local warehouses here.

This is where Fellette and I waited to board the ship five years ago.

The earth is so icky and dirty to walk on it is just degrading to be on it. And the  heat was so oppressive it was draining. It was not a good outing for us today.

Once again I find myself apologizing for the poor photos. It was hard enough just walking without taking photos!