Pemba Seaview Hotel

Here are a few quick pictures (my previous rant took entirely too much time and I have more research/writing to do) of our hotel in Pemba, that was arranged by the mythic Kombo Bakar.  This is the Pemba Seaview Hotel, which the students really liked.  Actually, most of them listed Pemba as their favorite stop of the trip, edging out Zanzibar and Dar Es Salaam.

And, yes, there was an actual sea view from the roof.  We liked the hotel quite a bit and will doubtless end up staying there again.  And there's the magic bus that picked us up at the Pemba airport and which shuttled us all over the island. On one particular long and bouncy ride my back did go out, but I managed to grind through the rest of the week pretty gracefully.

My first room at the Seaview.  As I told the students, you haven't lived until you've slept under mosquito netting.

And this is the room where I eventually ended up, after Blair and Janae complained about the air conditioner not being cold enough (it was fine, although not as chilly as the one in my room).  They decided that they would rather scrunch together in one bed with a better air conditioner than have a bed to themselves in a slighter warmer room.  When we moved on to the Flamingo Hotel in Zanzibar, which had no air conditioning, I'm sure they reflected back on the Seaview.  Miyel, pictured here, was not guilty of any crimes in this particular story.  Giving up rooms - and fixing two toilets - is part of the glamorous life of a professor leading student travel trips.