Come Inn

The Lonely Planet describes the Come Inn in Fajara in fairly glowing terms--including the words "German style beer garden."  So I decided I'd give it a try.  I decided to try to walk the 14 km to the Atlantic resorts so that I would arrive around noon nice and thirsty.

As soon as the stadium came into view, I would be able to use it as a sort of landmark.  It came into view and I headed toward the stadium.  I was starting to get really thirsty.  Why do I do this to myself?  My mouth was dry but sticky.  It was about noon.  I was walking and soon found myself on the main drag--Kaibara Avenue.  There was a Standard Chartered bank--which was good because I needed money, and a Shell station where I got a 1.5 liter of water for D20.  I drank about a quarter of the bottle immediately upon leaving the store.  I headed toward Fajara and eventually came to the sign to Timbooktoo--the local bookstore.  I couldn't resist.

It's an OK book store.  The first floor has about 10 bookcases of fiction and an equal measure of non-fiction.  No Dreiser, though.  There is another classics section but no Dreiser there, either.  It was air-conditioned.  Not refreshingly so, but enough to feel a bit better as I left.

I had realized that I was walking away from the Come Inn, so I went south from Timbooktoo.  I passed the American embassy and some so-called "malls" and after about a half hour in the hot sun, finally found it.

The first thing I noticed is that it didn't look German at all.  Nothing about it was German.  They brought me a menu and at least, the first language on that was German.  They had some German looking food.  I ordered a draft beer and a beef Stroganoff.  After I cooled off a bit with the beer, I whipped out my La Route and The Road.

I soon learned that the ownership of the Come Inn allows the ambulant merchants to enter the restaurant to ply their goods.  It's a bit annoying.  Most restaurants don't let them in to bother the customers.  Many of the customers seemed OK with it actually buying stuff from them.  After a while, a young girl with a tray on her head with cold water bags came in and was talking to some kids where there.  I was reading La Route, so I don't know what happened, but I heard a ruckus. A man--an employee?--had her tray and they were arguing about something.  The argument was even a bit physical as the girl tried to get her try back.  They eventually took it outside when I heard from behind me, perhaps the manager shouting in some accent I didn't know--perhaps a version of German accent.  "You are crazy man", he shouted.  "The lady is customer--I'm big boss!  You are crazy man!"  He kept repeating these. I assumed by "the lady is customer" he meant the girl had permission to sell stuff in there?  I'm not sure.

My beef Stroganoff came.  It was made with a tough meat that was cut into little chunks and sauted rather than braised.  As a result, the little meat chunks were really hard and chewy.  The sauce wasn't all that good either.  Oh well.  I had a couple more beers.  Then I settled my bill--about D300 and headed out.  A taxi beeped and the driver quoted D200 to take me to Banjul.  I got in.  After a couple of minutes he tried to up it to D250.  No--original quote stands.  OK D225--we're friends.  No original quote or I get out right now.  He took me in and I paid D200.

Shortly after I got home, I was sitting in my hotel room feeling not great.  Then the curtains, which had been hanging vertical, were suddenly horizontal.  The most sudden storm was upon us.  It rained hard.  I was glad I was home--I wouldn't want to be stuck out in that.  I closed the bathroom door to stop the cross-breeze and the curtains returned to vertical.  After about an hour of hard rain, the power went out.  It was only out for 20 or 30 minutes.  Whew!

August 15, 2008 10:37 Gambian local time