Last evening I decided to venture out on my own.  My plan was just to walk up the street to the main road and stop for a drink.  

When the hotel man on reception questioned me he seemed genuinely appalled that I was going out on my own.  A minute later Mohamed, who has been busy with all the guests, came to ask me to wait a few minutes and he would go with me.  After a brief verbal tug of war, I was off on my own.

I walked out the door and up the street which is called The Street of the Children.  And so it is.  There are always many children on the street (dirt path) playing.

My solo adventure came to an abrupt halt at the intersection of the path and Main Street.  There is a fruit and veggie shop there and the first person I saw was Ashraf.  He is usually at the hotel evenings, but not this trip.  He has been doing a building out of town.  It was Thursday night and the beginning of the weekend, so he had just returned for a few days.  He insisted on taking me across the street for a drink.  We went to a hole in the wall juice bar.  It was clean. They only squeezed oranges and sugar cane.  I had a very large, beer mug style, glass of delicious orange juice.  When I insisted that Ashraf go on home to his family and that I would be quite ok on my own another young man came over and I was introduced to him.  He was the owner and friend of the family.  Ashraf left and now I had another escort.  We sat and talked for some time then I decided it was best to go back to the hotel.

It was fun and I had no tummy issues from the juice.  I will go back for sure.