Pole Pole (said 'polay polay')

SLOWLY SLOWLY IN SWAHILI

The morning of our opening party (3rd July) I was feeling really low, we had hardly had any guests and we were running out of cash, plus it was raining and the party was meant to be on the beach. It wasn't looking good! But like some sort of miracle the rain cleared by early afternoon and the sun was shining strongly. We had everything ready, the food, the drinks, the performers, but we were missing one thing. Customers. The show had supposed to start at 5.30, at quarter to six I turned to Tito (the manager) and said - well we'll just have to start the show and have a party for the staff! As I turned around I saw 20 english medical students, dressed up for a party breeze into a restaurant. Hi Simon!! I don't think I've ever been so happy to see customers in my whole life! Suddenly we were off, me and Tito got the show to start, John (the waiter) was running round giving everyone welcome drinks and suddenly there was an amazing buzz around the place. Suddenly the bar which had an empty quiet space was packed, people were queing 3 deep all ordering beers, wine, sodas - in my bar!! It was a strange experience, was this really happening?! It was another 10 minutes before the show started, and what a show. All the activity had on the beach had intrigued the locals and a huge circle of people stood around the perimeter of the beach, everyone mixing together. When the show started the atmosphere was fantastic, I couldn't have dreamt it better!! The sunset was amazing - it is where the blog picture is from and the show carried on after, with the help of some lights on the beach. Once the acrobats had finished the guests moved inside to the restaurant for the bbq and the drummers continued until late. When the guests all left at half eleven I was buzzing. They had all had a great time, raved about the food and entertainment, my belief came flooding back!

That was 2 weeks ago and since then we have had a steady stream of guests, people are coming from outside to the restaurant and bar and everyone so far is really enjoying it. The staff are responding really well which is even more satisfying and Kristen will be joining me in 5 weeks. I now genuinely believe that we can make this dream possible and stay here for a long time. The really hard work starts here...