Getting to Maafushi (Thursday)

Note: in Maldives, the term "guesthouse" is a bit different than in the states. It's not a quaint bed and breakfast type of setup, it's basically a really small hotel. They look and function just like a hotel, but they usually have no more than 12 rooms. These were only approved by the government for the last 2 years.

Landing In Maldives

Guesthouses are a fairly new concept in Maldives. In the past, Maldives consisted of a few privately owned "resorts". Maldives is a Muslim country so local islands do not permit pork, alcohol, or bikinis. Resorts, however,  make their own rules. They are also very expensive and were accessible only by sea plane or speedboat, which can run you $200-300/person. In short, they are very exclusive and Maldives was (and still is) perceived as an elite\luxury vacation destination. The government started making efforts to change that and one way was to make visiting more affordable with Guesthouses. There is currently a lot of construction and building taking place, and it looks like the follow the Kauai rule "no dwelling may be taller than a palm tree" (or more than four stories).

Loading Cargo

We stayed in this guesthouse just one night because it was a simple thing to do when arriving to the airport. After a nice dinner at the guesthouse, we strolled around in search of a snickers bar-success! The next morning they took us to the ferry terminal, at which point we took a quick ride into the city, Male. From there we had to take a taxi to a different ferry terminal, then we waited for over one hour. Fortunately, we played crazy eights to pass the time.

When our ferry arrived, it was a mad dash of people getting on. We sat inside and started noticing more and more people loading...boxes. Turns out, the transportation ferrys also serve as cargo transport. From the look of the several boxes, we think someone is getting new furniture, or perhaps a guesthouse is.

Safwan

We fell asleep a few times, played twenty questions (Phillip is good at this, both at thinking of tricky things, and guessing fairly quickly), and gasped at the sight of the perfect water.

Then, we arrived at Maafushi island, we were greeted by another kind man with super curly hair holding a sign with the name of our resort. He introduced himself, Safwan, and walked us to the guesthouse. We settled in and made our way to the "tourist beach". We assume "tourist" was the reason it was semi surrounded by a thatch wall, so local people would not have to "see" several woman in swimsuits, or that the tourists would not feel "watched" (more on that later).

Thatch wall

At tourist beach

With a little color on our skin, we made our way back to the guesthouse to shower and plan some excursions. Later, we made our way to a beachfront restaurant with sand between our toes. The food tasted great, but both of us really wanted a snickers bar, again, so we got on from the market. We explored the alleys and checked out the souvenir shops. 

We made arrangements to go to a sandbar on Friday, and a picnic beach on Saturday. They will provide lunch and allowed us to tell them what we wanted (vegetable fried rice, cucumber and tomato salad, mixed fruit, and water). 

Beachfront Dinner

Until Next Time... (Day at the Sandbar)

-B and P