Roy had an interesting morning, while Elaine relaxed onboard. After an early breakfast, he dinghied ashore to meet the Master Baker, Hussain, for his baguette baking lesson.
Hussain worked for 17 years at a number of the high-end resorts, many charging upwards of $1500USD per night and where he learnt his trade. It was only recently that he decided to return home and open his little bakery, serving his community and cruisers like ourselves arriving during the sailing season.
Like any business, it must have taken a substantial amount of capital for Hussain to set up his small business, given that all his equipment and tools were imported from Germany, while all his ingredients are imported from Sri Lanka and he has learnt to improvise with a gas oven versus the big rotary oven he had at the resorts, the latter keeping temperatures more consistent and evenly distributed in the oven.
Regardless, if the results of the baking lessons this morning were anything to go by, the community is indeed lucky to have him; the baguettes were baked to perfection and absolutely delicious! Apparently, though, the locals prefer panini rolls and submarine rolls (aka hotdog rolls), as well as the staple white loaf, so he doesn’t get much opportunity these days to bake exotic breads and pastries.
Besides the six delicious baguettes they baked, shared with Talulah Ruby III and Golden Spirit, Roy also gained some interesting insights into local life in the Maldives.
One observation we’ve had about Uligamu is the obvious lack of children and indeed people on the island. It transpires that most of the children are schooled in the capital, Malé, including tertiary education and almost all the working adults spend up to three months away from home working very long hours in these high-end resorts. Not an easy life at all for the islanders and definitely not something any holiday maker would know about or indeed think about.
After enjoying the freshly baked baguettes for lunch, followed by a wee nap, we were off exploring again; this time the underwater world of the many reefs surrounding the island. A nice long chat to Justine in England and a movie brought another lovely day to a close.
