Jambo from Zanzibar

Pictures above are: 1)our view of Zanzibar from the ferry. 2) a very clean street in Stonetown. 3) Keith starting our hog. 4) just lounging with some cows on the beach in Nungwi.

We are now in Zanzibar and have been for a week and a half or so. After a 9 1/2 hour bus ride from Moshi to the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, we took a 2 hour ferry ride to the island of Zanzibar. The sight of Zanzibar from the ferry is beautiful. White beaches, turquoise water, and old, abandoned buildings that have middle eastern and Indian influences. It looks as if you have traveled 100-200 years in the past. The coast is lined with dhows, which are small boats with weathered ancient sails and look like a small boat that pirates would use. Our ferry docked in Stonetown, a culture and history rich town on the western coast of the island. There is a large Islamic population in Zanzibar (well, eastern Africa in general but a very high concentration in Zanzibar) and Stonetown has many mosques and most locals wear the traditional dress with burquas and such. Travelers are advised to wear modest clothing and not be 'scantily clad'. Before arriving I read that tank tops, shorts above the knee, and skirts and dresses above the knee were not appropriate to wear in Stonetown, but upon arriving I realized that many women travelers wore tank tops and skirts without appearing to be too disrespectful or revealing. I was happy to see this since when the sun is out, it is HOT. Apparently, they are kidding about being close to the equator business. It is generally warm, muggy, and not unpleasant most of the day, especially if there are a few clouds. But when the sun is directly out with no shade in sight, it is a bloody scorcher. Luckily, we have since left Stonetown and are now on the beach so it just takes a quick dip in the Indian Ocean to bring the temperature of our skin down to below 400 degrees.

I digress. Stonetown was a very interesting place. They say a few days in Stonetown is plenty and that is so true. As soon as you get through customs and immigration you are greeted with papasi, which in Swahili literally means 'ticks', and these street touts are obnoxious. Everywhere in Tanzania there has been a fair share of touts (one thing I will not miss when I get home), but they are especially thick and annoying in Stonetown. These people see a whitey such as myself coming and they are all over me to buy sunglasses, go snorkeling, ride in their taxi, show me a restaurant, buy a scarf, buy cashews, buy a Tanzania shirt, go on an island tour, buy a 'Jambo' cd, blah, blah, blah. We could literally not walk from our hotel to any other part of town without being approached by at least 10 different ticks. And when you say 'no thanks', 'not interested', or simply ignore them, they don't give up. At one point, with Keith and I had a pack of 6 or 7 around us and following us all telling us which place to go, business to frequent, etc. Keith even tried to out run/out walk one that had only one leg but he was a persistant little bugger, too. Ah, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.
Stonetown may also be the easiest place ever to get lost in, which for me isn't saying much, but believe me it's confusing. Many 'streets' are more like cobblestone walkways that are only wide enough for walkers, bicycles, and motorcycles. None of the streets have signs and they are constantly turning, interesecting, and abruptly ending. Luckily, the town isn't that big and sooner or later you usually end up at the ocean even if took you 30 minutes to get out of the maze of streets.

So, we spent 3 or 4 days (really I lose track....I can't even tell you what day of the week it is most of the time) in Stonetown where we explored the town, went on a spice tour, rented a motorcycle to cruise the coast, and go diving/snorkeling. In a nutshell, the spice tour was interesting. Most of Zanzibar is full of spice plantations and that is their main export. So for the tour, we walked around a plantation, tried many different kinds of spices and fruits and saw how they grow in the wild(who knew that vanilla grows on a vine and looks like a green bean....not this girl), ate some lunch, went to a cave where slaves were hidden, and hung out a beach for an hour or so. It was a very interesting day, especially the slave cave where hundreds of slaves were hidden after the British prohibition of slavery. We pulled up in our mini-bus to the middle of a field, and walked over to a giant hole in the ground and there was the cave. It was dark, dank, and extremely sobering to know that you were standing in a place where slaves were held (and died) before being shipped from the coast to India, Europe, and the Middle East. Interestingly, it was discovered by a slave boy who was looking for his goat that fell down the cavern. First it was used for the fresh water that it supplied (there was a small pond/puddle in the bottom of the cave) and then once slavery was prohibited, it was used to hide slaves. That was a long explanation in a nutshell...whoops. Anyway, renting our motorcycle was a fun little adventure. We drove north up the coast to the beach that we are staying at now to check it out and see if we wanted to head this way or east. We weren't hassled by any police (which happens often, I guess), we didn't break down, and we made it back to Stonetown in one piece so all in all, it was success! Our last day in Stonetown, we planned to go scuba diving (Keith) and snorkeling (me) with a group out to a little island. I didn't make the trip so Keith went scuba diving by himself while I stayed at the hotel wishing my life didn't suck so bad. It seems I jinxed myself a bit when I bragged about how I hadn't even gotten sick yet. At first I thought it was something I ate, but have come to realize that it must have been some sort of bug because it is still hanging on a tiny bit 5 days later. But holy sickness. No one should ever have to be that sick while in another country, let alone when they are in a 10 x 12 room with their boyfriend with a bathroom door that doesn't close. It was not pleasant for any of the parties involved. But, I survived. And Keith is still attracted to me....yay! He ended up getting a version of the same thing I had a few days later. But, now we are on the mend and hopefully will be back in the game 100% soon. I'll be making up for the missed snorkeling in a few days when we travel to the east coast beaches.
We are presently on the very northern tip of Zanzibar in a little beach town called Nungwi (pronounced Noon-gwee) and will be here for 2 more days. It is great to be out of Stonetown and on the beach. The water here is ah-mazing. The turquoise shades don't look real and it refreshing enough to cool off when you feel like you are on the surface of the sun, but warm at the same time. The sand is like extremely fine flour. It's really not to bad, this little vacation of ours. Our hotel room is nothing to write home about, but we're cheap and happy so it works. On the positive side, we have a bed. On the other side, we don't have hot water and our toilet doesn't always flush. But, for $25 a night we aren't complaining. We are going to class it up a bit when we head east and sleep at a hotel for $40 a night. Such splurgers! I'll be excited to have hot water....and maybe they'll throw in a waste basket and a few light bulbs in the room. Now I'm just getting greedy. So, our next stop is on the east side of the island at a beach village called Matemwe (Muh-tem-way) where we will continue to be beach bums until we decide to move to another beach.