Zanzibar

The first part of my last week in Africa was spent in Zanzibar with Katie and Melissa, who could not have been better traveling companions. I was thrilled that it worked out for us to travel together. We spent our first 4 nights at Maruhubi Beach Villas just north of Stone Town, where we were right on the brilliant blue Indian Ocean. The place had a big covered outdoor restaurant/bar/lounge area right on the water. It was very much a "tropical" vacation atmosphere. We were so exhausted the first day we got there. Our departure from Arusha had been emotional, saying good-bye to the other volunteers and the staff and then by chance running into Thompson on our way to the airport. He poked his head into the van just to thank us all again for coming to Tanzania and wish us well. After all that and a relatively nauseating flight we were ready to chill, and that's what we did.

The next day we took a boat ride out to Prison Island, where we figured we'd hang out on the beach and see the giant tortoises that live in a sanctuary there. The boat ride was great. It was brief, as you could see the island clearly from Stone Town where we got on the boat. But it was a beautiful day out on the water with a great view of Stone Town with all its Muslim/African/European influenced architecture and dhows and fishing boats passing by. The tortoises on Prison Island were almost hard to believe. Even knowing going in they were "giant" they still took me by surprise. They looked like little dinosaurs. We got to feed them leaves and some would even rear up to get them. We were directed on our way out to a person who waited anxiously for us to donate to the sanctuary on top of the entrance fees we'd already paid, and then we ate an overpriced lunch at the Prison Island restaurant. After lunch we headed down to the beach only to find that it had all but disappeared since the tide had come in. We walked around on what beach was left and collected shells before catching our boat back to Stone Town. Then we got a ride back to Maruhubi from the taxi driver, Yahya, of whom we'd become regular customers that week.

That night we sat at a restaurant on the shore to have pre-dinner cocktails and watch the sunset and take copious amounts of pictures to try to get sunset shots. We had dinner that night and the next night at Monsoon, a popular tourist spot which serves Swahili cuisine with spices that are cultivated on the many spice plantations on the island. The first night we had forgotten that part of the draw of the place is the interior, where patrons sit on cushions on the floor and are required to remove their shoes before entering the dining room. Being in vacation mode we opted to sit outside and regretted the decision almost instantly as the overwhelming population of stray cats in Zanzibar became more apparent. Nonetheless we had a good time and managed to totally entertain ourselves while we waited...and waited...for our dinner. Our waitress was fun too. She thought it was funny when I tried to tell her in Swahili that I was full, which I'd learned from Mr. Delicious on safari. He also taught me how to say some phrase which I have no idea how to spell (maybe "kichizi kama ndizi") that means "crazy like a banana" that he promised would amuse the locals if I said it to them. People say "mambo", which kind of means what's up, and the most common response is "poa", which is "cool". He said to respond to "mambo" with "poa, kichizi kama ndizi!" and throw in a thumbs-up and I'd be a hit. I tried it many times. It went over fairly well, although no one was doubled over in laughter or slapping me high fives like I'd hoped.

The next day we did a combo spice tour and Jozani Forest tour with a company called Eco Tours and Culture, which I'd recommend. Our guide, Kazeem, was very knoweldgeable and fun. I would never really have thought that walking around looking at trees and plants would be all that exciting but it was more fun than I expected. We guessed what things were by looking, feeling, smelling, and tasting. Vanilla, coffee, cacao, black pepper, cloves, pineapples... Each of us was given a little pouch, almost like a little handbag, woven from palm leaves in which we could collect spices along the way. The young guy who wove them for us followed us throughout the tour and made us little rings and necklaces and even little eyeglasses out of palm leaves. By the end my stomach decided to lash out at me for all the various licks and nibbles along the way. Have I mentioned the public bathroom situation, involving holes in the ground? From there we stopped at a fruit vendor and were able to try all kinds of fruit, most of which I tried to not even look at, but the girls enjoyed them. For lunch we went to someone's house for a home-cooked meal of rice, cooked bananas, some meat in sauce, all cooked with local spices and very tasty. It was a traditional Muslim home, and we removed our shoes at the door and sat on mats on the floor. Fortunately I felt better by then, and that was another of my favorite meals in Africa. Next stop was Jozani Forest, a pretty lush and green forest, and we got to see and learn about the plants and animals that lived there, the most famous of which are the red colobus monkeys. It is the only place in the world where they live. Unlike the safari where we were in a vehicle, we were just walking around amongst them. I found it a little disconcerting, especially when one would be running full-speed directly toward you, but then they'd run right past like you were just another tree trunk in the way of wherever they were headed. You also had to be careful to not stand directly under where someone might be perched in a branch overhead so no one peed on your head. The last stop from there was the mangrove swamp with all kinds of tangled above-ground root systems all around. You'd occasionally hear these popping sounds which I think they explained as just oxygen being released from the roots.

Tuesday we decided to do some exploring in Stone Town in the morning, which you can spend hours doing but you really don't need much more than a day or so. There are tons of alleys that twist and turn in every direction, and to a visitor everything looks the same and it is easy to get lost. We got lost a lot, in fact, but that's part of the fun of Stone Town. Although you do have to fend off various guys trying to become your tour guide. We weren't harrassed too badly, though, and we managed pretty well on our own. It became more and more obvious that Zanzibar is much more of a tourist spot than Arusha and that the locals have learned how to capitalize on it. It was reflected in both the prices and the skewed exchange rate. Some of the souvenirs were specific to Zanzibar and were ones that could not be found in Arusha. Carved wooden chests, spices, replicas of the ornately carved doors for which Stone Town is famous. Otherwise the rest of the souvenirs sold at most shops were the same ones sold everywhere in Arusha although the prices were much, much higher. Zanzibar appeared to be a fair amount wealthier, in general, than Arusha. For example, the cars were much nicer and there were many more of them. We even saw people watching televisions a couple times when driving by houses and shops, which we hadn't seen anywhere we'd been in Arusha.

As it was her last day there Melissa really wanted to see St. Joseph's Catholic church in Stone Town. We were happy to see it too so we set off with a map trying to find it. This was not a case of dumb girls not knowing how to read a map. Those two knew what they were doing. But the alleys and streets there are so intricate and confusing we had to ask several times for help. Even when you can see a building you would be surprised how hard it is to get to it. First someone directed us to the wrong church. When we were close to it we met an Anglican priest coming from it and asked him where St. Joseph's was. He helpfully pointed out how to get to the gate of his church and suggested that we go around to there where someone would help us. We thanked him and went to the gate, where we found we could pay for a tour of the church if we wanted to come inside. Even the man of the cloth was trying to make a buck off of us.

We finally found it on our own. Well, they found it and I followed because I have no sense of direction. It was beautiful and we wanted to go inside and take a look. A very friendly guy who seemed to work there offered us a tour, but we declined and said that we just wanted to go inside and say a prayer. He seemed OK with this and let us go in but followed us and stood by while we knelt in a pew. When we stood up to leave he started walking us around and telling us about the place, and we learned that it was the first Catholic church in East Africa. He walked us up to the balcony and took us outside to the church's school classrooms. In one of the rooms there were pictures of fruit with the English names written under them. Can you guess which one that we all love in guacamole was spelled "overcardo"? We thanked him as we left, and Melissa put a donation in the donation box. We headed back toward the center of town to have lunch, and a few blocks into the walk we were stopped by the same guy who had shown us around the church. He was basically telling us that he had been told to go after us to get us to pay for the tour. We politely declined and explained that we hadn't asked for a tour and had made a donation, and he conceded and turned back. So that was church #2 trying to get into our pockets.

After lunch in town we went back to our room to change to hit the beach. We had been advised not to wear 2-piece bathing suits because Zanzibar is over 90% Muslim and it could be considered offensive. So I had hastily packed an old 1-piece I haven't worn for ages. I found that it didn't quite fit me so well as it once did. If it ever had. It's hard to say because I hadn't touched it in so long. Thank god the scarf I'd bought was able to double as a sarong. Yahya was busy so his colleague Said drove us to Bwejuu, a beach on the east side of the island where a family of fellow volunteers were staying. The tide had come in pretty far by the time we got there but it was such a peaceful, tranquil beach and the weather was perfect. Joanne, wife of Khalid and mom of Bram, 13, and Byron, 11, had gotten some cool henna tattoos so we decided we would too and had cocktails and chatted while we got tattooed up and played with the hotel owner's ridiculously cute puppy. It was the one and only dog we saw in Africa that was a "proper" pet. Joanne and Khalid are great, as are their kids. It was so admirable of them and the other moms in our group to have exposed their kids to such a different way of life at that age. Bram, Byron, and the other kids in our volunteer group - Sophie, Caitlin, Miller, and Macon, all ranging in age from 11 - 14 - were great kids and really took their jobs seriously in Arusha. We ate a fantastic last meal in Africa with them at their hotel, followed by various desserts involving the Belgian chocolate the place was known for. They had tried them all by that time having been there for a few days, but Katie, Melissa, and I were transported instantly to a chocolicious paradise. I think there was a good 3-5 minute period where the only sounds that came from us were moans.

The next day, our dear Melissa left us. Katie and Melissa had been roommates at CCS and had grown especially close. Melissa is from the Detroit area and Katie is from Chicago, where Melissa has familiy. Randomly they figured out that they knew a few of the same people. There was also a woman, Susan, and her two daughters, Miller and Macon, in our group who live in the Charleston, SC area where I live. I found out that their husband/dad was a veterinary surgeon who had operated on my brother's dog. It is an unbelievably small world.

When we sent Melissa off we were all choked up, as expected. Melissa was in Tanzania because she had won a teaching award, the Milliken award, having been nominated by a former student. She is a 3rd grade teacher and is obviously very good at what she does and cares immensely for kids. The prize was $25,000, and she decided that she needed to give something back for having been given that award. Since she came home she started a project called One Crayon to help the kids at Patandi Elementary school where she volunteered. She was stirred by the fact that each kid in the class at Patandi had one crayon to use, compared to the kids in her U.S. classes that have seemingly endless pens, pencils, crayons, and markers. She has decided to do what she can to help Patandi, and here is the link to her initiative .

For the next couple days Katie and I moved to a place in the heart of Stone Town. One night we went to Forodhani Gardens to look around and have dinner. By day it's a waterside park but night comes completely alive with scores of vendors, mostly selling food and shouting for you to stop and give them your business. Among the most popular items there is Zanzibar pizza. It's sort of a stuffed dough with mince meat, egg, onion, chili, garlic, mayo....super tasty, although we opted for the vegetarian version being a little wary of the meat. There were also heaps of fresh seafood, each table boasting a remarkable and colorful display of lobster claws, octopus tentacles, skewers of shrimp, flounder, swordfish... We got a little bolder at that point and decided we had to try, along with some naan and chapati, and it was delish. We spent the days wandering around town so I could finish souvenir shopping. The first day we got lost and wandered out of Stone Town. We had set out in the morning and gone to find the local market where the locals and not so many tourists do their shopping. The market here was quite different from the Tengeru Village market. There seemed to be a much wider variety of goods for sale, more indication that Zanzibar had a fair amount more wealth than Arusha. Once we'd finished exploring we tried every direction but the right one back to Stone Town but through process of elimination eventually made our way back. We were relieved and a little exhausted at that point and decided to have a late morning/early afternoon beer at a place called Mercury's, named after Queen's Freddy Mercury. From there we visited a museum dedicated to Zanzibar culture and history, one of the main exhibits being pictures and letters of a Zanzibari woman who had married a wealthy Englishman and moved to Europe but never fully adjusted to the way of life. Her commentary was quite profound and interesting and mainly focused on the differences of an affluent, materially rich life versus a life that is poorer financially but richer in community. It was notable how her themes still hold much meaning today. I did have a picture of one of the more interesting displays that quoted a letter of hers which I unfortunately lost when my camera was stolen on my way home. However I do recall a quote from an entirely different display in the museum, presumably well known ones translated to English. The one I recall said something like "Oh mother help me because people are really hard to live with".

By the end of our stay in Zanzibar and the end of our souvenir shopping, I think we were both over the bartering tourist scene. We had gotten frustrated at the "inflation" as compared to Arusha and felt insulted by some of the prices we were quoted. Katie drove a pretty hard bargain so Melissa and I had made her represent us most of the time, but I started to get the hang of it toward the end. Of course that was after spending much more than I should have several times, but I learned my lesson eventually and had gone from being a pushover to being an angry American. And at that point it was time to stop shopping!

Katie headed back to Arusha where she would stay for the next couple months to do some additional volunteer work. I really envied her and wished I could stay too but I knew (financial) duty called and I just could not do it. Another sad farewell and we went our separate ways, Katie to Arusha and me to Dar Es Salaam, where I'd spend 2 nights before leaving Africa to come home.