Zanzibar Trip

This weekend I spent lying in a lounge chair on the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. We went to the island of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania, and spent time at Kendwa beach. There is only one flight a day to Zanzibar and it leaves at 11 am so we skipped our placement Friday so that we could go. The whole flight there was clear skies and then as soon as we began to land it was pouring outside but fortunately it only lasted about 20 minutes. We meet three girls in the airport, from Denver, that were spending the week in Zanzibar and shared a taxi with them to Stone Town. They were traveling in Tanzania for three weeks. Week one they climbed Kili, then took a safari and were now relaxing in Zanzibar. Little did we know that by asking them to share a taxi we had just gotten travel buddies for the whole weekend. Stone Town is on the water but not known for its beach. It is the primary city and is known as the location of the slave trade and for its intricate doors. We spent some time walking around looking at all the carved doors. The amount of detail on your door was a sign of how wealthy you were. But all of the doors had these large brass knobs spaced evenly around them. The most famous door was said to be on the home of Tipu Tip so we had to see it. When we arrived at the house we were surprised to see that the door was decorated with graffiti and inside the once famous house now lived locals. By locals, I mean each room of the house was now occupied by a family. As we walked up a slightly drunk man that lived in the house saw us and offered to give us a tour. I walked inside the door where he knocked on the marble floor in the entry to show us it was hollow below. At once point there was a tunnel below where they could ship in illegal products like elephant’s tusks as well as trade slaves. Also in the entry way there was a large staircase to the right, which at one point was probably very nice, and straight in front there was a mean looking chain link gate with a padlock on it. On the other side of the gate there was a man and our tour guide, if you could call him that, asked if he could unlock it. The man didn't follow his orders and so the guide just broke into the gate. This was the point where I decided that I had seen enough and proceeded back outside. I was surprised to see that the once so famous house was no over populated by locals and not well kept at all. From there we proceeded to the church which was the location of the slave trade. Most of the time we just spent wandering around seeing what we could find. The buildings were all white washed many with blue shutters, kind of like Greece, but it was way too dirty and not well kept enough to be intriguing and pretty. As the sun started to set we went to the Africa House hotel which has a patio that overlooks the water where all the fishing boats come in and has a prefect view of the sunset. Down below you could see young boys playing in the water, small fishing boats coming in for the day, and women sitting in the little park area just up from the sand. At night this little park area becomes full of vendors selling drinks and dinners. We decided to try the local bar-b-que for dinner that night. They had fresh skewers of fish, Zanzibar pizza, sugar cane juice, and sodas. I ordered an octopus, and white shark. Both were absolutely amazing and I spent a total of 4000 Tsh which is about $3 for my whole meal. The next day we got on the 8 am. shuttle to head to the beach. Our hotel room was a little thatched roof bungalow that was right on the beach. The front had a patio with a couple of chairs and on the side was a hammock. The best part was that it had air conditioning, something I haven't had in six weeks. Then right near the water were more little thatched roof umbrellas and some chairs for people to enjoy. We spent most of the afternoon just lying around on the beach. Our friends that we shared the taxi with ended up hanging out with us in stone town and were then going to head to our hotel Saturday night and spend the rest of the week there. So we meet up for them for dinner and for the all night beach party that our hotel was hosting. After dinner we just knew the party was about to begin because more and more local guys, but no girls, kept showing up. Let me tell you those people can dance like I have never seen before. At one point they had a circle made and were each taking their turn in the middle to show off their moves. One of the guys taught me a dance and then took me into the middle of the circle so that I could have my moment of fame. They probably all just laughed at me but whatever I had a good time. About 2:30 we decided that we weren't going to make it all night and that it was time to head to bed. We left the beach and walked about 100 yards to our room and called it quits for the night, but we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sunday I woke up about 6:30 and went to the beach to make sure I got enough lounge chairs for all five of us and just enjoyed the peacefulness of the ocean. There were very few people out but the sun was up and the sound of the waves gliding over the sand was very calming so much so that I fell back to sleep. When I woke up I went to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast with a man who was there visiting and thought he needed to get the party started early so he was buying shots of tequila for everyone. I guess he thought the beach party was still going. We were going to do a three hours snorkel trip on Sunday but just ran out of time. Overall the whole time in Zanzibar was very peaceful but our journey back to Moshi was interesting. The man that worked in our hotel bar offered us a cheap ride to the airport so we took him up on it. But along the way we stopped to pick up his brother and also managed to hit a chicken that was crossing that street. On a positive note, he was the first person I have ridden with in all of Tanzania that used a blinker so I figured it would be fine. Our flight from Zanzibar went first to Dar and was about a 15 minute flight. There we had to get off the plane, go inside, get a new boarding pass, go through security and get on the exact same plane. Why we couldn't just get one boarding pass in Zanzibar and stay on the plane the whole way through is beyond me. From the Kilimanjaro airport we had to take the airlines shuttle back towards Moshi but we asked the driver if he could drop us off on the way. As you head from the airport to Moshi you pass our house and we wanted to just walk from the highway to a restaurant near by and then home. When we finally arrived at home we were exhausted from the six hours of traveling it took us that day to get home. Even though it took a while, it was all worth it. The sand was so white and so soft and the prettiest sand I have ever seen. The water was this aqua teal blue color and you could see everything in it. You could look out from the beach and see darker spots in the water and then blue areas that were so clear. I am sure nobody is surprised, but one of my favorite parts of the trip was the unlimited fresh seafood to order which I ordered at every meal. In the process of three days I was able to have calamari, white shark, octopus, red snapper and jack fish. The trip was a success and now I have just a couple days of teaching before I head home.