Where was I...

To continue with the blog of my vacation...

I realize I'd better finish this soon as time has already sped forward and I have some interesting things to report and more interesting things coming.

We took the slow ferry to Zanzibar, which meant we were able to be rocked gently across the channel for 3.5 hours. We arrived in Stone Town and had to go through a makeshift customs of sorts (um, hello, we're still in the same country?). The guide book we had mentioned that this could happen and attributed it to the fact that Zanzibar still has some desire for independence from Tanzania. Interesting.

At customs our 'smart' little scheme to get a transit visa was discovered and after some tense minutes in which I imagined a whole slue of terrible things happening to us (remember I've lived in the former Soviet Union...if this happened there we're talking about some serious trouble, all joking aside). We were, however, only asked to pay the remaining difference to get the visa we actually needed. Relieved I gladly forked over the money.

We got food at the first place we could find, which happened to be a little restaurant overlooking the water. The host was a bizarre man of undetermined origin who boasted his achievements in awkward, halted sentences.

Finding the hostel.

Dinner took a while and darkness fell. Then a fantastic rainstorm kept us off the streets for several more minutes. When we finally set off to find our hostel it was pitch black. Still in South Africa mode I had done my best to memorize the map and tucked it into my bag, trying (for some reason) to look as untourist-like as possible (I guess I forgot my skin color and the presence of my large backpack). :)

We were soon fully welcomed to Zanzibar by the street hawkers who drunkenly insist on assisting you in finding, "the best restaurant, spice tour, beach, hostel" in town whether or not you're looking for one. Well, they kindly insisted on helping us to such an extent that my hands were balled into fists and I was ready to break into full self-defense mode. I had to be reminded by several travel companions that we weren't in SA anymore. Yet, it was still hard for me to relax (this is when I started to realize just what living in SA has done to me, I do NOT trust anyone and it makes me sad).

So, while trying not to be led down the dark, twisted streets of Stone Town by strangers we finally were coaxed into it as we had become utterly and completely lost. But, lo and behold, our persistent guides did, in fact, lead us to the right place!

We then meandered back out of our hostel and explored the streets looking for ice cream. This got us caught in a torrential rainstorm again, only this time we reveled in it. The streets of Stone Town quickly turned into rivers and we behaved like teenagers, splashing and cavorting :). It was a lot of good, wet, innocently youthful fun.

We spent the remainder of the night talking, again like the "old days," and woke early to the call of prayer and bowel dysfunction.

Markets, exploring and the search for beaches.

The next day we set off into the city's labyrinth style maze of streets, determined to get ourselves completely lost and see what we could find. We came across abandoned parks and incredible open air markets that reeked so pungently of fish it was impossible to walk through without obstructing the airflow to your nose. We found tables and tables and tables covered in spices, fruits and fabrics. It was amazing.

Patrick had, on the train, taught me the basics of Swahili bartering and I had a lot of fun using my limited language to argue prices down to what I felt were reasonable. "Moja ka moja?! No!!! Moja ka mbili!"

We had decked ourselves out in beach clothes as we were, eventually, hoping to find a place to lounge. I had a bright pink African style wrap around my swimsuit which, quite embarrassingly, decided it did NOT want to stay on. To make several embarrassing moments short let's just say I flashed far too many conservative Muslim men my white thighs. (One time Jason politely captured it on camera!)

When we did find a beach we had some pent up energy and decided to engage in some WWE style wrestling, where I busted out my amazing moves and whooped on Jason's behind.

We also met a monkey, named Cobra, who was AMAZING and crawled all over all of us. I was too eager not to let him go though, so he bit me :). Whoops! :)

Spice Tour

The next day we went on the Spice Tour which sounds kind of corny, but in fact it was pretty incredible!

We paid a few Shillings and got ourselves an awesome guide who took us through the Spice plantation, identifying all the spices and letting us try them. Children followed us and made hats and necklaces etc out of giant leaves.

We were then taken to a tiny village and given an incredible meal, shown an old abandoned Omani bath and taken to an ancient slave cave that was used to hold slaves for the Arabs after the slave trade was abolished in the 1800s. Only three of our group paid the money to go inside and were we ever glad we did! The guide indicated that, "If you crawl out that side there's another exit, but it's not a real exit." A member of our group jokingly asked if we could use that exit instead. The guide thought for a second and said, "Sure, I've been that way before once or twice, I could take you if you want."

Only 5 of us decided to follow the guide through the cave with only two torches (or flashlights). It soon became incredibly dark and we were climbing over very jagged rocks with ice cold water inches away from our feet. Our guide kept encouraging us not to fall in as it would be nearly impossible to get us out, not to mention very, very painful. I kept thinking in my head "only in Africa would this EVER happen."

We spelunked our way out the other side and found the other way our a virtual "fat man's misery" because it was a tiny shaft in the rock the went straight upward about 10 feet, which necessitated some fancy footwork, which was fun for those of us in flip-flops :).

We then spent a few minutes swimming in the warm Indian Ocean before being hauled back into Stone Town, not before pausing for fresh coconuts (which does wonders for massive poop syndrome, but who can deny such a nice gift?).

We went to the open air seafood market for dinner and got an incredible amount of seafood for an unbelievable price, Jason was even offered a job as a sugarcane juice squeezer, wow!

Prison Island and Snorkeling

The next day we hired a dhow (motorized) to take us to a nearby island called Prison Island because it once had a prison on it (shocker, eh?). We were taken to a coral reef where we did some snorkeling. As I've never snorkeled before I was pretty excited by the experience! We saw some pretty exciting fish, amazing starfish and plenty of threatening sea urchins (ouchie).

We then were dropped on the island and played a lot in the water. We had some intense swimming races and I whomped on Patrick and Jason! :) We also braved several hundred crabs that made the rocky walls of the island their home.

After a day of "chillaxing" on the beach we headed back into Stone Town nice and sunburned.

I got my hands completely done up in henna this night, which was something I've wanted done for years, perhaps I'll post pictures.

Bwejuu

The next few days we left Stone Town and went to the town of Bwejuu about 57 k from Stone Town still on Zanzibar.

It was nice to be right on the beach but we had no idea what to expect. As it was low tourist season (due to the torrential rains I keep mentioning) the place was DESERTED. The first day we had to walk some 6k down the beach to find ONE place that actually had food, and they didn't even have that much food at that. But, it was enjoyable to walk around the village and play with the children.

We found some nice people who cooked us dinner that night and we settled in.

This was a night from hell for me as my stomach decided to empty itself of everything inside of it...and things not even yet inside of it. So instead of sleeping in my less than comfortable bed under the mosquito net I slept upright on the toilet that I eventually broke! (at least it wasn't a squatter eh?)

So, after no sleep I 'woke' to see the sunrise, stole some Imodium from Patrick and set out to face the day.

We'd decided to rent bikes from a nearby lodge and bike to Jozani Forest (the only national park on Zanzibar, which has some nifty monkeys found primarily in this forest alone).

Thus on no sleep and no food I biked 26 miles to and from the forest! It was a rather warm day and our bikes weren't very good quality but, truth be told, it was SO much fun to bike around Zanzibar! Jason was kind enough to stay behind with slow little me, but we had a wonderful time chatting and really enjoyed the scenery.

The guide book had told us that at the entrance to the forest there were two restaurants. We'd biked some 13 miles in the heat on no food and we were ready to eat. The first restaurant (we should have expected this) had no food! The second had only chips (french fries)! So, we each ordered a plate of chips and pretended they made us full :).

This is when things became truly comical however. We decided not to pay the entrance fee to the park but instead sit at the restaurant and just watch the monkeys there. A friend of mine got out his camera and started taking pictures at which point the guides at the park came up and said "no pictures until you pay." Fine, whatever so we just walked around the entrance a bit while waiting for our food. We were then told "no looking until you pay!"

We then sat back at our little table under the grass canopy of the restaurant and were surrounded (more or less) by the park guides arms ready to block our view should we try to look at the trees without paying! I do not exaggerate!

The whole situation became very comical. We ate our food and pedaled the 13 miles back to Bwejuu having not accomplished what we'd set out to do that day in the slightest!

All in all it was a fantastic experience, even on no food! We were all a bit saddle sore the next day which added to the humor of it.

I've got to run, yet again, but will finally finish up the blog of this vacation when I return!