Friday a friend of mine and I flew a whopping 15 mins to Zanzibar. Its Ramadan so arriving early with no breakfast presented quite a challenge. After getting lost for a bit we decided we needed to buy a map. The streets are small/narrow and crowded. If you look up you see wires hanging from house to house quickly reminded these building have been here for hundreds of years prior to electricity. Women dressed in matching kangas around their heads and waist telling the visitor this a conservative island. The big city of Dar is no more. Intricately carved teak doors adorn homes, each one telling a story I wish I knew. The mystery of the island causes it to be almost exotic. On a side note, sugar cane juice is our new favorite thing!
Saturday we went up the island about 1 hour. The very tip top where all these fancy resorts causes one to forget they are in Africa. We went on a snorkeling trip off the east coast to Mnemba Atoll. We werent allowed on the private island, but we snorkeled in the reef around it. I have never seen so many fish in all my life, and Ive done a lot of snorkeling in my day! That evening we made reservations at a lady's house for dinner (my friends had told me about it). We were walking there so we each took about 15$ worth and got lost for more than 20 mins on the way there. Once we found the place there was a place setting for 4 people. We enjoyed many local foods and were finally greeted by a nice Italian couple. When it came time for the bill.... we didnt have enough money... we both stared in fear at eachother making conversation with our eyes on what to do. She blurted out "Um we have a problem!" The spotted us the 6$ we needed.
Sunday we ventured to a spice plantation and learned all about spices and where they come from. It was interesting. We also ran into the Italian couple, and paid them back. Ha!
5 months into my journey and I am already processing and learning much. Today marks Eid which is end of Ramadan- a 2 day holiday around here. Living next door to a Mosque - its been a long month! A heart breaking long month!
Heres some shots from the weekend!
How much fun! Glad you got to have some R&R time!
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