Zanzibar!

Ken and I arrived safely on Zanzibar on Friday, now 48 hours ago. We flew on a very small airplane from Arusha - there were no flight attendants, just the 2 captains and one of the windows in the cockpit was held together with duct tape (a small one.) It was incredibly noisy but we arrived safely, and we got to see Mt Kilamanjaro which Ken had recently summitted, and I hadn't seen yet. It is incredibly tall.

On arrival, we took a 'taxi' arranged by our hotel from the airport. This was nice because we didn't have to bargain with all the taxi drivers there or deal with touts trying to arrange tours, snorkeling, etc while doing so. But the taxi ended up being a small jeep - like a rav 4 or smaller maybe, with 5 people in it, so it was a very close and warm ride. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights at Mustapha's Nest in Bwejuu, which was described in both guide books as a friendly rastafarian establishment. Rasta it was - I may have heard more Bob Marley in 1.5 days than I've listened to for the preceding 27 years of my life. It was also friendly - on arrival we were taken on a walking tour down the beach to nearby Paje and we were warmly welcomed every time we returned to the hotel by the staff. The staff was between 5-10 young men. I never figured out exactly how many, because they seemed to come and go, and some of them may just be friends and not really staff. They had the overall attitude and apparent thought processes of a group heavy pot smokers in America, although I suspect there is no marijuana in Tanzania, as it is probably severely punished. There must be something about living on Zanzibar or listening to too much Bob Marley that makes one pleasant, friendly, and fairly simple. While we were waiting for our ride this morning (for over an hour - Tanzanian 10-10:30 is 11:15, but we were prepared for this) three of them were content to sit around the fire circle with us, teaching us words in Swahili at a very leisurely pace and occasionally getting up to dance or wander around. For us it was amusing but if I did that on a daily or weekly basis, it would become mind-numbingly boring quickly, and they seemed to be sincerely very happy and amused.

On Friday night I caught the tail end of high tide for a brief swim. The water was the perfect temperature - warm enough to be easy to get in and too feel a bit chilly when you get out. The sand was amazingly soft in Bwejuu, fine, and white. The low tide is low - the water goes out at least half a kilometer - so I was lucky to have a few feet of water to paddle around in. Friday night I had delicious grilled king fish - a large white fish with good flavor and texture, a beer and a half, fries, and coconut spinach all for under 10 dollars at Mustapha's. We had good breakfasts both days - an egg, a mini loaf of bread, coffee or tea, and multiple varieties of fruit. And breakfast was included in the cost of our $35/night bungalow! Saturday, Ann arrived to join us in the morning and we spent the middle part of the day walking down the beach with stops for swimming and inspecting the seaweed farms of the local residents. We had pizza, which we had all been subliminally craving until we heard our table mate talk about it the night before, for lunch at Paje By Night and had a leisurely walk home with more swimming and sitting in the shade to read. After a rest and a shower, we set out in early evening and walked 2 km up the beach to a Belgian hotel that was recommended in the lonely planet for interesting food. The food was mediocre and expensive for Tanzania, but the place was beautiful and we enjoyed the walk. And "The REAL Beligian Chocolate Mousse" for desert (the only desert on the page listed in red letters) was excellent. And the walk home under the nearly - full moon was nice too. We did not take our hosts up on their offers to accompany them down the beach to Jambazi for the big full moon disco party - at 11 they had not yet set out and none of us felt particularly inspired to disco.

Today, Ken and I got a minibus ride back to the west side of the Island to the Mbweni Ruins Hotel which is a splurge for both of us but is proving to be quite enjoyable. They greeted us with warm towels and passion fruit juice as we checked in, the beach is very nice (deeper for swimming even at high tide than Bwejuu, and the hotel kitchen is excellent and very reasonably priced. For lunch I had a 3 course meal - carrot soup, fish curry in traditional Zanzibar style, and wonderful mango sorbet - for 12,000 shillings which is less than 10 dollars. This afternoon, we explored the gardens and ruins of a girls school on the hotel grounds seeing many fruit trees, palm trees, and other interesting plants and we also saw a fruit bat in the ruins. Then we had a nice swim on the beach and in the pool when the tide started to go out. Tomorrow, we get to go to Chumbe Island nearby for snorkeling and lunch. They only allow 12 guests per day on the island which is a nature reserve / preserve and is supposed to have some of the best snorkeling around, so we are feeling very lucky to have gotten a spot. Zanzibar has been relaxing and beautiful thus far.