Zan-zi-bar

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Sorry it's been sooo long! The last two weeks of my trip flew by as I did and saw so much. This entry is on my trip to Zanzibar and then I will follow-up with my trip to Northern Tanzania and my Safari adventure. I am probably going to write one more as a reflection because I am actually already home safe, but didn't want to leave you all hanging.

So Zanzibar...
After a few more days of volunteering, teaching english at the nursery school and playing soccer at orphanage, I was literally melting away at Bahari Beach (where I am). I can't even describe to you how hot it is here; you are literally always wet and sticky with sweat (it's great for my skin). As the weekend approached I planned to journey over to Zanzibar, which is a nearby island. After a night out at a local bar with all the volunteers and locals I was off to this mystery island that I had heard so much about. I got lucky and another volunteer from the volunteer house up north had come down to Dar to get the ferry over to Zanzibar, so I had someone to travel with!

Once I reached the island I said goodbye to my travel buddy and met up with a guy from the Art in Tanzania (NGO I am with) Stonetown house, Edward, and he had time to show me around. Thank goodness he did because Stonetown (or Zanzibar City) is a maze of small alleys and I definitely would of got lost. We soon met up with one of his friends, who was a girl from England who'd been a past volunteer, and we went to drink some Safari and Kilimanjaro beers as we watched the sunset.

In Zanzibar the power was turned off in mid-November and was still off. I heard the reasons why it'd been off for so long was that the power line had broke from the mainland and the government was taking it's merry time repairing it. I can't imagine living without power! I kept thinking, "these poor people"; no lights, fans (it's so humid), running water, etc. Many people had died from the water issue. The first night I was there I was lucky to be with my new friends, who knew there way around, because the streets are narrow and maze-like and it was pitch black. Also, because of the buildings being so close together it felt so hot and stuffy; no fresh air to breath, just stagnant.

The next day we headed up North to Kendwa, an area where several bungalow hotels line the beach. It was heaven! The water was so clear and turquoise and the sand was white and powder-like. I got my favorite Tanzanian soda, Stoney Tangawizi (ginger beer), and just laid in the sea. It wasn't necessarily cold, but so refreshing. After a nap in a hammock and an unbelievable sunset we headed into the dark night up to a local restaurant (there were a few shops and restaurants on the dirt road that led to the bungalows) where we had quite the experience in the candle light. Basically, the waiter forced us all to order the tuna in some sort or way, no matter the preparation, and minutes later came back to tell us, "the tuna is finished".

After an amazing, relaxing time in Kendwa we went back to Stonetown. We were dripping in sweat as we tried to get ready to go out for happy hour and to watch the sunset when all of a sudden I heard kids screaming from the street. It then sounded like the whole town was cheering. My friend and I didn't say a word to each other we just merely starred up at the fan and suddenly it slowly started to move. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! The power was on! The locals in the house went crazy, screaming and jumping up and down. It was so exciting and I'd only been there for two days. I can't even imagine how they felt!?! I wanted to cry for them. We went out that night to celebrate with everyone. It was called the "power party"! It was so fun to watch the locals dance, they dance so fluidly, and of course I had to join in myself (how could I not?).

The following day we cruised around the town and were suppose to catch the ferry in the afternoon back to Dar, but decided we had "heat stroke" and it was just too hot to go. I was really glad we stayed; we went out to the night market one last time. The night market is a bunch of stalls set-up selling all sorts of local food. My favorite thing were the Zanzibar pizzas (savory or sweet). The savory one was dough stretched out, filled with vegetables, meat of your choice, cheese, mayonnaise, butter, and egg, and then pan fried, topped with a salad mix and ketchup. Intense, right? But it was delicious. The sweet ones were filled with nutella and banana or mango. Yum! Everyone just hangs out and sits around at the market. We met some really nice locals and continued onto the local beachfront bars.

Early the next morning we headed back to Dar and I hung out in the city center for a while with my new friend as she lives and works at one of the hotels in Dar. We had lunch with some of her friends from India and Serbia and then I headed back to Bahari Beach (the volunteer house). I was sad to say goodbye to my new friend; we had so much fun in Zanzibar together and who knows if we'll ever see each other again. 😞

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