Blogs from Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 11

I had a unique Christmas this year. Katie, Alisha and I managed to find transport to Lilongwe on the Thursday before Christmas. On the way we saw these guys standing on the side of the road with what we thought were umbrellas. Alisha finally told us they were actually mushrooms and we pulled over and bought a few. That evening dinner was amazing, and I am still shocked at how enormous mushrooms get here. Anyway, that is beside the point. You want to hear about my vacation I am sure. So that Saturday our bus from Lilongwe to Dar es Salaam was scheduled to leave at about 7pm. It would take us overnight to the Malawi border way up north, and then in the morning when customs opened we would pass into Tanzania. At around lunch ... read more

What a day! One of the best so far! We arose really early at about 4am and had a pick breakfast before piling into 2 taxis (one car, 1 matatu) to go to the ferry port. It was a lot less scary than before and I even fell asleep! We crossed over the bay on the little ferry without having to get out of the cars and were then dropped at the terminal for the ferry to Zanzibar. I saw all sorts of things being taken to the island - 1000 chicks in 10 cardboard boxees all madly chirping away, a guy carring a full sized wardrobe on his back, a bed and some footstools. Soon we were on our way and I fell asleep. I woke about an hour later when it got a bit ... read more

A few of the group, me included left Nungwi early in the morning so that we could visit the agricultural villages of Kizimbani and Kindichi on the way. Driving through the island we have always been aware of the variety of flora and fauna but until today did not know what any of it actually was. The various plants and trees that carpet the island turned out to be a real feast for the senses. A huge variety of spices are grown here on the island such as cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, turmeric, vanilla and curry leaves. Alongside these bananas, bread fruit, star fruit and coconuts thrive. Everywhere we looked there was another little surprise. Our guide around the two spice farms we visited was very knowledgeable and told us all about how each spice ... read more

Well, as predicted I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on the computer. So I can't possibly explain everything that I've been up to, but I can give you the general idea. I spent two weeks with my homestay family in Stone Town. They were really nice, but spoke very minimal English (although it was great they spoke any at all) so communication was hard, but I think we managed fine most of the time. There were a couple of funny incidents though. Once, during dinner, i decided to question if something had potatoes in it, but after I spoke they looked at me strangely and I didn't understand until they told me the word I had used for potatoes- "viatu"- actually meant shoes (apparently "viazi" means potatoes). Oops. But that wasn't the ... read more

of Africa. Barack Obama is the most popular person in Africa, and so we thought we should mention a little bit about what people over here think about him, given the heated political battle back home. There are actually fairly few American tourists in Tanzania at the moment, and so, whenever anyone finds out where we're from, we're frequently asked, incredulously, if we think Obama can win. The people here are VERY excited. This we were expecting. But we were not expecting Obama to generate so much goodwill toward America even before the election. The people here are simply excited that an African man would even have the opportunity to become president of our country. In other words, the fact that he's gotten as far as he has means all the world to them - whether ... read more