Under The Sea

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Hey everyone !!!

So i am back in Dar Es Salaam and in an internet cafe that is extreemly slow but because I love you guys so much i decided to update all about my vacation in Zanzibar and about my upcoming adventures.

I believe i stopped at us hanging out in Kendwa. Emily and I decided to stay a second night in Kendwa and go snorkeling in what we were told is the most beautiful area to snorkel on the island. As we were walking the streets a lady came up to us and showed us a business card and told us she can get it for us for cheaper as well as rides back to stone town. We asked about her in the hotel and the people in the receptions told us she is a travel agent and that she is real. we called her and asked her how much it will be for us to go for the whole day snorkeling and she told us she will make it for $25 dollars instead of +$30 and that is including transportation (which we found out was even a longer boat ride) and lunch. We woke up around 7 oclock and got ready for our full day at the water watching the most beautiful fish! We went down and got breakfast on the beach in our hotel (included in our 40 dollar a night of course! ha ha) and then we were picked up by a capitan of a boat ... let me tell you it was funny seeing both emilys and I face as the boat started considering 2 days ago we both got extremely sea sick! We got to a close by beach to pick up our equipment and join the rest of the group. We were headed to a reef of a private island, now we were allowed to be in the water of the private island but you were not allowed to go into land because its a private island and if you want to go on land it costs +$1110 a night a person! the towels better be made out of gold and were given out as gifts at the end of your stay!

After a long sailing in the boat we finally got to our destination! you guys i cannot even explain to you how beautiful that area was but heck when i am home i have pictures to prove it ... the water were different shades so clear though it was just the most amazing sight! We jumped into the water and were told we can snorkel on our own for an hour and a half or so. Emily and I just started swiming it was by far the most beautiful snorkeling trip i have been on. I got to see beautiful eel that was dark blue with white poka dots ... granted i did not try to get close to it because i didnt feel like getting bitten or electricuted. I then saw the most exotic looking fish i have seen in my life in all shapes, sizes and colors! my favorite one was a bird fish, well i gave him that name i have no idea whats the true name of that fish but the way it swam was like flying wings ... i was trying to follow it as much as i could it was purple, green and torquize colors and seeing it was breath taken ... well not really i was breathing but you got the point. I then got to see a blow fish! a baby one ... or a really small one but it was just so pretty it was in different colors of brown! Again i chose not to get too close to him but it was just great to see it! i always see such fish on TV but not in real life! I also saw a clown fish in bright orange and white colors as well as yellow and white colors and let me tell you that was the least exciting fish i saw! When i was swimming there was a group of fish swimming pretty much on the top of the water so i started following them. They had two type of fish; one was bright yellow on top and light blue on bottom and the other type was bright gray and blue ... at first they were trying to swim away from me ... but i think after a while they gave up because i was swimming with them for at least 10 minutes! The corals were beautiful as well ... they had all different colors ... i have never seen pink and purpleish corals before they seem to always be dark blue or black but here the colars are just beautiful all different colors and shapes ... I also saw crabs little ones but that was later on ...

After our snorkeling time we headed back on the boat to the beach on the main land from where we were just swimming. When we got there lunch was waiting and we were all so happy because swimming for so long definatly takes all your energy out! We had king fish with bunch of spices, rich, salad and a platter of fruits ... we all got plates and food and headed to sit on the beach. This beach was also as amazing as they come ... white sand with 3 different types of shades of blue in it! The water is pretty warm and you actually enjoy swimming in it. After enjoying our meals bunch of us headed to swim in the water. Oh i guess i didnt mention i made a friend from spain, this young boy that was there with his whole family and his mother is a travel writer for books i guess so he got to see so many places in the world. Well he was my buddy through out our rides and our swim all day long. So we headed to the water and after a while a few people decided to jump from the roof of the boat to the water. Well okay i was telling myself ''Liron, this is once in a life time experience, when are you ever going to be in zanzibar jumping off the roof of a boat! Or worst you always wanted to sky dive if you cannot jump from 15 ft high how will you jump off a plane?'' yes i know i was sharing my thoughts ... so here i am climbing to the roof of the boat and every one is jumping off and i am second to last and i started freaking out ... i hate heights! like i am so scared of heights! yack ... so all of them are like its okay just do it ... you climbed all the way up you will regret it later ... and i caved to peer pressure! the whole time i was running to jump and during the jump i was like ... why on hell did i do that? well i did it and i am glad to see i did it!!! i of course got to swollow bunch of salt all day! all of us did ... the water here are really salty! After every one got back on the boat we headed to our hotels of course it was raining there and freezing so we covered our self with this sheet of plastic they had there because it wasnt really cold but the wind did that effect! Both emily and i got really sea sick because of the whole sailing slowly just based on the wind and no engin so the boat rocked a lot! The people on the boat taught me the trick with looking at the horizon and it actually works! We finally got back to our hotel and went to rest ... We later grabbed dinner and the hotel on the beach and played a game of Bao which i even believe Emily won!

The next day we decided to move to a new area in the Island called Nungwi which was about 15 min drive from where we were. We wanted to get a new experience and also see a new beach and well lets just be honest maybe find a cheaper hotel. We found this hotel for $30 dollars a night which was not as pretty but it did the trick. We spent most of the day just hanging out on the beach and eating fruits ha ha. At night we went walking as the sun was setting and we found this really white/clear crabs on the sand and i was trying to catch one so we can video tape it! Oh yeah we have been video taping our experiences in zanzibar or at least eating the exotic fruits that i found them all weird! So that day i tried for thefirst time jack fruit. if you have never tasted it ... it tastes kind of like banana mango and pinapple all together in a weird consistancy. We cut it open and apparently there is glue as you cut it open the guy in the shop started laughing at us when we explained the glue was getting everywhere, he seriously was laughing for like 2 minutes straight and then gave me this coconut oil as a gift and said we have to use it in order to not get the glue on our hand. Oh yeah exciting fact it was only 2000 shilings which is less then dollar fifty while in the US emily said they cost at least 20 dollars for that size. We could not finish it all and of course emily promised me they taste better imported ha ha when she buys them in the US which is what she has been saying about all the exotic fruits she made me try so far! We gave back the jack fruit to the guy as a gift and bought a watermellon which i enjoyed a lot! We hung out on the beach though it was hard for me because i got really burned yesterday being in the sun the whole day! At night we walked down the street and found this resturant that is only open at night and its owned by fishermen and they bring out all the fish they caught that day and you choose which one you want and they put it in spices and on the grill for you! it was delicious with rice and vegis! We then just hung out on the beach enjoying the sounds of the waves and headed to bed ... and shower of course... i bought this great conditioner here and i love it! makes my hair smell all good ... oh yeah and i got a hair cut ... by got i mean emily cut it a bit ... just the dead ends ... but its not short at all so dont freak out ema!

The next day with very empty wallet we decided to head to stone town again! Money in zanzibar runs very fast and we decided to spend another night and head home. We headed to stone town and stayed in the same hotel we did the first time around though this time the guy promised us a cheaper price so we got it for $35 dollars! its funny they deal everything with dollars hotel and activities wise in zanzibar and all i had was shillings so it wasnt fun because they charged me the higher rate! We checked into the hotel and went into the market to buy some spices to bring back to our adoptive parents here! the people that are in charge of the orpanged ... we got them bunch of spices and we were arguing with the guy forever to give us nice prices! After grabbing bunch of spices and a few gifts to our family back home ... We were heading to the hotel with a huge box full of good walking down the small alleys ha ha it was funny yet very heavy. After resting for a few minutes in the hotel we decided to go send some post cards and use the internet in the post office and that is where i updated the last 2 entries with a very fast internet that i miss a lot right now! We then headed to a famous coffee house i believe it was cold stone house coffee house (orignal right) we had spices tea which is what zanzibar is known for and we shared a chocolate cake because it just looked so amazing! oh by the way they dont have much chocolate in zanzibar or in tanzania for a matter of fact so when we get access to it we tend to buy it and share ha ha because it tends to be a bit more expensive then usual. We then got lost in the alleys again and just enjoyed being in the city and seeing people and art and of course the amazing aroma of the spices! At night we headed to the forodhani gardens which is street food like when it was in the film festival but this time we decided to just go to a chinese resturant and shared a meal! We then headed to our hotel and went to sleep because we were just tired from all the traveling/walking in town! In the morning we did another round of sending letters and had lunch in our favorite indian resturant underneath the hotel ... well more we snacked and then headed to the boat to get back to the main land.

In the main land of Dar Es Salaam we saw Hazakia waiting for us! He took us to the guest house and we checked in ... it was nice paying 8000 shilings a night instead of 40 dollars. 8000 shilings is about 6.50 a night cheap but later we found out that in tanzania when its called a guest house it usually means a place men bring their lady friends from some good fun ha ha. We went to sleep and when we woke up we found the group of volunteers that are joining us and building a dormetery back in schoo. They are really nice a bit young ... i believe 18 or 19 but they go to this international high school and they are from all over the world; French, UK, Japan, Norway, Germany, Israel, Africa, and more.

Today we went to shop in the market and tomorrow we are heading back to school so i will be computerless for at least 2 weeks i believe. If you want please give me a call i believe i left the number in the facebook note of my africa detailes. I miss you all and cannot wait to see you when i get back home ... i think my hour is almost over so i am going to update it and say bye for now ... love!

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