Paje Village

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I really love the villages of Africa. The air conditioning at our hotel is nice when the temperature hits 40 degrees, cable every few weeks brings me a luxury I used to think of as a curse and to find a grocery store would be like finding the golden ticket. All the luxuries of home are extra enjoyable when you've been in Africa for a few months, but the villages are really where it's at. There is something so innocent and pure about being there and the villages are what makes me love Africa so much. Jordan gets bored sometimes when we hang out there too much but he even reminds himself that it won't be forever that we can just decide to go into a village for a few hours and play with the kids. I'm glad he can see that perspective because I really enjoy going - it does something for my soul. Maybe I lived here in another life and it feels like I am home again - who knows.

Or, maybe I am meant to be there in the future.........

Paje village was just steps behind our luxury hotel in Zanzibar. Conveniently for us, the hotel got to keep the gigantic generator amongst the homes of the village so the rich tourists who stayed for a very short amount of time didn't have to listen to the absolutely defeaning noise 24 hours a day or breathe in all the toxic fumes from the diesel. Luckily for us rich tourists, we can leave that kind of stuff for the people of Paje......... : (

It was strange to be in the village for a while and eventually head back towards our hotel and the ocean. One minute you are walking through a village that really looks like the rubble left over from a war zone - houses half standing, feces on the street, hungry children with nothing to do, no school in sight - and the next minute you look up and you see this gigantic purple, grand building - the hotel. It is the only thing with color on it for miles and it completely blocks the only beautiful thing the people of Paje have in their life - the beautiful Indian Ocean.

With the exception of Morogoro, this will be one of the last villages I will visit as we only have just over three weeks left in Africa and a lot of that time will be spent in places like the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. As I walk back and see the same old wealth rubbing up against the desperately poor, I think this will be what sticks out in my mind the most out of anything I saw or did in Africa.

Maybe it's all just free enterprise and I am way out of line with my view, but i can't help feeling irritated by the generator in the yard of the villagers, the tourists throwing their buffet plates away half full while the village childrens' nails are orange from lack of nutrition and the way some of the tourists look at the local women selling their handi-crafts on the beach like they have committed some sort of crime to approach them - if they don't like being approached they should get off their beach.

Or, better yet, the hotel could pay them to leave that ugly, loud, toxic generator in their back yard that is used to make sure their guests have movies to watch and a blowdryer for their hair-do's. Then there would be no need to sell you their handi-crafts that are such an imposition for you while you are acquiring that perfect tan.



Maybe I won't be so irritated by this tomorrow, but maybe I will.

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Comments

[natalie]

thanks
hey thx for the gift it was realy nice of both of you to do it.When i saw your sunburn it looked like it realy hert,i feel bad for you!!!I went to a dance yesterday and i slow danced with 5 guys they were realy cute and they all asked me.I miss you lots and again thx for the presant love nat xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

[Sabrina]

3rd degree sunburn??
Heidi how's your sunburn now?? That looks really painful. Did you get that even with sunscreen on?

[rosepascal]

thanks
she is my bed she is very beautiful.