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Published: August 18th 2008
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Dhow at sunset
Kendwa had amazing sunsets out over the Indian Ocean. For those Lion King Fans:
Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata!
Ain't no passing craze
It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It's our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!
We got into Stonetown in the early afternoon and met up with Ben at our hotel. His friends from D.C., Nick and Rose, joined us for the week and later that evening, Rytas made it in from his safaris in Arusha. We had a quick stroll around the area, getting us used to the town, and had a great dinner at Two Tables "restaurant." I used parentheses for restaurant as it is literally a guy's balcony, which has two tables (creative name huh?) for guests. The next morning we headed for the north of the island, planning to spend more time meandering this beautiful, sea side, historic town before we left. At the moment, the thought of a few Tusker Beers on the beaches of Kendwa was just too enticing.
Kendwa is a large stretch of sand, probably about one and a half kilometers long, in the north of Zanzibar. We found some accomodation, which isn't the easiest given how busy it is and
Paje's beach
This is just the middle of low tide. how budget we are, and spent the next few days on the beach lounging. We had been looking forward to this since the first day climbing Kili and it was completely worth it. There were many games of cards, plenty of beer, and numerous anecdotes recounted about the travels thus far. While it wasn't the liveliest or prettiest beach we've seen on our trip, it was among the best if only in how badly we wanted that bit of time to unwind and relive before we have the culture shock of flying home.
After a few days we jumped to Paje, on the east side of the island. The beach here was remarkable in its bredth, particularly at low tide. I've never seen such a dramatic difference. It is extremely shallow (never above shoulder height, but mostly about knee height) all the way to the horizon, where a coral reef sits causing the waves to break. At low tide the beach doubles or triples in size. We tried to walk to the break one day and after 45 minutes we were about a third of the way there. We gave up as the sea urchinds (combine a plum and
Narrow Streets of Stonetown
The streets remind me of a tropical, Muslim version of Prague's Old Town. a porcupine) were all over the floor, and we were lazy. On the last night here there was a huge party down the beach which we couldn't pass up. It was one of the more humorous nights of the trip, and while I can't recount everything that happened in such a public forum, I can say that a monkey miterating upon my shoulder in the middle of the party wasn't the only highlight!
We headed back to Stonetown, Nick and Rose caught the ferry back to Dar es Salaam, Ben and Rytas booked a taxi back to Kendwa for the next day, and we spent a few hours meandering the small, narrow streets of this small town. For those who don't know much about Zanzibar, it was actually the capital of Oman (yeah, the country in the Middle East) for quite some time. It was a key trading post and one of the Sultans actually moved the capital here. The population is devoutely Muslim and the morning call to prayer wakes you up every morning. Most of the women wear traditional burkas covering them from head to toe; this provides an interesting contrast to the random "rastas" walking around
with dreadlocks trying to sell every mzungu "Bob Marley cigarettes." We did some souvenir shopping and ate dinner at Mercury's, a restaurant on the shore dedicated to Freddie Mercury, the deceased lead singer of Queen. Previously unbeknownst to me, this opera-rock legend was born in Stonetown to a family of Parsee merchants who fled during the revolution. It was our last meal as a group. Two weeks with Rytas and three and a half months with Ben had come to a close. There were a lot of, "What was the funniest story?", "What was your favorite place?", "Who was the most memorable other traveler and local?", etc. The answers to those questions aren't simple and require a lot of explanation and discussion; so, to the dissappointment of some, I'm not about to post them. That is something you'll have to ask us in person next time you see us.
On a side note, somehow again were assigned new nicknames. My mom, in a lapse of brain power, said Darren looked like Fabio with his long hair in front of me. I burst out laughing. That one stuck and he hates it; we all love it. Ben is no longer
mistaken for Jesus or Chuck Norris, however he has been mistaken as Dutch several times. That one is lost on me. And, somehow Ben and Rytas claim I now look like Jeffery "The Dude" Lebowski. I am not nearly tall enough, my hair isn't long enough, I don't have any facial hair, and my sunglasses aren't the right kind. My hobbies don't involve driving around, bowling, and the occasional acid flashback, I don't drink white russians, and I was never a part of the Seattle Seven (with six other guys). But, they claim that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Maybe it's possible. Traveling through some developing countries has definitely had some interesting consequences. Very little, besides me feigning frustration in silly Seinfeld-esque conversations, bothers me anymore. I woke up one morning in Paje and I had small ants all over my toothbrush. I didn't even bat an eye. I picked it up, ran it under the facet, and brushed away. No worries. The next hotel's toilet didn't have a handle. You had to reach into the top basin and manually pull the plug to let the water flush. Whatever, it worked with plenty water pressure,
wasn't detached from the room and a long walk away, and that is more than I can say about some other places. I'm accustomed to having to ask for things multiple times at restaurants with about a 70% success rate, food preparation taking several hours, negotiating for nearly everything I buy, sleeping under mosquito nets with huge holes in them meaning I wake up with numerous bites each morning, and crossing streets that feel like a real life game of frogger. That has become the status quo for my life. It is going to be quite a shock being back in the U.S. for a month.
We all split ways the next morning and the day thereafter Darren and I headed to the airport. He had an easy three flight trip back to the states. I flew from Dar es Salaam to Doha, Qatar. Doha to London, London to Dublin, Dublin to Philly, and Philly to Chicago. It was about 48 hours in total. I was a bit tired when I made it into Chi, but I was home, or at least near there, after 7 months on the road. It has been an incredible time and I look
forward to hearing and seeing from you all over the next month. But, don't despair that you won't have anything to read while you are at work killing time
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Suzanne
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Now where are you going next? I'm living vicariously....