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Safe and Sound!

I'm home! We had a full car load to see us off. Back in the USA!

Marco Abel Gamba

Wedding invitation to follow.

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Dinner!

The plates were all pretty heavy and full. Everyone came back for seconds (and sometimes thirds).
 
Pineapple, Dal, Chipate, Beans, Kuku Pilau, Curried veggies and coconut bananas and vanilla pudding with cookies for desert!

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Kids at the party

On Friday night, we had 20 of our local friends over for a dinner party. We asked our cooking class teachers make Kuku Pilau (chicken with rice pilaf) and Helima, Nini and I helped with prepare the other dishes. It was a fun night and most people had thirds. We put on the iPod and danced after dinner.
 
Helima's kids are the two in the middle and the others are neighborhood kids. Note the eating with the hands.
 
Midway through the dinner we heard a knock at the gate and a young girl entered and asked for Mwalimu (teacher). I went out and talked to her and she claimed that she had heard that Nini and I were teaching English at the Chukwani Skuli. She was upset because she wanted to participate but her classes schedule wasn't flexible. Could we start classes at 6? Unfortunately, school rooms don't have electricity and we are only here for another week; we sent her off with a notebook and pen and Obama Boy told her about a program he is creating to teach motivated students English for free.

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Party Attire!

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Bizari!

This is my favorite dish that Helima makes, curry potatoes with carrots and onions. Nzuri sana!!

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Our Chukwani House

This is where we spend most of our time!

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Juma, Daudie and Helima

Our little house family that we feel blessed to see each day.
 
We sent Juma to get a malaria test this week, sure enough he had it. Luckily, totally treatable and feeling much better since he started his medicine. Juma is quiet, sweet and charming. Daudie is hsterical and laughs at almost everything we say. We had 20 of our local friends over for dinner tonight and both Daudie and Juma danced with us.
 

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Local Shopping

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Mwalimu at the Skuli

There is a local school for 7-20 year olds right next to our house and we've started teaching English to about 25 16-20 year olds a few times a week.
A few weeks ago, I stopped by to see if it was possible to come to school one day. Shortly thereafter, we met the English teacher who spoke no English. Next, I met the school supervisor and he brought me around the school to show me all of the classrooms. All of the younger children were following us around in their formal Muslim wear and it was apparent that Mzungus weren't frequent at this school. I felt like show and tell.
The next day, Nini and I showed up with no lesson plan and no expectation of what was to come. A half hour later, we found ourselves in our own classroom with two pieces of chalk and an eraser. Even the teachers had joined to learn. Apparently we were teaching English class. The children were all very shy and the girls hid behind their headdresses when we called on them. Nini and I bounced around the room and had the kids get up and play games and practice the little English they knew. Two hours later it was getting dark and we told them we had to go. The next day we showed up and 20 minutes later our first student arrived on a bike that was too big for her. 10 minutes later a young boy and then a teacher shortly thereafter. That day we had a lot of rain so many of the students couldn't make it to school but we still held class and the kids were very engaged. At the end of class we taught them row row row your boat.
 
These kids are full of energy and are great listeners but have varying levels of English. It's quite apparent that they want to learn English and many don't get the opportunity. English is a requirement for any good job on the island so we are happy to have another week to help get them motivated. We plan to bring notebooks on Monday so that they can take notes while we teach. Nini is inspired and is talking about taking part of her allowance to sponsor one of the kids in our class.  

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Mary Hair Dressing Salon

We live on a little bumpy dirt road in a small neighborhood near the airport called Chukwani. Our neighborhood consists of a local school, a few small shops and a hair dressing salon. Nini and I have been working towards at least one cultural event every day so yesterday I offered to get a hair trim.
 
We walked down the block to the 'Mary Hair Dressing Salon' which consists of a small stone building with two white curtains that are the entrance. Upon opening the curtains, we met who we assumed was Mary and a young girl who was getting extensions put in her hair. We asked how much for a haircut and they said 10,000 shillings which is about $8 so I said, that's "gali sana and a Mazungu (white person) price" so they quickly said OK, 1,000 shillings or .80 cents. We settled.
Nini and I waited 10 minutes and I soon found myself in the salon chair. I asked mary if I need a washing or if she was going to wet my hair and she exclaimed no. Next thing I knew, she pulled my hair back into a small pony tail and cut off about 3 inches. Nini and I giggled. She then proceeded to comb my hair with a comb that was about 12 inches long and my entire hair fit in one section. It looked almost fake. She then fluffed my hair with her hands and said basi, is that enough?
I'm pretty sure this may have been Mary's first experience with a white person's hair.
 
So, my .80 haircut took about 30 seconds and it looks and feels pretty good. I gave her a 100% tip.
 
PS: On their product shelf, they had many versions of Nice and Lovely, including the famous Avocado Oil.

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Sunday

After our gorilla track, we were lucky to find ourselves at The Serena in Kigali. We went to the third floor to discover our triple was more of a single. An hour later, we were still trying to sort out a solution and Nini and I started talking to the bell boy, Sunday, while waiting for a new room. We had just gone to the local craft market so were showing him a few of the baskets that we had purchased (above).
 
We were happy with our room in the end and extremely excited to go to the well equipped, beautiful gym. 
 
We do have a gym membership on Zanzibar at one of the local hotels but only one machine (a jerky treadmill) turns on. Jumping jacks aren't highly recommended as the ceiling fans aren't far away and most likely would chop off your fingers or forehead. Although pretty minimal and basic, it's right on the beach and we've all come to love the release of going each day. Sometimes we bring our swiming suits, but the tides are so unpredictable that you can sometimes walk for miles to the water and sometimes float from the patio.

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Our Porters....

 

Sabyinyo Female...not so into Mr. Silverback

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Mr. Massive Silverback

We woke up to hot chocolate and coffee at the base of an inactive volcano in our cozy little cabin at the Sabyinyo. We weren't too concerned that it was raining so hard that we could barely hear one another talk. We grabbed a quick breakfast and slid our way over the slippery cobblestones to our car.
 
We met the rangers and other gorilla hikers at the park entrance. From there, we met Patience and Ludu who would be leading our adventure to meet the Sabyinyo family. They showed us a photo of the family members and gave us an overview on actions needed should the male silverback decided he wasn't too happy with one of us. He also casually mentioned that this silverback was over 600 pounds and the largest one in all of Rwanda. NBD. Size wise, gorillas are 3 times that of a human.
 
We hired 6 porters for $10 each, not because our packs were 3 lbs each but because they all stood at the entrance to our hike looking like their day was going to be much happier if we hired them. We were later told that most porters were once poachers and were now trained to help with restoration and longevity of the mountain gorillas. After 15 minutes, we found ourselves walking through small communities filled with kids running around in muddy torn clothing. Houses were mainly made of clay and it was apparent that most were living entirely off of the land.
 
It was muddy and when I say muddy I mean muddy. The rain was coming down hard and luckily we all were well equipped with our gear. About 40 minutes into our hike, Patience asked the porters to stay with our bags as we were about 5 minutes away. Knowing Africa time, we kept walking and were chatting when we all suddenly came to a halt. Straight ahead, I'm talking less than 5 feet, there was a massive black wet furry gorilla who was looking straight at me. I didn't even have to ask, this was THE silverback of the group. Patience made a low growl to let them know we were there and they didn't reply. We were told this was a good sign. They had told us we would be 3 car lengths away and I was counting less than a large bumper.
 
My eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head and I couldn't even grab my camera I was so stunned. Was he going to take off his gorilla suit soon? Why was he staring at me? Would he want to persuade me to stay and be one of his harem? I don't know how this was possible, but the rain started to pour down even more and Mr. Silverback closed his eyes because apparently 6 American females were quite uneventful and boring. Two minutes later, he turned his massive body so that we could only see his broad silverback. Four other gorillas were with him, a baby and a few females but he was by far the most entertaining. At one point, he growled out a 'wanna mate' to one of the she gorillas and she replied, 'no way' or maybe 'I'm too tired.' This is what our guide told us. Right before we left, Mr. Silverback hopped up on his hind legs and lept 10 feet to be closer to the rest of his family. He was so quick and MASSIVE.
 
It was a very quick but amazing and memorable hour.

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Hutsu vs. Tutsi

Habyarimana was the Rwandan Hutsu president who was in office in April, 1994. When his plane was shot down, (still unconfirmed who's to blame but most claim it was Tustsi rebels) a 100 day mass genocide took over the country. Years of segregation between the lower class Hutsu and upper class Tutsi caused tension and eventually led to one of the worst mass massacres in recent history. Hutsus killed around 1 million Tutsis in the matter of 100 days, many times children, neighbors, friends and often times their own family members (those who married Tutsis). Over 15% of the Tutsi population was irradicated which would be the equivalent of all of the black people that we have in the US.
 
The genocide museum walks you through the build up of tension between the groups and holds relics of the victims including clothes, bones and individual pictures. It also holds over 258,000 people in a mass grave. The torch outside the museum (above) burns every year, starting April 7, for the 100 days of genocide and is a memory and tribute to those killed and to their families.
 
Most people from Rwanda confirm that they either have a victim or perpetrator in their family. Despite their devastating history of genocide and segregation, the city of Kigali thrives and the current government is all about the people and the economy is thriving. Luckily, social classes no longer distinguish the people of Rwanda.

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Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge

This is the lodge where we stayed to track the Sabyinyo gorilla family.

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Kigali, Rwanda

Before heading North for the weekend, we spent a few hours in the city of Kigali and were all quite surprised (actually shocked) by its beauty and apparent booming economy. The city of Kigali, the famous host of Hotel Rwanda, is clean, green, radiant and one of the nicest cities in Africa I have visited. The city spans over gorgeous rolling green hills filled with modern well sized houses and tall buildings . Of course, slums still exist but for the most part the city is well kept and quite impressive. The locals claim that Kigali has changed drastically because of the strong supportive government, which recently implemented a community service day once a month to clean up the city and unite the community.
 
Rwanda's turbulent history was displayed at the Genocide Museum, which was absolutely heartbreaking but amazing.
 

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The Rainy Season

The waters of Zanzibar are filled with a variety of boats, including the amazingly huge dhows and the small island hoppers. This is a photo taken from a gorgeous lunch spot, Archipelago, which serves the most delicious coconut bread.
 
Dad, I took this photo for you!

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Humbled by hospitality

We set up a cooking course this evening through Obama boy and it was the most outstanding experience I have had in a while. Masoud was going to join us and introduce us to our teacher but he was diagnosed with malaria yesterday so we ventured through the maze of the old Stonetown to a massive stone building which appeared to be where we were having our class.
 
I guess my initial vision was a rustic version of Julie and Julia. The six of us, three have joined for the gorilla tracking this weekend, walked through the doorway into another world. Children were running everywhere and it appeared 5 families lived on the ground floor, many related and living with their extended family, and also the 5 floors above us. None us dared to look at the other and we were silent for the first 15 seconds taking it all in. We saw our veggies and food items on the floor in front of us near a charcoal stove in an dark open room. The room opened to the main veranda where there was a water spout and a communal shower area. Rows of recently washed clothing were our back drop. All of us were in awe and a little surprised that we had just entered into an unfamiliar world, but excited still. We met the four main cooks and proceeded to take a seat at our stools that were placed around the small seating area, which was just stone. One of the daughters luckily spoke English and she was firm about us writing down all of the ingredients and especially in paying attention to her steps.
 
We started with samaki wakupaka (made with ginger, tamarind, curry, and coconut-milk) and moved onto coconut bananas, beans with onions and coconut milk, spinach, rice pilau, chipate, sesame bread and a few others. Each teacher took a turn in making the delicious treats, all over the charcoal stove (even both breads). Five hours later we were all begging for a bite of the warm sesame bread and shortly after found ourselves in a small room where we all had dinner together. The ladies kept saying welcome to our home, thank you so much for coming and they were so friendly and happy that we were there. Not often you are welcomed into a Muslim home to participate in preparing a meal.
 
After dinner we asked them how frequently they hosted cooking classes and they confirmed we were the second people and the last one they had was in 2008 when a Mazungu journalist did an article on her experience on Zanzibar. An extremely memorable evening and a wonderful contribution to the local families.

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Our four teachers

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Our Cooking School Teacher

 

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Nice and Lovely, part dieux

We had a wonderful cooking class this evening in the house of a local family. Guess what I saw when they opened one of the cupboards? Yep, confirmed that 'Nice and Lovely' is a very popular hair product for black people. I wonder if they could tell I was already on day 4 of the benefits. Still a bit of a grease monkey but this discovery made us all laugh. Helima was the lucky recipient of the avocado oil version and her hair looks tremendous.

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Masai Tribe

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Simba!

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Ngorogoro Crater

We went on a one day safari this past weekend. Flew into Arusha and stayed at the Coffee Lodge which is situated on the largest Tanzinian coffee plantation. Coffee everything, think lotion, shampoo etc. More to come on the safari...

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Cornrow Salve....

My hair in Zanzibar has been mildly out of control. Usually straight and manageable, on the island it usually leaves the room 5 minutes before I do because it has so much body. Also, the salt water and sun have left it a bit crisp, so I've been looking for some deep conditioner and yesterday I was in luck.
 
It's called 'Nice and Lovely Avocado Oil' and the first ingredient is avocado oil and then there are about 5 other oils proceeding. Of course I got all excited knowing that avocados are great for your hair and couldn't wait to get home to try it out. Even Kim and Nini applied some before dinner, claiming they would just rinse before bed. I thought I'd go the whole nine yards and just sleep with it in there to benefit from the full effects.
 
Taking a nice big glop, I followed the directions to the tee. Massage thoroughly. I rubbed it in and combed it through every inch to make sure that each piece of hair turned out nice and lovely. Two hours later it looked like I had put my head in a Vaseline bottle so I hopped in the shower and washed it, TWICE. No difference. This morning I woke up and ran to the mirror and bursted out laughing; it's still not better. I washed it twice again and my hair is still sticky and it looks like I haven't washed it in weeks. Kim, Nini and I have been laughing all morning as we have company coming into town tomorrow and we aren't sure if our hair will every go back to normal, even before we leave the island.
 
I think may may have bought a deep conditioner for a black person.
 
 

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Masoud Salim - Zanzibar's Obama

Our best friend on the island is without a doubt Masoud. He's a young local politician, who Kim met through Abercrombie & Kent, with a lovely personality and a smile that fills an entire room. During Obama's campaign, Masoud initiated a grassroots campaign which started with spray painting his shoes with Obama's name and later creating an 'Obama' tree which served as his unofficial campaign office. During his campaign, where he was constantly adorned with an Obama pin and was requesting local signatures in support of Obama for president, it wasn't clear if he wanted to continue in politics but now he is committed to be Zanzibar's president one day. In the photo above, Masoud is showing us what a few of the youth in town do when they see him, "Oh Obama Boy!"
 
Masoud was born in the Congo and was raised there until 1999, when his family decided to flee because the government was involved in coups and partisan fighting in Rwanda. Even two of his brothers barely escaped involvement with the militia, one being too small to carry a gun (8) the other (12) saved by his parents when they discovered he wanted to join because of his friends. Talking about his past is probably the only time I've seen Masoud quiet and serious. Two minutes later, though, he was back 'on,' smiling, giggling and being his usually happy self.
 
We went out dancing with Masoud and his friend 'G' last weekend and it was quite a night. Although we left early, (1am) they stayed out until 6. Partly because of his strong commitment to his Islamic faith and partly because he lacks the desire, Masoud doesn't drink alcohol. Instead, he prances around the dance floor, moving his body like a caterpillar and making us giggle until our bellies hurt. A few days ago, Masoud came over for dinner, he has been over twice this week, while we were having a power outage. After dinner, we had a dance off while Nini and Kim laughed from the sidelines. He is charming, soft spoken, fun, confident, kind, classy and one of a kind and we feel very lucky to have him be part of our family while we live here.

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Turquoise Love...

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This is the gorgeous beach we went to on Sat which is about 45 minutes from our Chukwani neighborhood. The Indian Ocean is gorgeous, warm and a beautiful color of bright turquoise. While swimming, a woman by the nickname of 'Big Mama' came down to the waters edge in her bright peach dress to tell us that she did massage on the beach for $8.50 and hour. I was in. An hour later, I found myself under a little bungalow with her pouring fresh water over my feet to remove the sand. I laid on my front and was soon after in heaven. Her one hand basically covered my entire back and she could have man handled me easily if she had wanted to. Her nickname represented both her personality and stature. Midway through the massage she was getting pretty into it and my head was squashed under her bodice and tummy with her wide sweeping strokes. The cabana was filled with a mixture of smells ~ the salt water from the ocean, coconut oil from the massage and body odor which I have been getting mildly accustomed to with the locals. She proceeded to tell me that many tourists say she is too strong and that she goes softer now. And if that was her softer, I was glad I was there after those poor other tourists. Big Mama and I became fast friends and I will be back to visit every time we are there. The best massage experience to date.

Rafiki Halima

Halima is a beautiful, colorful local woman who takes care of Dr. Amahdi's house 6 days a week. She has two children, a son and a daughter, who are 6 and 3. We are extremely lucky that she is hired while we are in Zanzibar. She cleans the house, washes our clothing by hand and helps prepare the evening meal, all with a huge smile and happy demeanor. We pay her $25 for the week, which she asked us to give her at the end of the month so she doesn't use it to go shopping.
 
When we first met her, she was quite shy and kept to her daily activities but now she seems happy to have us around and has been trying to learn a few English words. Like most of the locals, each day she wears a kanga as well as fabric to cover her head. As is common when women are at home, most days she takes off hear head covering. She has a gregarious personality and is always so excited when we bring new goods home from the market. Lately, I've been taking photos of her separating beans or cooking meals and she gets pretty excited. Yesterday she asked me why I wasn't taking a picture of her washing the clothing.
 
It's usually 90 with heavy humidity so we often keep our water in the freezer. Last week we noticed several opened bottles and realized that Halima had been filling the bottles with tap water. I mimed out why 'Mzungus' can't have tap water and gave her a bandana to put around the bottle should she want the cool water for herself. Ten minutes later she was walking around with the bright purple bandana around her head. We now have a system of tape around the water and all hope that we don't mistakenly drink a liter of local water.
 
Halima is a great cook but we have realized that she either the same sauce or is afraid of branching out because we've been so happy. Her red tomato sauce is delightful and always contains onions, garlic, carrots, eggplant and potatoes. We've had it alone, with rice, with pasta, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And many times for leftovers. So lately I've been going in the fridge and trying to hide that tomatoes paste to see if we can branch out a little. Last week, I was in charge of determining her cooking repertoire. We bought curry, masala and hot pepper at the market so I had a few items of show and tell to get us through the conversation. An hour later, we didn't get much more than a yes she can cook curry and also dal. So, on Friday she cooked dal with chapatti bread (photo above) and it was amazing. I went into the kitchen, which is separate from our main house and outside, to take a photo and 3 minutes later I realized Halima was on the floor doing her daily prayer (Islamic faith requests prayer 5 times a day). The dal was delicious, however that red tomatoes paste was definitely involved. This week I am determined to discover a new sauce, curry hopefully. As she would say, 'nzuri sana'…it's good!

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Our little mosque

This is a photo taken from the third story of our house..out on the veranda. We live off of a little dirt road in the middle of a local neighborhood; we even have a cow in our back yard and I'm not quite sure which animal was making noises last night. The neighborhood kids gather each day outside of our house to play soccer and there is an elementary school on our block so there is always a lot of movement and laughing. We have three men, who have worked for Dr. Amadi for 15 years, who rotate to continuously watch our house gate and open it with our beep of arrival. Juma, Saidi and Daudi have become our welcome party and our daily treats are received with huge smiles and many 'asante sanas'.
 
Our kitchen is not attached to the main house, and Helema is out there each morning cutting up fresh mangoes and preparing the food for the day. Mainly, she cooks rice, beans and veggies in a red sauce and I have been tasked to determine if there may be other options. I've been using the Swahili phrase book I have and she seems rather amused with my attempts. Her daily meals are fresh, delicious and predictable…so we are all extremely happy to have her and she seems to like the company.
 
The main house looks like a huge mosque from the outside and is pretty spacious inside. Right as you walk in, you can't miss the big gold plaque in memory of their father who passed and to the left a room that is dedicated for prayer and memory of lost ones. This prayer room is locked. We have a guest bedroom on the main floor as well as a large living room where we have our office and a wall size framed photo of a large eagle. Two rooms on the second floor w/ AC and then a large guest bedroom on the 3rd floor. I have a bed net in my room, which adds to the steamy humidity in my room. No skin cream needed on Zanzibar!
 
It was so hot when we got home this afternoon that Nini and I went up to the veranda with our music and did our work out routine. The breeze and open air was fabulous. There may be some gossip on the block about the 'muzungus' that have moved into the neighborhood; we certainly have settled in and made this beautiful home our own.

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Local Transport....

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Fast cars and Minarets

Dr. Amadi left his car for us to use and over the last couple of days we have gathered some courage to go outside of our neighborhood to test out our skills. Kim has been our driver and our first night out we found ourselves in the middle of a tropical downpour with a foggy and dirty windshield. It's rare to see a 'Mzungu' in the driver seat so we get a lot of attention and waving as we pass by on the bumpy dirt roads that have speed bumps every few hundred yards. Children wave and shout Jambo and the women smile and look at us like, 'Wow, do you really know what you are doing?' Cars beep when they want to go by and there are bikers and locals on the side of the tiny roads. On our way home from seeing John off to the ferry this morning, we found ourselves stuck on the small streets of Stonetown on a street that should be a one way but isn't. Not much seems to bother the locals here, though, and they pass by smiling and waving.
There are also many colorful small local buses that fill the streets and seem to stop whenever. Oftentimes, there is a man at the back who spots people and allows them to hop on. They are usually filled to, what seems, an uncomfortable brim.
 
We went to the local market yesterday to buy some necessities. Luckily we had a local help us negotiate prices and also lead us to the best shops. They are fast and steadfast in their negotiating here, often times willing to walk away if they don't get the asking price. Above is a photo of a typical store as well as the traditional gaments that the women in Zanzibar wear. You can hear the speakers from the tall Minarets in town 5 times a day as the Muslims are very religious about their prayer. Over 80% of the island is Muslim.
 
Today is the end of Nini's Spring Break so we are now sitting in a semi-air conditioned room preparing for her upcoming study schedule.
 

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Look at the mitts on this little guy!

 

 

 

 

Naked Fishermen

 

 

 

Island Time, Nzuri Sana......

I think it's a good sign that I can't remember how long we've been here or what items we put on the grocery list, even if there were only few things. Yesterday we drove 40 minutes to the inner jungles of Zanzibar to do a small trek and follow the red monkeys. Because I had recently read about tourists and gorillas, I asked our sweet, soft spoken guide how we should react and handle the monkeys if they came up to us. He proceeded to tell me they were friendly, harmless really. And he was right. There were about 2,500 monkeys that were divided into families of 50 who traveled together flying from tree to tree and eating leaves when they could. We were lucky to be walking down the path in the middle of one family who kept crossing the path over our toes to keep with their family members. Babies were following their mothers and attempting to jump from branch to branch, but flailing aimlessly and clumsily. We were an arm's length to the monkeys for about an hour and we secretly thanked them for the entertainment. We then headed to the beach up North. The view from our lunch is above, not too shabby. White sandy beaches and beautiful sailboats in the gorgeous turquoise waters. The Indian Ocean is refreshing and you can stay in it for hours; it's salty, buoyant and warm. While we waited for lunch, I walked down to the kids fishing off of a boat at the end of the beach. I took my last shot and looked to see how the photos turned out and realized that most everyone was naked. It was a school day and they were evidently at the beach, working on catching the family dinner. They all suddenly swam to shore and all sat in front of me smiling and talking to me in Swahili. My Swahili is limited to about 50 words so I kept asking 'what is your name' and they were all so proud to tell me their names. So much fun talking with the locals.

 

We came home to a delicious meal made by our tireless house help Halima. She made rice, beans and vegetables in a red sauce. We brought home some pretty high end pots and pans yesterday, an upgrade from the tin pan she was using to cook our dinners, and she was running around the room cheering, nzuri sana, nzuri sana (it's beautiful, it's beautiful). She was equally excited this morning when we gave her the bubble wrap from our peanut butter and proceeded to pop each bubble one by one for the next hour. And also the Mr. Muscle cleaning spray we bought. She even wanted to see if she could use it to wash the dishes. We live in the neighborhood house of Dr. Mahdi, a well known malaria control local, down a dirt road near a school. We have two guardsmen who sit near the gate all evening and are excited when we bring them treats before bed. They have been working for Dr. Mahdi for 15 years.

 

Today we went to another gorgeous beach and had coconut curry under a huge veranda. We then hopped in a local boat and hopped in the water to do some snorkeling. A couple of locals waited in the boat for us and I have to say that the strong glistening bodies of these guys is something to write about. Once we got back to the beach and saw a village of kids gathering sand, and carrying it back to repair their homes, why no one on Zanzibar has an inch of anything but muscle on their bodies.

 

What I most adore is the vibrant color of all kangas and head wraps that all of the women of the island wear. Beautiful dark skin and bright colors everywhere we go with huge smiles and understated and genuine 'Jambo, habari gani?' They treat locals and tourist alike with respect, kindness and sincerity. The people of Zanzibar are so graceful and lovely and driving through the villages makes it clear that many don't need much to put a huge smile on their face.

 

 

 

A Generous First Day!

Woke up to a gorgeous first morning with clear blue skies and fresh mango and papaya for breakfast. Massoud, a quick local friend and our tour guide for the day, picked us up at 10 in a pimped out mini van with AC and brown velvet seats. We listened to some local music while we drove through windy roads into town and saw school children on the side of the street in their uniforms and women in the traditional Muslim gowns with bright, beautiful colors. Our first stop was Stonetown, which was a maze of small roads that one would think would be too narrow for cars, not so but at least not at the breakneck speed of the main roads.

 

We had lunch at The Sirena Inn Restaurant overlooking the beach and then headed on a lively spice tour. Unquestionably the most interactive tour I have ever been on, with colorful spices being used for lipstick and palm tree climbing for fresh coconuts (he's opening it for us below). With fields of fresh spices, it's no wonder the curries and masalas are so tasty on the island. Had fresh local lobster back at The Sirena on their rooftop this evening to celebrate John's 65th bday. Wonderful, live Swahili music throughout dinner and the entire staff came out and danced around the veranda with a cake. The excitement, beauty and newness brought tears to my eyes. Zanzibar is a very special island.

 

 

 

Dubai....a crazy city!

I knew I was going to like Dubai the second we stepped outside and 1) it wasn't the normal 55 degree SF weather and 2) they had pink taxis that said 'lady taxi' on them. Emirates put us up at the Millennium Hotel and we hired a local taxi cab driver to tour us around before dinner, which ended up being shortly after midnight. First stop on the route was the indoor ski area (-3 degrees) in a mall equipped with a St. Moritz lodge-like warming hut and gear rental for hundreds. It was pretty bizarre watching locals change out of their traditional Muslim gowns into a one piece ski get up. Next, we hit up the tallest building in the world (they say 165 floors) and had dinner at the base (along with a hookah…because we looked like tourists without one)! After 48 hours of travel, we are relieved to finally be on Zanzibar this evening and feel blessed that the power came on for about 30 minutes!

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful for Lululemon and horse tranquilizers!

16 1/2 hours to Dubai, sleepover, 6 hours to Dar Es Salaam, 1/2 hour to Zanzibar.  I'm off, talk to you in a few days :). Check out the Palm Island in Dubai.

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Gorillas and Gardening Gloves....

OK, this is kind of a bizarre packing item. Tracking gorillas requires gardening gloves...I'll let you know if anything grows from this (ha ha).

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Ethiopian Food @ Axum Cafe in the Haight....

In preparation for my trip to Zanzibar, 'the spice island,' my friend Sarah took me to Axum Cafe for dinner last night. I have to be honest and tell you that when she said it was Ethiopian food I was thinking rice/beans/veggies. Holy Moses this place was delicious. Started off with an Ethiopian beer and devoured the Tibsie Chicken and the 3 veggie combo (lentils, chickpeas and mushrooms). Everything came out on a big plate with a crepe which we used to scoop up the the meal. Full of unique flavors and tons of crazy spices.

If you haven't been, you should consider going. Run by an Ethiopian woman and a truly authentic experience!
http://www.axumcafe.com/

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My home away from home.....

Kim and Nini, my Mom and sister in the Bay area who I will be spending the next 6 weeks with. The beautiful view from their front yard...quite a snapshot of SF!

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8 Day Countdown....

Going to meet with Nini's teachers today and get all of her assignments. Apartment rented and pretty much packed!

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