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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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