Zanzibar

Yes, my blog is still back at the end of August, but I'm catching up quickly today. So...back in August, I took two weeks away - the first in Zanzibar with one of my best friends from the US, Kari, and the second in Rwanda.

Zanzibar, is paradise. We spent the first few days in Stonetown, shopping while navigating our way throughout the old twisted alleyways and eating incredible Swahili food, usually while seated on big pillows on the ground. We also saw a few obligatory tourist sights, such as the slave caves, and went on a spice tour.

After a few days in Stonetown, we headed to the beaches of Ras Nungwi, the north of the island, where the water is a beautiful turquoise blue and lends itself to walking on the beach, reading by the beach, sleeping on the beach, talking on the beach, and of course, eating fresh seafood on the beach.

After Ras Nungwi, we drove to the east side of the island, the beach town of Bweju, where we mistakenly went on dolphin swimming tour. Yes, we saw dolphins, lots of them...but so did the other 25 boats that were with us. We chased dolphins like crazy people and jumped into into the water. You could not help but be more worried about getting cut up by the motors of other boats than with seeing the dolphins. A completely ridiculous experience.

After Bweju, it was back to Stonetown for a night, where we took a drum lesson, just Kari and I an instructor, patting away on an old drum, while seated in an old arabic stone building, with windows open, breeze blowing in from the Indian Ocean, and sun setting. Yes, Zanzibar is paradise, but so is travelling in Africa with a good friend!


(Pictured: Kari in the rooftop restaurant at our hotel, Emerson & Green, in Stonetown; Jaws corner, where men gather to drink tea, talk and play chest in Stonetown; Kari - dressed (as a joke, I am quite sure) as Bob Marley, on our deck in Ras Nungwi; our cottage, Evergreen Bungalows, at Bweju)