But all we had was this...
We spent 3 fun days in Dar courtesy of our friend Imee Cambronero. Imee recently finished her Masters in Public Health and is on a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Dar Es Salaam. We have known each other since our undergrad days working for Upward Bound. She has an amazing apartment on Masaki Peninsula in the north. We went out for good food, including Korean and Ethiopian, did some shopping and exploring, and lots of relaxing on her balcony and by the pool. Imee and I also attended an oceanside yoga class at the Golden Tulip. I could do that everyday - with the waves crashing below us and a nice Indian Ocean breeze coming in...
View from the Tower Top Restaurant (aka 236 Hurumzi, aka Emerson and Green), second highest point in Stone Town and a great place to relax with a biri biridi or G&T.
Just outside Fordhani Gardens, where you can get fresh seafood and Zanzibari pizza every night at the market, and where we had our Christmas Eve dinner.
In the past, spices were Zanzibar's largest export. There is still a large amount of cloves exported, but many others are grown for local use. The farm we visited was used mostly for education and sold spices to the tourists who came through. We saw all kinds of raw spices - turmeric, ginger, clove, nutmeg and mace (same plant), vanilla beans, cinnamon, peppercorn, lemongrass, and many more. Along the way, we were adorned with necklaces, bracelets, rings, ties, hats, and bags made from the long grass. We tried a variety of local fruits and then off to lunch, followed by a visit to a slave cave and some time on the beach. The cave was used by slave traders after the British abolished slavery in their colonies. The traders would hide the slaves in the cave until there were enough to march out to a waiting ship via a tunnel connecting the cave to the sea.
Fishermen cleaning their nets
Brandon, Christine, Grant, Ann, Katie, Ryan, Maiken and Phil on Christmas Day
The entire island had been without power for a few weeks before we arrived, and our accomodations in Stone Town, The Karibu Inn, did not run their generator at night. This made for rough sleeping conditions, but encouraged us to get up early everyday, and we started off Christmas Day with a run through town and along the beach. After breakfast and cleaning up we were ready to head to Jambiani when Maiken and Phil came down with exciting news - they were engaged!
Since we had so much to celebrate, we went in search of a dinner venue as soon as we arrived at the Visitors Inn on the Southeast coast in the village of Jambiani. We all shared an amazing meal of salads, soup, fish, lobster, beef, and apple pie with a few bottles of champagne and wine to wash it all down.
View from my oceanside lounge chair in Jambiani
We spent most of the next five days lounging on various hammocks and beach chairs reading, eating, and chatting. It was so nice to catch up, exchange stories, and compare our experiences in East Africa. Once in a while we got motivated and went snorkeling and sailing, or walked up and down the beach, I even played in a very sad game of beach volleyball one day.
Kizimkazi Music Festival
Sadly, we said goodbye to Ryan and Phil on Dec 28 as they began the 24+ hours of travel back to MN and the rest of us had to settle for the white sand beaches of Zanzibar. The next day was the kickoff to a music festival on the southwestern coast of the island in Kizimkazi. We got there early and played poker during all the sound checks, and Grant and Brandon were very patient with us ladies as we pondered whether to check or raise, by rocks and bottlecaps. Then came the good ol' college drinking games - a little P&A, some hockey - and a case each of Redd's and Savannah. We ended the night dancing in front of the stage to a Swedish band called Clockwise and some local bands before catching a ride back to our bungalows.
After 5 days in Jambiani, we packed our bags and moved 6 km up the beach to Paje and stayed at the Paradise Beach Bungalows. Paje is a slightly larger community and even though it was so close, the beach was nicer. We spent a couple nights here, including New Years Eve.
(Brandon is behind the camera)
We had a big buffet dinner at Paradise Beach for NYE, including seafood, salads, sushi, skewers, and a couple fresh barracuda on the grill and then sat on the beach before heading out to find a party. We eventually found some loud music and settled in the ring in 2010. It was a little anticlimactic and it seemed we were forcing ourselves to stay awake, when the DJ announced "okay 3 minutes, 5-7, 5-8, 5-9, Happy New Year" and then went back to the music. There were some fireworks up and down the beach, and then we called it a night.
Sunrise, New Years Day 2010
The New Year came with a beautiful sunrise, but also some GI distress. Five of six got ill at some point that day and poor Brandon got it first and the worst. We got a ride to Stone Town and said goodbye to the Arusha crew as we headed up for a few more days in Nungwi, on the northern tip of the island. I would have to say, though, if I had to be sick somewhere, it was a good place to be.
Nungwi Village Beach Resort
Grant and I decided to splurge on our last few nights in Zanzibar and it was well worth it after a week of beautiful, but very hot accomodations. This place ran their generators 24 hours a day, with A/C, TV, internet and very comfortable digs. Nungwi is also a very happening part of the island, next door to Kendwa, and lots of restaurants, bars, and activity going on - although this did mean much more hassling whenever we left the confines of the resort. We did a lot of laying by the pool, and the ocean, and met some fun and interesting people from all over the world with whom we did our fair share of drinking. We also hung out with a friend from Kampala, Rosie, and her boyfriend Owen, who were staying at a resort just down the beach.
This was a great end to an relaxing vacation, and left me well-rested, newly motivated and ready to get some work done back in Kampala.
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