And Zanzibar...I'm going crazy tonight with 3 blogs, but hey, do it while I'm in the mood I guess.



Yeah, we left Friday for Zanzibar! Zanzibar is a small island off of mainland Tanzania and it is beautiful. Way back when it was the center for the Arabic slave trade and to this day is roughly 95% Muslim. It is a different world from Tanzania as we soon found out!



Well, Anna and I heard from our friends from Luther who lived in Tanzania last fall about the legendary "Flying Horse" boat to Zanzibar. There are three boats that leave almost every other hour to Zanzibar, two of them costing about 15 thousand Tsh. for a resident and taking 2 hours and the legendary Flying Horse, (bequithed the Dying Horse by Zack and Mike last year) costing half as much and taking twice as long. Of course Anna and I took the dying horse and it seemed nice at first. But then we started moving. It was so choppy and soon people all around us were throwing up in plastic grocery bags! I was getting there, so I took a dramimine and Anna and I abandoned our "first class" seats for the main deck for some fresh air. I fell asleep eventually and that made the trip pass rather quickly. We tried to play chess but our pieces started sliding from side to side as the boat rocked. Well, three and a half hours later we arrived and we were not swamped by cabs, mostly because we were on the crappy, cheap boat I think. But, we found the great little hotel that Erin and Lindsey had book earlier in the day when they arrived and settled in.



That night, we ate at someone's house! It was a "restaurant" but really was a families porch. They cooked us a traditional Zanzibarian meal which was awesome! We headed to bed early and got up to go on a spice tour! We were in a van that soon filled up with a Spainard couple, two belgian friends and us. It was fun! We headed out of Stone Town, the main city where we were staying into the countryside where spices are harvested. Zanzibar is famous for its spice production and we were able to see cinnamon, cloves, lemongrass, all spice, and so many other spices i can't remember! Mostly though, I don't remember because we spent most of the spice tour talking to these American kids our age on the Semester at Sea! They were in Tanzania for 5 days or something like that and were so great. Zack, Amy, and Rae were their names and they came from California, Wheaton College in Illinois, and near St. Louis. We had so much fun talking and despite rain on our tour we had fun and decided to meet later that day.



Well, we shopped a bit in Stone Town with them and went to the fish market where there are sellers everywhere and fresh fish and fried food. I had the greatest drink ever: sugar cane juice with a hint of lemon. wow! It was great. I had three of them along with my nan, meat, and chips! After much chat and hanging out back at the Semester at Sea kids' hotel, a few of us went out to go dancing...unfortunately it was the first night of Ramadan and there was no dancing to be had in Stone Town so we settled for a bar and and more sugar cane drinks! We parted later that evening and exchanged numbers because they were coming to Dar on Monday. Anna and I headed back Sunday morning on the fast boat and made it back in time to play guitar for church that afternoon.



Monday we met up with our S.A.S. friends again and were able to show off our home. We took them to all the markets, made them ride the dalas, and give them the real Tanzania. It was so exciting to feel like I could show off my home! We had a great weekend seeing a new part of Tanzania and even more fun returning "home."