Exotic Zanzibar

19 December, Sunday; Zanzibar, Tanzania. We sadly said goodbye to Fundu Lagoon and Pemba Island today. When we booked that part of the trip, we were a little hesitant that we might get a bored towards the end of the stay. Quite the contrary, we found. We definitely could have stayed for a few more days without getting bored. However, our wallet didn’t want to keep up with us, so we reluctantly move on to the next stage of our trip.


For once, I feel totally certain our bags will make it with us	The first time we’d seen clouds in a week	Departures lounge in Pemba. Guess there is no Star Alliance Lounge here.

We backtrack to Chake Chake airport on Pemba, the tiniest airport I’ve ever seen. Ben is disappointed that our plane today doesn’t have a spot for him to sit up front in the cockpit with the pilot. It’s hot and a bit stuffy in the cramped plane and we welcomed the touchdown in Zanzibar. We’re picked up promptly and I’ve now learned to keep my luggage at my side and not relinquish to anyone. Thank you very much, Mr. Porter, but I can carry my bag the 4 feet to the van by myself and not feel compelled to tip you. I said, “I can do it myself.” These guys are quick and fierce about “helping” you and are quick to grab your bags from right in your gripped hands. Our hotel is pleasant enough. We unknowingly chose the only dry hotel in Stone Town, but we’re not bothered. We haven’t done very much imbibing on this trip. During the camping trip, we probably averaged less than one beer a day. In Fundu, each day we had maybe 1-2 sundown gin and tonics or an occasional beer. However, we killed them with my requests for Coke (always referred to as Coca) and Ben’s insatiable appetite for banana milkshakes.


Our hotel’s colorful courtyard	The ancient light switch outside our room	Ben’s non-alcoholic drink of choice, Stoney’s, a ginger beer

We purposefully didn’t buy much during our time in East Africa thus far, knowing that we could get most of what we wanted to purchase in Zanzibar, making it easier to lug the stuff around later. After getting a bit lost in the winding streets, we found the main area for curio shops and did some hunting. Most of the stuff is the same in every shop in East Africa. We were in search of two things – a Bao game board and an antique wooden chest. We popped into one shop and found a nice size chest, but when we explained it was too small, the owner escorted us to another shop through the winding streets. We were quickly away from the main drag and my overactive mind started thinking about those horror stories you hear about people shopping for rugs in Northern Africa. OK, so only for a split second. It at least makes for a semi-interesting story. In the other shop, we found a perfectly sized chest and did our haggling thing after making sure that we could get it back to the US. In about 3 months time (!!!) it should arrive after an overseas journey. We don’t have a permanent place to live right now, so it’s difficult to buy stuff for our house. So, we came away with the chest, some wooden bowls, a necklace and two small Masai paintings. Oh, and a small amulet necklace that a very polite shop owner gifted to me for good luck in our marriage. He also showed us how to recognize real ebony wood. It sinks!


The same paintings are in every store. Even so, we ended up buying 2 small ones. There must be a sweat shop outside of Mombasa where they really crank these out!	Scary masks	Scarier figures. Not pictured here were the pregnant women ones with bellies stitched up with leather. Ew.	The shopkeeper who gave our marriage good luck with a gift

It’s easy to get lost amongst the winding, narrow streets here. Along the way, you are constantly entertained with decorative door after door. As a matter of fact, the doors are interesting enough to be the subject of their own blog, which Ben says he’s going to write.

After our shopping adventure, we sat at the beach and enjoyed a [non-alcoholic] sun downer and watched the ships and locals frolicking on the beach. We were most amused watching the tourists try to get out of the boats in the surf and some locals doing acrobatics and martial arts practice.

Dinner was indoors tonight, which was a fabulous treat. Not specifically for the food, but for the lack of mosquitos. The food was fabulous, thought I’m mainly relying on Ben’s opinion since I wasn’t feeling so great and not very hungry. Keeping with our 3-course lunch and dinner themes from Fundu, Ben ordered three courses, all laden with seafood. Not feeling like tempting fate with my stomach and seafood, I became a vegetarian for the night.


Coconut and crab soup in a coconut shell. How else is one to eat coconut soup?	Fish stew with Lobster, Prawn and Squid