Jambo Bwana (Zanzibar)

Kenya is in an election year and in previous ones there has been violence. Our program did not want to risk us being here if history repeated itself, so instead of sitting on campus all week during recess for the elections, we decided to create our own spring break and head to the island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania.

British East Africa = Kenya, German East Africa = Tanzania

 

Our Plane

 

Once again us 'spoiled Americans' get to travel in style on a small flight to our beautiful destination. The first thing we noticed when arriving in Zanzibar was that we had all forgotten what humidity felt like. Instantly we were all covered in a glistening layer of sweat and I don't think we were ever truly dry until we got back to Daystar a week later. "Girls don't sweat, they glisten!" Along with the humidity, we quickly noted a few more differences between here and Kenya. Zanzibar is a very touristy area with touristy prices which made bartering a bit of a challenge...like it wasn't already. Even though it was a challenge, bartering at the many small shops lining the narrow streets of Stone Town was a highlight of this trip. Another thing to note is that Zanzibar is over 90% Muslim. It was easy to pick up on this through the architecture, the dress of the people, and the call to prayer that we heard blasted over the city daily.

Muslim architecture

Inside the Tembo Hotel

Jambo. Jambo Bwana. In Kenya, if someone says 'Jambo' to me, it is insulting. They are making fun of me and the fact that I am a mzungo. Instead we say 'Sasa'. In Zanzibar people say 'Jambo' left and right and we would respond 'Sasa' so as to show them that we know what we are talking about and they would just look at us with wide-eyes. Apparently in Tanzania they speak proper Kiswahili instead of the Sheng (basically slang) that we are being taught by our peers in Kenya. What a face-palm kind of moment for us. From that point on we said Jambo as much as we could. Almost as to make up for the time we had lost.

Jambo Bwana is a song that almost everyone knows and in Zanzibar, you could not walk even a kilometer outside of your hotel without a man trying to sell you spices, futbol jerseys, or a CD of the song Jambo Bwana. Here is a YouTube link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VWBND1ggF8

Stone Town was absolutely wonderful. When we weren't eating delicious food, lounging in our beautiful rooms, swimming in the pool, on the beaches of the warm salty Indian ocean, or bartering for cool souvenirs, we were...oh wait, that is all we did! Living the life!!! My favorite place to eat was on the boardwalk right by our hotel (Tembo hotel, which used to be the former U.S. embassy). It was a park looking area by day and a lively music, people, food filled market-like outdoor restaurant by night. There were about 50 vendors with basically any kind of meat, seafood, dessert, drink, bread, or pizza you could imagine. On this trip alone, I tried shark, octopus (tentacles and all), calamari (not even fried), shwarma (my new favorite Mediterranean food which is basically a chicken gyro with garlic mayo sauce and chili-tomato sauce- the perfect combo of sweet and salty), and many different fish (even with the scales on). Justin, I hope you are proud! There was tons of coconut bread, kabobs, and nutella/banana/coconut pizzas being consumed by our group. I have also had many different flavors of Fanta since being in Africa. I have had the basic orange, grape, and strawberry in the States, but here there is pineapple, mango, green apple, passion, and my favorite, black currant. I have also discovered Novida which is a pineapple drink made by Schweppes ginger ale company. I have asked around and I hear it costs around $7 to ship to the U.S. Someone tell me it ain't so! It is SOOO good.

One of the food-vendor's spreads. Photo Credit: Dara Veenstra

Shwarmas!!!

Another highlight of Stone town was taking a wooden boat over to Prison Island to see the 100+ year old tortoises, and to go snorkeling! It was lengen...wait for it...dary! We saw many starfish, sea urchins, coral, Nemo fish, Dory fish, angel fish, a puffer fish, and tons of other native fish including a huge school of tiny little fish. We also went swimming at night when the algae glows in the dark when it is touched. Basically you glow blue in the ocean at night, it is so neat!

Snorkeling in the Indain Ocean!

Prison Island

In Stone Town we also:

Dove off a wooden boat in the Indian Ocean

Got pushed into the pool multiple times (with battle scars as proof)

Visited the last slave market to close which is now an Anglican church where the 4% of the island who are Christians still meet at every Sunday. (One of the highlights)

Beautiful stained glass in the church.

Slave Market/ Anglican Church

Memorial

Went to almost every store in the market

Fresh food in the market.

Apples in the market.

Shopping with my girl Aubrie!

Typical set up of earings outside a shop.

The streets are filled with a simple beauty.

Danced in the rain (we later found out that a local shop keeper took a video of us goofy wzungu dancing)

Local boy puddle hopping

I love the rainy season!

Learned more Kiswahili from locals

Got henna

My henna tattoo that was given to me by a deaf woman. We tried to talk in sign language but her dialect was different than ASL.

Babysat Leila!

Such a cutie! She makes me miss the little girl I watch in the summer! (Hi Briella!!)

After our two day excursion in Stone Town, we ventured an entire hour to the other side of the island for what I would explain as beach/resort/camping experience. Our huts, which were complete with sand filled floors, beds, mosquito nets, and fans, were so fun! 7 of us girls piled into that 'dorm-like' room for the rest of the week. The rest of the camp site was filled with other huts, a communal bathroom, a reading loft, volleyball court, and bar where we ate breakfast and dinner every night!

The food at New Teddy's Place was AMAZING! Every morning we were given the option of having sweet or salty breakfast. I had the sweet one day which consisted of 2 pancakes filled with chocolate and fresh fruit. My breakfast of choice was the salty breakfast which consisted of an omelet filled with peppers, a chapatti, and fresh fruit. YUM! My favorite dinner was lemon garlic butter fish with veggies and chips. It was the best fish I have ever had. We also ate some delicious lunches at local restaurants. I even was able to eat Thai food one day. The Pad Mee was sups delish!

While we were in Paje at Teddy's place, we spent many hours walking the beaches with friends picking up amazing shells (that I would pay money for in Florida) and having great conversations. Every morning after breakfast we usually spent the rainy part of the morning (it's rainy season now) in the reading loft or hammocks reading books recommended by Jeff, African history books, romance novels, religious/inspirational books, the Bible, or journaling. What a relaxing vacation-type activity to start each day with.

Almost every morning, with the exception of one, I got up at around 6:00 am to watch the sunrise with my friends. I had never seen the sunrise before and I set my sunrise standards pretty high right off the bat. God's glory was proclaimed through the beauty I saw on those mornings!! Not to even mention the amazing sunsets we've seen on this trip as well. The African sun has got to be different than the one in America. Almost every day, without fail, there is an amazing view to be seen in the sky.

Sunset, Stone Town

Sunrise, Paje

In Paje we also:

Had bonfires

Listened to Luke and Leah play the guitar

Laid on hammocks

Swam a lot and made a sand fort-like thing

Went on a spice tour! (One of the highlights of Paje)

The food we ate on the spice tour! SOOO DELISH!

Decked out in hats and jewelry our guides made us.

Fresh coconut that we ate!

Fresh nutmeg!

My first night at Teddy's I met an awesome women named Marie from Denmark who emphasized to me that you have to realize that you don't go to Africa to change its culture or have an American cultural experience. She is a world traveler and her best advice is to appreciate the differences you notice between cultures and learn as much as you can about them.

On Friday night, Teddy's place held a BBQ where we had a large variety of food. The meats included chicken, fish (an entire fish grilled on the BBQ), and octopus. The flavors of the meat were almost overwhelming they were so good. I could not stop eating! Later that night we went to a dance party on the beach where locals and other tourists of many different nationalities danced the night away. We even danced with Masai warriors decked up in their traditional outfits. It was an 'out of this world' experience. It was very cool to be untied with so many different cultures through dance.

The next day we packed up and went back to Stone Town for one last meal and shopping extravaganza. Then we boarded our plane and took off back home. Home. Kenya feels like home now. What a strange feeling. We first felt it after Rendille, but this confirmed it. Kenya is the most familiar thing to us for now.



Our last meal in Stone Town before heading back to Kenya!

plane ride home