Off the Beaten Path

SCOTT: Today was our first full day in Zanzibar. I think that it is safe to assume that we all really enjoyed our first free day to explore the city on our own. The day began with breakfast at our hotel in Stone Town. Each morning, we have the luxury of eating breakfast out on the rooftop overlooking the city and the Indian Ocean. I must admit that the view is incredible as we can see water on both sides of us. After breakfast, we continued our tour of Stone Town by first visiting the Livingstone House, which was built around 1860. This is where many European missionaries, explorers, and David Livingstone stayed before setting off on expeditions. Next, we visited the Maruhubi Palace, which was built by Sultan Barghash in 1882 to house his large harem. Even though most of the palace was destroyed by fire in 1899, it was very interesting to see the remnants of it, including the stone columns, aqueducts, and small reservoirs. We then headed for a spice tour to see a wide variety of spices that are grown locally on a farm in Zanzibar. It was neat seeing spices you always hear about growing in the wild, including cinnamon, peppercorn, cloves, vanilla, chilies, and ginger. Our tour guide let us play the “guessing game” with many of the spices before actually telling us what each spice happened to be. I think my favorite spice to see, smell, and taste was the cinnamon tree. I never really knew how cinnamon was grown until our guide started shaving off the bark of the tree. I must admit that Tyler, Will, and I not only smelled the bark, but chewed it as well. It actually tasted very good, similar to Big Red chewing gum. Once our tour was finished, our tour guide had a little friend, who he introduced as “50 Shillings” instead of the name, “50 Cent.” He had quite the “monkey” like abilities. We witnessed him climb up an entire coconut tree to fetch some coconuts with nothing but a vine around his ankles. After his impressive performance, Bailey and Alex had the privilege to give it a shot as well. Their attempts were impressive, but I must say that it was another opportunity for us to be called “mzungu” (foreigner) by the locals. Before getting on the bus, each of us bought some spices from the local farm. The vanilla extract smelled fabulous! I think Tyler and I are going to start using it as cologne.
After eating at one of Mama Moshi’s local joints for lunch, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Therefore, everyone kind of went their own way for a few hours. Most ended up going shopping and wandering the narrow streets of Stone Town, while others like Tyler napped for a few hours. Will and I got lost in the narrow streets for a couple of hours. It was here that we both realized how culturally rich our experiences have been in Zanzibar. We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the rich blend of Arabic, Indian, and African cultures as we get lost wandering the streets. We both talked about how we appreciate these times the most because we get a chance to get off the beaten, touristy path and see the normal everyday lives of how the people in Zanzibar live.

Hearing that the sunsets were great to watch on the roof of the Africa House, we all headed on over there at about 6 PM to catch the sunset. The sight was incredible, especially knowing that it was setting over the Indian Ocean. To wrap up the night, we grabbed dinner at La Fenice, an Italian restaurant overlooking the ocean. We are excited about tomorrow because many of us will be going snorkeling, while Will, Alex, Stuart, and I will be going scuba diving. Hope all is well back at home, talk to you all soon!

EDITOR: We'll post pics as soon as we can! Its more challenging here with these internet restrictions.