Aaya! This is Part 2 of the trip to the Pwani (coast)...
Soo on Tuesday 15-7-08 we woke up really early to catch the boat to Zanzibar at around 7:15 ish. I heard that the boats were a little rough, but i wasnt worried: one, because i do not get sea sick and two, because it was early and i was tired! Turns out i slept the whole 2 hours or so on the boat- hakuna shida (no problems). So we finally got to Zanzibar and first we had to go through customs before we could get to our hotel in Stone Town (mji Mkongwe). So this took a second, but we got to the hotel and dropped our bags off so we could start the tour immediately. First we went to part of a museum that was under construction, i think. (BTW all tours and everything else is in Swahili so this is me trying to keep up with all these great things that we are seeing but not total sure). So we get to the museum and go to this tiny room that is dusty and dark and we find places to sit. It turns out that the room was a chumba cha hasabu (punishment room) for slaves that had made the trip from the coast to Zanzibar. Here they would cram up to 75 people in one room and as a result many died from starvation and/ or the transmission of diseases. Next we went to a Catholic Church and then we headed to the sokoni kuu (the big market). Everything was going good, i was digging all the produce and greeting the sellers as we passed by, then we entered the sehemu ya nyama (raw meat section). The second we walked through the passage way i say some disgusting things that i was not ready for and that do not need to be mentioned. I thought i was going to loose it so i kept my head down and kept walking until i went through the next passage way which ended up being the place where they were butchering the fish! AH! this smelled horrible as well, i ran away. After this we walked to the House of Wonders, which is a palace (Kasri) that was built for Sultan Barghash in 1883. It was the tallest building in Zanzibar and was the first to have running water and electricity. We went to the balcony where we were able to get a great view of Stone Town (Pictures to come!)
After this is was lunch time, and we ate at a Indian restaurant that was pretty delicious. Since we got free time after lunch we walked around Stone Town. The town is really cool, there are numerous small little alleys that you wander through, kinda like a maze. We found one stretch where there were alot of stores that sold jewelery, kangas, scarfs, and art- you know stuff we tourist love... Anyway grabbed some presents for my loved ones :) and headed to a kanga store where we chatted with the Muuzaji (seller) who ended up being from Arusha and knowing Mwalimu Kisangi (one of our teachers). His name was Patrick and he ended up hanging out with us throughout our stay in Stone Town and showing us around. Very interesting to find out that alot of the younger teens along this alley are originally from the Arusha area...
So a few people had already been to Stone Town in the past and they were all raving about the fish markets, which is open for dinner every night. Here there are multiple tables that serve fish, meat, falfal, chipsi, saladi, chapti, ZNZ pizza, etc... very cool and cheaper than a restaurant. We went to find the market, but it turns out that it is no longer on the beach where it normally is but actually in between the House of Wonders and The Old Fort (Omani Fort). SO we headed there. As we ate we talked to some of the vendors (in swahili) and asked about their businesses. Turns out that there are separate prices- prices for wazungu and prices for the locals, not surprised. Even though we may have gotten our food for a little less then the wazungu price, we still paid more than local for sure. I ended up having a uneventful conversation with a dude who could not seem to get past the fact that i did not want to give him my contact info and i was not interesting in being a special contact for him- i try to be nice to the people that i meet, but it for some reason alot of men here are only interested in talking about marriage. (Note: i am currently wearing a cheap wedding band that my friend, Cara, gave me so now i can just say i have a fiancee in the states, this has helped stop marriage proposals, kind of).
This night, after the market and unsuccessfully checking out a disco, we found out about the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) at the old fort and decided to check it out. Saw my friend Patrick there and we hung our and listen to some bongo flava and reggae music- very cool and fun!
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