Monica Negotiation in Stone Town Spice Market

Zanzibar and Stone Town

On our last day we traveled to the southern tip of Zanzibar for a tour
of Stone Town and to get to know Zanzibar a little, beyond the
northern beaches.

We were met by our guide Mudi, a friendly and knowledgeably although
slightly uncomfortably man with a somewhat disconcerting giggle. Mudi
wore what appeared to be a McDonald's managers uniform (a white button-
down with a small version of the golden arches embroidered of the left
pocket), which I suspect he saw as a self-marketing strategy. We spent
the morning and early afternoon walking Stone Town with Mudi while he
shared the history of Zanzibar.

Until it joined the rest of Tanzania around 20 years ago Zanzibar was
an independent country of a million people living principally on two
islands. The island were initially governed by Arabs and are today 90%
Muslim. Nearly all of the women you see on the island wear colorful
head coverings, although some are all in black with their faces
covered "burka style". All of the school girls wear what appears to be
a standard-issue yellow or white one-piece head covering that drapes
ove their school uniform gowns.

200 years ago, Zanzibar was the main slave market for East Africa.
Slaves were captured on the mainland, brought here by boat, and sold
for shipment to Arab countries (the U.S. Slaves came from West
Africa). We started our tour underground in one of the slave holding
cells. They were held here underground with no food or water for 3
days before being brought up to the whipping post for auction. Those
that could withstand whipping without crying were sold at a high
price, presumably a better option than being returned to the cell.

We nex went to the fish, spice and meat markets. We saw fresh tuna,
octopus, mussels, kingfish, and others, freshly gutted and still
bloody. We learned tha locals want to see the blood and inner parts,
with ice bringing the freshness into question. We walked quickly
through the meat market as the smell was overpowering and the sights
gruesome. Here, the freshness test translates to goat and beef heads
and innerds sitting on the table below the hanging meat.

At the spice market, Monica negotiated a purchae and then we were off
to tour the narrow alleyways of Stone Town. Monica purchased some
kangas and a bag as we made our way to the waterfront and a three-
story climb to the balcony of a local museum. We ga lunch at one of
the waterfront hotels and then worked out way back to the guide office
from where we would be taken to the ferry on our way to Dar es Salaam.

Random Thoughts on Tanzania Part Two

Transportation. Everywhere We have been in Tanzania is seems that
everyone is in a perpetual state of going somewhere. Maybe it's no
different than in the U.S., except that it takes them so long and they
use so many different forms o transportation. There are six kids on an
adult-sized bike, a guy with 30 dozen eggs precariously strapped on
the back of his bike, guys riding on cow-drawn wooden carts on top of
huge bails of hay, guys pullin fully-loaded cart themselves, guy on
motorized skooter with side-saddle woman with baby on the back, and
everything else you can imagine. And then there are the buses - small
minivans with 30 people crammed inside and hanging on the outside and
12 feet of sticks, palm fronds, and other possessions strapped to the
top. And, of course, people walking everywhere, in the case of women
often with water bottles, baskets of vegetables, or huge stacks of
firewood balanced on theie heads. I guess this is just one more way
that people make it happen here.

Entrepreneurship and Commerce. Everyone here seems to be selling
something here. The blacktop roads in Arusha are absolutely lined with
small stands or just blankets laid out with merchandise. From small
bags of coal to leather furniture to tennis shoes to all sorts of
produce. Monica says she hopes someone has the money to buy some of
this stuff.

Zanzibar Vultures. One of the few downsides to the Zanzibar beaches
are what we have come to call the "vultures". These guys wander the
beach trying to sell you something, starting with a swim-with-the-
dolphins excursion, working their way down through your "no's" to
their final ditch effort, a small ebony key chain that they hope you
will buy just because you like or feel sorry for them. You can't walk
down the beach without them approaching you with "jambo my friend" and
walking along side you. A Americans, shaking them was difficult at
first, but we got the drill down pretty good after the first day and
they left us alone after that. When they approach, we would say
"hapana asante, pole baba".

Tanzanite. In the late 60s or early 70s a hobby gemologist found a
strange blue stone in the hills above Arusha. After sending it to
Tiffany's for evaluation it was determined a unique stone and
Tiffany's suggested it be called Tanzanite. Even today it has only
been found in this one spot and comes out of just 5 or 6 mines
operating there. It is infinitely more rare than diamonds and will
reportedly run out in the next decade or so, making it even more
valuable. The stone can ramge from pale blue to darj blue and is
supposedly very beautiful, although we did not see one.

What Is This Thing?!!

Ou Last African Sundowner

Last Full Day in Africa

On Thursday morning, Monica and I left early to go snorkling at one of
the neighboring atolls. After much discussion with hotel management
and staff and some hand-wringing, we decided to leave the kids on
their own at the hotel for the morning.

Our boat departed from Blue Bay. We were accompanied by a dozen or so
other tourists (most of them European), several dive and snorkel
guides, and three boat crew. As it turns out, most on the boat would
be diving.

The water was choppy and there was some rain during the day, but it
was warm and we had a nice time nonetheless. We saw lots of fish, very
interesting varieties of starfish, eels, and even two different pods
of dolphins. I also became well acquainted with a small variety of
almost-invisible stinging jellyfish.

We returned back to the hotel around 1:30 to find, of course, that all
was well with the kids. They had spent the day swiming, at the beach,
and eating two meals at the restaurant. As it turns out, there was
very little supervision from the hotel staff. If you would have told
me before this trip that we would leave the kids on their own I would
have doubted it. But that was before we understood what friendly
people Tanzanians are and before we knew how comfortable we would
become in this country.

There was some excitement in the afternoon when Ben discovered a "big
spider" in the first floor toilet room. Grant went to look and when I
grabbed a flip-flop from the back steps, he said "you're gonna need
more than that." Indeed, he was right. When I sprayed bug killer
behind the toilet it came out looking for a fight. It had the body of
a spider and I'm pretty sure it had 8 legs, although the second-back
set were much longer than the rest, spanning 8 or 10 inches. In
addition to the aforementioned legs, this guy had two long arms with
tiny pichers on the end which he was waving around and snapping. A
spider? Some sort of scorpion? We took pictures with the intent of
researching the matter further when we get home. Although now that I
think about it, maybe we're better off forgetting the whole incident.

After another family walk on the beach, Ben suggested that we go to
the roof of our castle for our last African sundowner. We ordered
some French fries from the kitchen and enjoyed the view and a drink
together, recapping our favorite parts of the trip (and intermittently
listening to Eminem on Grant's iPod). A nice way to spend our last
night in Africa.

A Day with Leon, Aideen, Peter, and Sophia

While I was on day three of coffee farm visits, Monica and the kids
joined Leon and Aideen and their two kids, Peter and Sophia, at their
home for lunch and some play time. Peter and Sophia were home for
several weeks from boarding school in Kenya, creating a nice
opportunity for the kids to meet and spend some time together.

After lunch they went for a swim at the nearby polo club, and then
back to the house where they played 500, soccer, and cricket. Leon and
Aideen have a beautiful home among their new avocado plantations,
including a lovely garden with a nice lawn for the kids to play on.

Elliot, Ngomi, and I joined them for a fantastic dinner of lamb and a
wonderful assortment of vegetables. After dinner, Peter and Sophia
introduced our kids (and Elliot and me, for that matter) to a new game
called 'fireball'. The game involves soaking tenis balls in
methylated spirit, lighting them on fire, and hitting them aroun the
lawn in the dark with polo mallets. Evidently this spirit burns at a
very low temperature, so when the thrill of hitting the ball with a
mallet wears off, you can pick up and throw the balls, or even soak
and light your hand. This isn't something I can imagine at a birthday
party in the states, buy ad you can imagine there had already been
much discussion about where we might get methylated spirit at home. I
have to admit it was quite fun.

When asked later, each of our kids mentioned playing with Peter and
Sophia as one of the highlights of the trip. It was definitely an
added bonus for all of us to have unexpectedly made new friends while
traveling on vacation half-way around the world and we are hopeful
that they will cone visit us in Portland.