Rafiki, Rafiki! Ohhhhhh Zanzibar.

Mambo,

Quinn, Sarah, and I left in the morning on Friday. It was still dark out when we arrived by taxi at the ferry docks. Should you ever take the ferry to Zanzibar early in the morning, try not to show up while it's still dark out. SCETCHY!!! We did however make it on the boat unscathed. The trip from Dar to Zanzibar went by pretty quickly for me, I just put some Led on and passed out. When I awoke the water was a different shade of greenish blue than I had ever seen. The island looked like it was cut out of a book that I should have, but never read. We stepped off the boat into another world.

The first person we met off the boat was a guy who called himself Mr. Banana. For those of you who are privey, this WAS Adieudu. His voice was deep and he was a huge man. "Don't peel Mr. Banana, Ha, Ha, Ha". We ditched that guy, cleared immagration, and found our driver. On our way out of Stone Towne, we stoped so I could get some new sandels. The only pair that fit were these hidious yellow things on my feet. I asked Quinn and she lied and told me they were hot so I got them. We drove for an hour to the east coast of the island and arrived at Pongwe Resort.

We wanted to splurge for one night and this was the place that I picked. Awesome choice. We got introduced by Heidi from Zimbabwe to the ins and outs of everything at the hotel. I think thats the first time I've been given an intake at a hotel. We went to our room and the coolest thing was proabably that we had hot water for showers. After we soaked in the room we went to the water to soak up tropical goodness. The beach was so secluded seeing as there were about only 20 other people there. This place only has like 10 bungalos and we were sticking out like a sore thumb seeing as we were not on our honeymoon. Quinn and I both lamented the absence of our loves. I miss Bethany, I miss Bethany, I miss Bethany. After we swam and sat in the sun, I met a cool couple from Germany. They were, yup, on their honeymoon. We planned with them to go snorkeling in the morning. We played Scrabble in the evening and I got my ass kicked by Quinn who apparently is a world class Scrabble player. Just so everyone knows, AH is a word. They challenged me on that and I lost at a critical point in the game. Whatever, I'm over it. That night we had dinner on the beach, which is something they don't do very often. We sat with Frank and Dani (the cute German couple), and had some amazing food. After dinner, and still on the beach, we were treated to a Massai dance. 5 Massai guys chanting and jumping, so incredibly cool. We went to sleep on a soft bed, another luxery these days, and dreamed of monkeys and Stone Towne.

Quinn and I woke up at the break of dawn and went outside to see the sun which had just risen. I only mention this because I probably took the coolest picture that I've ever taken. We took a boat to go snorkeling and saw all sorts of stuff. Tropical fishes, coral reefs, and underwater creatures. I had to dive extra low to see them because I could'nt wear my glasses. The day was already good and it wasn't even 9am. We had breakfast and killed time on the beach untill it was time to go to Jozani Forest.

We arrived at Jozani, fed Quinn (she's cute as hell but can be unruley if she dosn't have food in her), and met our guide. We were walking for about 5 minutes and there they were. Red Colbus monkeys. There were only a few at first but then as I got used to my surroundings they came out of the woodwork. There were about 20-25 in the troop and they were everywhere. We got to get right up close to them and oh my god, we did. I took so many pictures and just watched them. This is the closest thing to a safari I'm going to get to do and I just milked it. They were cute but also fascinating in the way they moved and ate. After the monkeys we went for a walk to see the Mangrove trees. There was a boardwalk that led us through a swamp with all sorts of different kinds of fish. The trees were interlocked at the bottom and the boardwalk was wild looking. Hard to describe cool to do!

After Jozani we went to Stone Towne. This is the heart of Zanzibar and about 90% Muslim. The whole place has an island vibe, but before this the only island vibe I knew was Hawaii, Key West, Monhegan. This was vastly different but similar. We walked to a place called Mercury's for dinner. It's named after Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who was born a few blocks away. Interesting thing, a restaurant honering a gay man in a place where if you are openly gay you are prosecuted. Decent food and drink but we were tired and we were taking on the city in the morning.

We were awoken that morning with the Islamic call to prayer at 5am. It's so cool to hear that over the loud speaker asking thousands of people for their worship. I've gotten used to being woken up by roosters so this was a pleasent change. We started our walk through Stone Towne and all I can say is that this was so different than anything ever. The narrow streets covered in cobblestone in the labryinth of this city were so exotic to me. The smells emanting from the little shops and the sounds of the people were wild! The only downside were how aggresive the touts were. "Rafiki, where are you from, whats your name, buy this CD". Rafiki=friend.

"Rafiki",Rafiki","Rafiki". Ohhhhh Zanzibar. I did buy a lot of Christmas presents and as aggresive as they were, the place was so damn cool, I figured, who cares! We walked around all day and ended up in a little cafe called the Archipeligo (did I spell that right Sarah cause God knows I can't say it). These little bugs pulled their best Bush administration on us and bombarded us from the air. It was a hassle but all part of Africa.

The next morning we got up and went spice shopping. I got all sorts of stuff including Curry, which is now a personal favorite. Chili stuff for my Pop (you're gonna love this tuff big guy). All these spices would've costed so much back home. It was next to nothing here. We walked around and tied up some loose ends and we were on our way to the airport. I got to sit co-pilot on the way back in a small plane and I instantly felt like an 8 year old. We returned back to Dar and I'm now gearing up for the second half of my stay in Africa.

Quinn and Sarah were about as close to perfect traveling partners as you can get. They were willing to do anything and fun to be with. Zanzibar was everything I thought it might be and more. It's a place I want to go back to and bring my family. I even got a Muslim hat and shirt so that when I go back I can wish peace to everyone. In fact why don't I do that right now...

Asalaam Milakum

Nathan