Pemba Paradise

Hello all- I need to figure out how to write more often so that I can tell you everything... Alas, this will have to do.

As usual, so much has happened in the past week. Just in the past two days we have travelled by dalla dalla, by airplane, boat, bus, and foot all over Zanzibar. So let me give you a few highlights.

After taking our ridiculously easy exams a few days ago we had two days off. The first day I spent relaxing with some friends in the morning until we left for (who knew) the beach in the afternoon. We gave ourselves mud baths, played cards on a dock in the sunset, drank ginger sodas on huge couches with big, plush cushions, and relaxed the day away before we went out to see the night life of Stone Town (which never fails to shock me).

The next day was almost as good as the safari day I wrote about last post :) We have all been getting a lot better at Swahili, to the point where we can kind of communicate enough to have real friends who speak Swahili. It is SO awesome. So another girl (Chris) and I went to visit a cave on our day off with a friend. It took about 45 minutes to get there, down deserted gravel roads in a bus packed tight with smiling strangers. We got off at what seemed like a random stop and walked a little bit when we came to a small clearing. We were greeted by two men- one old and wrinkly, the other young and chipper. The younger one brought us down into the cave with a flashlight. It turns out that during the days of Omani sultans in Zanzibar- after the slave trade was abolished- the sultan used to hide hundreds of slaves in this cave. It was pitch black when you turned the light off- and a python lives inside of the cave- so our guide would whistle to make sure we were not about to step on it. He said that he likes to hold it, though, and we shouldn't worry (yeah right!). you could walk about 3 km back into the cave, but we climbed out a small hole about 1/3 of a mile in. It was so cool- Luke you would love to rock climb here, but all the rock is old coral so it is sharp. After the cave, we talked with the man who had shown us around in the cave about America. Everyone wants to know different things about our country- and it is so sweet to hear how (sometimes) misinformed they are. This man wanted to talk about discrimination in the US. He said that they had heard that there was no discrimination in the US, that black people could marry white people, white people could marry Asian people, and anyone would be friends with anyone. We told him that this was true but tried to explain that there was still sometimes racism and discrimination. You could tell that he was so enamored by the idea of equality in the US, I didn't want to tell him too much. :)

After our chat, Chris, our friend (I'm leaving out names intentionally), and I walked to the beach. It is amazing how few people here know how to swim, despite living so close to the ocean (No women really know how to swim)! Our friend didn't know how to swim, so we tried to teach him. He really got the hang of it. It made me realize that there is so much to remember. For example, he kept coming up and saying that his eyes really hurt, and of course they did, because we didn't think to tell him to close his eyes to stop salt water from getting in them! It was so fun to chat and swim and splash in the beautiful water.

The dalla dalla ride home was hilarious- after walking for about a half hour, a bus finally came to pick us up. Picture this: a pickup truck, with a top over the back, PACKED with people, huge stacks of eggs, fruits, and anything you could think of. At one point I mouthed to my friend on the other side of the dalla dalla "Count how many people are here". A few minutes later she looked back and said, I count 65 just on the seats- that wasn't including the people spilling out the sides and on the floor or in the front of the truck. I dont't even know how to describe the trip. BUT it gets better- lucky us- everyone has massive respect for white people so when we got on the bus they tried to make space on the seats. :) I would have been perfectly happy on the floor, but they scooted over, one by one, to make space for me in the corner seat (prime seat). Unfortunately, there were so many people that the people on either side of me's knees met, leaving just a tiny square of open bench. So I flopped down, sitting on top of these two sweet women, knees up to my chin, and laughed hysterically with everyone about the situation. It was so funny. :)

We took a plane to the other island in Zanzibar two days ago (Pemba Island). I am already so in love with the people and the place! The geography is totally different. THere are rolling hills and fertile soil. They grow cloves and jasmine and have salt farms. We are staying with new host families now- and my family is so amazing. The first night, my host "mom" (she's 27) taught me to cook about 8 Swahili dishes, and yesterday we went out to "kutembea" (to walk around) around thte city. We started with 3 of us, but she has so many friends and family that when we stopped there were at least 16 people with us! It was so fun- and they all want to help us learn Swahili and feed us exotic fruits.

Yesterday and today we went to Misali Island (a small, protected island nearby). We snorkeled in the coral gardens, played in the sand - we even saw a sea turtle! Since our lessons from an amazing marine biologist who has been living in Tanzania for about 15 years, we have all learned to identify lots of the fish and coral species. We knoow some molluscs and other invertebrates- like sea squirts and sea slugs and all kinds of things. It is really neat to see the coral reefs and to know that it is healthy because we see butterflyfish and parrotfish and triggerfish and goatfish... I could go on and on. Long story short, I am really enjoying the marine biology part of what we are doing.

Well, I should probably go home to my host family, but I definitely miss you all very much! There isn't much internet on this island (or power at all, really) and we will be here for another week, so I may not get a chance to write emails back to people or on the blog again- but know that I love and miss you and can't wait to hear what you have all been doing! And, of course, to tell you what I have been doing.

Also, I'm getting desperate for a summer job or volunteer opportunity- anybody have any leads? :) Thanks!

Baadaye.